Freshmen year of college was definitely the most frightening thing I thought I was ever going to have to experience. A whole new town, far away from home, without my parents--I was honestly so scared for what was to come. I had to pack up my room at home, and shove everything into a tiny dorm room, that I would also be sharing with another person. I was lucky in the fact that I didn't have to do a random roommate because I was going to room with someone I was friends with in high school, so at least I had a little piece of home with me. Coming to college, I had no idea what to expect. I knew that the homework would be a lot harder and the food wouldn't be as yummy as a home-cooked meal (my dad is the real MVP when it comes to making a delicious meal at home). I also didn't know what to think about being stuck in a hall with multiple girls that I had never met before. Needless to say, I didn't think that I was going to enjoy dorm life whatsoever.

As I began to meet the other girls in my dorm hall, I realized that some of them were actually really nice. I met each one little by little, and sometimes randomly without even realizing we lived three doors down from one another. Once we all started remembering each other’s names, we then started hanging out, but at the time I didn't think anything of it, and I had no idea where the friendships would lead. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned to months, and I started realizing something--I was spending every free moment I had with the girls that I was so scared of having to live in a hall with. I never thought that I would ever become such great friends with the girls who were randomly placed in the same hall as me. I couldn't be more thankful for the long nights of talking and eating string cheese in a hall-mates dorm room, because that is when I met some of the best friends I could have ever asked for. They turned a scared, little, college freshmen, into someone who had friends to eat in the caf with, and just to talk to on the days I just didn't feel like doing homework. They made me miss home a little less, and made college that much more enjoyable. I would have never thought that I would meet so many great friends, that only lived 10 feet away from me, but I did. Not a lot of people get the lucky dorm experience that I got, but I am so glad I did. I mean, I still had to deal with the bugs, hot rooms, and cold showers, but my dorm hall friends made it a lot easier to deal with. So thank you guys, for making me feel at home, for being my friend, for not making dorm life so sucky and for making my first year of college one I will cherish forever. I know we are all sophomores now, and we don't live right down the hall from one another, we also hardly get to speak, let alone hang out anymore, and some of us don't even go to the same school anymore, but I will never forget the memories we've made, and the talks we shared.

Love Always,

Lindsey from NL 108