One of the best parts about coming to college is getting the chance to experience inevitable changes in your life, changes that whether or not you know it at the time, will benefit you in the long run.

This could mean finding academic success, discovering your passion, or meeting interesting new people. Making new friends teaches you many things, including what you didn't know about other regions of the world and maybe even what you didn't know about yourself. I was lucky enough to meet a lot of good eggs that I'd end up getting as close as brothers with. What I did not expect was meeting a girl who would become one of my most loyal and hilarious friends... and nothing more than that. But what more was there to want anyway?

People tend to pick apart the idea of guys and girls being friends. There's always going to be someone who will look at you two with confused looks, then pull you aside and ask all sorts of questions. "Are you guys like a thing?" "Do you like her?" And the list goes on. But truthfully, all of those kind of questions are irrelevant. They don't have any sort of major effect on your friendship, and it just becomes a chore to answer them on what pretty much becomes a weekly basis. Obviously, if you and your female friend end up dating, then that's probably what was supposed to happen the entire time you were friends. If that's the case, then that's cool, and good for you both. But if those intentions don't ever enter your mind or come into question between the both of you, then there's pretty much nothing to say. There's no need to ruin a solid friendship for no good reason.

For me, I've found it to be pretty different to have a female best friend, but in the best possible way. She will say things that I don't always relate to, but it's kind of funny and a bit refreshing to get different perspectives on things that are going on. I wish I could say I've gained an understanding of how women think, I'd be 100% lying if I did, but that's missing the point. You can just as easily let her know that not all guys are terrible just by being a good friend, proving loyalty, and being honest. You can do all of that without having to further your friendship in any shape or form.

With all of that being said, it's good to have various kinds of friends, regardless of race, gender, etc. College is all about change and broadening your horizon, and there's no better way to experience new things like surrounding yourself with different kinds of people.