The phrase, “The friends you meet in college last your entire life,” is very true. I met so many friends during freshman orientation that I feel like will last me my entire life. They are the people I trust with everything, and in many ways they are my family away from home.
One of my best friends is moving across the country, and I have no doubt in my mind that she will end up being my bridesmaid the day I get married. She is there through thick and thin, and I would not have it any other way.
The friends that you meet in college are amazing. They meet you at a point in your life where you are vulnerable and in need of support. The friends that you meet in high school are still going to be there when you go home, but the friends that you have in college are there for you at 2 a.m. when you are having a mental breakdown about your boyfriend or girlfriend. College friends will last a lifetime because they have seen you at your best and worst times. It is nice to have someone with whom you can sit in a dorm room and do homework or have a chick flick marathon and end up crying together eating a gallon of ice cream.
College friends will tell you the truth -- even if you don’t want to hear it. Most friends will sugarcoat the truth to try and spare your feelings, but real friends tell it how it is. The friends who don’t sugarcoat it will be the most beneficial to you in the long run; sometimes a voice of reason is exactly what you need when you are about to make a decision you will end up regretting. However, they will also never judge you for your mistakes that you inevitably end up making. They have made their own stupid decisions in college, so they cannot judge you for the ones that you make. They are the people that, after it's all said and done, will laugh with you about how naïve you once were.
You can really be yourself around your friends in college. One of the beautiful things about college is that people are in the process of finding themselves so they do not have time to worry about the things that you are doing in your life. It is so much different from high school in that sense. People have better things to do with their time than worry about your social life and problems.
In the end, you have grown up together. In the end of high school, you may think you have your entire life figured out and that you are “grown up.” Let me be the first to tell you if you are in that situation right now, you’re not actually "grown". You really find yourself in college and figure out what you will or will not stand for. In a lot of ways, you would not be the person you are now without going to college. It’s something amazing, being on your own and realizing that you are able to thrive without the support of your parents all the time -- and your friends definitely make things easier. I love my college friends so much, and I would not be where I am today without them.
