After officially completing one year of college, I can truly say it was nothing like I’d thought it be. So many things have happened and so many things have changed, and put simply, I am better for all of it. I have grown and changed in ways I didn’t expect.
But none of that would have been possible without the people that I had around me.
It’s not easy when you first get to college and you are forced to socialize with thousands of people you’ve never met. Even going to a smaller school I found this overwhelming. At least when you meet people at home, you have living in the same location in common. Its not like that in college. You meet people from everywhere.
And lots of times, they may be absolutely nothing like you.
It’s scary to be constantly surrounded by faces you don’t know and try to navigate a new life. You look around the dining hall and if you don’t see one person you sort of know, you’re doomed to sit alone (on a side note, there is nothing wrong with sitting alone in the dining hall. To all future freshman: everyone does it!!).
But as a first semester freshman, sitting alone was the last thing I wanted to do.
Having friends is important in any circumstance in life, but even more important in college. You are on your own for the first time, and having people that have your back and support you in the good, the bad, and the ugly, is one of the most important things in having a good college experience.
Finding those people is the best feeling in the world.
People you can lay around and just talk with about absolutely nothing is the most amazing thing. Making friends in college is nothing like high school. You are free to be who you are, and I really believe there are people for everyone.
It is much, much harder to make it through your first failed test (it will happen), you first bout of homesickness, and your first time celebrating a holiday without your family if you have failed to surround yourself with people that only want the best for you.
After all, it is no secret that as human beings we desire relationships with others. The people you surround yourself with is vitally important, and finding the right people is like a match made in heaven.
I am so thankful for the friends that I found and am so grateful for all the times they were the family that I didn’t have with me. Finding good people is often hard to do, and when you do, there is truly nothing better.