Going to college far away from home, as I did, can be a huge change. These are the four years that are going to shape your entire future and the last thing anyone wants is to do is do it alone. That’s why one of the first things people who go far away do is try to make new friends.

These friends become your rock and the most important people you have but it is crucial not to forget those best friends from home.

Home friends are the ones who are there when your college friends don’t understand something from home. Friends from home are the ones who are there all summer even if you don’t talk to them for months.

They are the ones you can be brutally honest about their life choices just as they can be brutally honest with you.

If you’re like me you move 7 hours away from home and think “I’m never looking back” but you get a few days into your new life and all you want is to go out to get ice cream with your best friend and laugh until your stomach hurts.

To hide from this sadness, you and your new roommate post on the class page or talk to the people in your hallway to make new friends.

College friends come in stages- stage one: the classroom friends; stage two: the great friends and stage three: the college friends who become home friends. I have found friends in each of these stages and am thankful for all of them but those in stage one and two will never compare to home friends.

Stage one college friends: these are the friends who you meet your freshmen year or the kids who sit next to you in class that you only talk to about schoolwork.

For me, this was when I made friends with the girls in my hallway and I thought I found my forever friends. We literally did everything together and even became on the same sleep schedule. They could tell if I was upset, angry, tired, sick or happy as can be and were always there no matter what happened.

But at the end of our freshmen year, the whole thing changed.

So, this is the first reason why your best friends from home are the best people. I went home, was 7 hours away from my “best friends” and 4 hours away from my boyfriend and had barely talked to anyone from my hometown the whole time I was away. I came home and my “friends” stopped talking to me and my boyfriend at the time and I had our issues. My home best friend was there, she came over listened to me rant and then we did my favorite things.

Stage two college friends: these are the friends who you hang out with, study with, go to the gym with and get dinner with all the time. I have many these friends, they make me laugh, and smile and are the people I want to spend all my time with. But they are not the people I would go to in a panic or move in with.

They are also the friends that you will fight with and it can either completely end the friendship or take days to go back to normal.

This is where your home friends are also important because when your friends in stage two are annoying and not helpful at all you can call that friend from home and rant for hours because they will listen and bash this girl or guy with you even if they have never even heard their name before. And in the end, you feel so much better.

My favorite stage of college friends is stage three: the ones who are becoming home friends. I have a couple of these friends here at the University of Maine. They are the ones who you will drop everything for, who will always make you laugh and be there when you’re going through a hard time. They know all about your struggles at school and are there when you miss your actual friends from home.

These are the friends you want to stay in your life forever.

My home friends are seven hours away and it is so hard being away from your absolute best friend and rock. Having someone who is honest, loyal, trustworthy, funny and makes you happy is the most important part of the college experience to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Your college friends can come and go but your home friends are never leaving.