In college, your life can change in just a matter of seconds. It only takes a matter of seconds for that text to send. It only takes a matter of seconds for TrinAir to fail and you lose all of your Spanish homework to the internet. It only takes a matter of seconds to make things awkward with someone for the rest of the year. And, it only takes a matter of seconds to notice and help your friends fight off the effects of the past seconds so that their next minute, hours and days can be filled with positivity and support.
My friends in college are easily the best friends I have made in my nineteen years. They come from all echelons of clubs, grades, dorms, classes and meal tables. Each and every one of them has qualities that are so amazing that it really is true when they say that the friends you make in college will be, not only your friends for life, but a part of your family.
As we climb the steep ladder of years to college graduation, we all are climbing up and growing up together. Freshman year is when everything you have been dreaming of about college becomes a reality, and it can be a lot to handle. You are living life away from home without a net to catch you when you fall. You must create a net of support, and that foundation comes from the friends you meet along the way who are striving to create that same net – a caring web of people all interconnected by the experiences they have shared together that have contributed to their coming of age as adults before being thrown into the real world.
We share communal clothes piles, we share makeup, we share food, we share Bantam Bucks, and above all, we share stories from our pasts so that we can be there for each other in the present and the future. Tears have been shed, smiles have been cracked, snapchat streaks have been flaming, and the days leading to summer have been dwindling.
Though we may be living in a range of different places, from Washington to New Hampshire to Massachusetts to New Jersey to Virginia, even all the way across the Atlantic to France, our bond will only grow stronger. College is about a fourth of the way done, but the next seventy-five percent promises new experiences, adventures, and situations to come. And, with those friends, living through those situations, we will be ready.
