Sitting here, over two months into college and almost halfway done with my first semester, one of the biggest things I've had is not talking to my friends from past years. Whether it be with acquaintances from middle school or high school, it just seems impossible to keep in touch given the demanding workload that everyone has to deal with. If you're like me, life feels incomplete without these people, and you're left with this feeling of loneliness inside of you. These kind of feelings can sometimes make the good memories you have with your friends seem small, leaving you to only focus on the bad parts.

Just reflecting on my closest circle of friends in this mentality has made me question whether or not these guys even consider me friends to this day. A story that starts at the locker in the basement of a high school at 7:40 in the morning. One couple and three others, five in all. We would talk about the most irrelevant things and make no sense whatsoever, but at the end of the day we all laughed and had a good time. Sure there was a dynamic between any two people in the group, but I'd like to think we were one small happy family.

It was no secret that two people (of the remaining three) in the group liked each other, and the only problem was that they didn't know it. Being the great friends that we were, we had to get them together, a plan that ultimately worked.

That only left one problem: me.

What do you do when you're in a group of five and four of them are in relationships within the five? How do you continue to be friends with these people when you would perennially be recognized as the fifth wheel? What happens when this "family" you thought you had starts hanging out as double dates, leaving you as the sole person on the outside? This was the case for the better part of a month and I didn't know what to do.

I considered leaving these friends because I knew I was the odd man out - the only one who didn't fit in the dynamic anymore. I thought that there wasn't going to be anymore of "the five of us", but rather just two couples who would remain best friends. Sometimes today I even think that's still the case, even though one of the couples broke up. I feel like less of a member of this circle of friends and as a result I just told myself that they didn't want to be friends with me anymore.

In spite of that, somehow, some way, I managed to remain in contact with all of them. I hope that I'm able to say that I'm good friends with all of them on my last day in college, and I hope to say the same on my last day on this planet.

The second you enter college, you're thrust into this new world, a new life cycle that you will endure for the next four years. You meet hundreds of people within the first day, and even so only a select few will keep in touch with you. Your friends are no different. They are in the exact same situation at you, and they will meet many people who they will be lifelong companions with. At the same time, it can make you feel a bit sad, as you can think that you've been replaced by a new group of people, and that all your old friends have moved on from you, never to talk to you again.

Any change in friendship can bring along these emotions, and they are hard to move on from, but if you and your friends know the best ways to keep in touch, then any friendship can survive any test. Social media was created for a reason, so utilize it in the best way possible. Phones were created to talk to people, so do that. Don't forget to meet new people along the way, but always keep the good ones close.