Dear You Know Who You Are,

I thank my t-shirt cutting skills for beginning a friend group that I would soon be eternally grateful for. Who knew such a minuscule talent would create small talk with some of the greatest friends I could ever have. Orientation weekend was a whirlwind of emotions -- saying goodbye to our families, our high-school selves, spending every second with people we barely knew and trying to understand how the hell we were going to survive the next four years making new friends and new lives for ourselves. We bonded over the only things we knew we could, online shopping, favorite foods and high school stories. We posted photos with each other to show our home friends we were meeting new people. We somehow found each other and the glue that made us stick together, and the rest would be history.

Freshman year was just awkward. Figuring out who we were, who we were supposed to be friends with, what we were supposed to do with our lives and what we wanted to be when we grew up. We soon got more comfortable with each other, borrowing each other’s clothes, going out together and even going on weekend trips together. We met each others' families, and finally put faces to the names of the people we'd heard about for so long.

Then there was the group chat. The group chat that has been blowing up my phone for the past 3 years with a collection of weird usernames, memorable photos and conversations that we could never have with anyone else. We grew closer in two years than any college girls should, which made leaving each other during our third year of school that much harder. We gathered and shared memories, bonded over wine and embarrassing stories and cried our eyes out over the thought of spending three months apart from each other.

Summer brought weekend excursions to lakes, beaches and friends’ houses. Road trips consisted of cool ranch Doritos, car games and endless jam sessions to Jordin Sparks' No Air. Every time we saw each other it was as if no time had passed at all, ready to make even more memories and find new GroupMe photos.

We jetted off to our European countries ready to explore, travel and find ourselves, and even then, the group chat didn’t go one day without messages or photos being shared. We missed each other, facetimed every day, competed with our study abroad stories and managed to make it through. We reunited in European countries. We clinked steins at Oktoberfest in Germany, frolicked through the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, and stayed out until 6 am in Spain. We experienced the world together, and became even closer.

Returning to campus as the snow touched the ground, nothing had changed. We were all back together again, closer than ever and getting back to our normal routine of spending every waking minute together, laughing, playing weird karaoke music and staying out until it was ready to go back and order pizza.

Then came the 21st birthdays. Getting older together year by year, we create more memories together and realize how close we are to going our separate ways. We survive classes together, go through wine bottles, cry and laugh and stick together through it all. We’ve been through break-ups, snow storms, stupid fights, good times and bad, and I couldn’t be more lucky to have such an amazing group of girls sharing college with me.

There is nothing I can really say other than thank you.

Thank you for putting up with my weird voices and sense of humor.

Thank you for agreeing to do countless photo shoots with me whenever and wherever.

Thank you for being my shoulders to cry on.

Thank you for supporting me in everything I do.

Thank you for putting up with my constant singing and dancing, no matter the time or place.

Thank you for being the best friends I could ever ask for.

I can’t wait to share our senior year together soon.