In college, it's so common to have a ton of acquaintances, especially people that you meet in class and then never really talk to after your class is over. People always talk about how great their college friendships are, but friends that you make in class and then become real friends are the best kind of friends to make.
It's normal to make friends with the people that you live with and are in clubs with. But it's much more rare to make friends in a class where you actually continue to talk to them outside of classes. Friends for classes are so unique because you don't have to be friends after it's over, but you choose to be.
My freshman year, I made friends with the only other freshman in one of our classes. I thought that after our class was over, we would never see each other again. But after the class ended, we still met up the next semester, and then I ended up joining Odyssey because of her. The next semester, our schedules lined up, and we were able to meet weekly. From then on out, we met up at least once a semester, and even though she graduated a year early, I loved being able to spend my college years growing with someone from the very beginning.
My sophomore year, I met two different friends who had shaped my college career in two very different ways.
The first was my "Spanish" friend. When I walked into the classroom for one of my Spanish classes, I took a seat next to someone who I had a Spanish class with the year prior. The other class we never talked and at that time I couldn't have told you her name. With our second class together, the first thing I said to her was "I'm not trying to be weird, I was just trying to sit in the left handed desk." Luckily for my introverted self, she was an extrovert and more than ready to make friends with a stranger. All but one semester after that, we took Spanish classes together, and would study together right at the end of the semester. We graduated the same semester and took our grad photos together. It's amazing to think that taking a random seat next to someone on day one meant that I would have a life long friend.
The second was my "Education" class friend. We, ironically enough, had been in the same Spanish class our first semester, but I transferred out of that class and into a different one the first week. Our sophomore year, we had an education class together where we were placed in the same school, and three times a week we would go to the same school three times a week. Since he didn't have a car, I would drive us both, and we would spend about an hour each day just talking. The next fall, we accidentally ended up in the same class. Since the class started at 7 PM once a week, we would get dinner together and then go to class. We also suffered through the worst education class and professor I've ever had. I was glad to have someone who was there to suffer with me, and to have someone who understands when I complain about education related things, or just have a story to share.
I never would've expected to make these random strangers turn into life long friends, but I'm so glad that I was able to meet them and bring them into my life. Even though we've all graduated, and some of them don't live in the same state as me anymore, I know that they're only a phone call away if I ever need them.
