With my first year of college wrapping up, I have finally come to the realization that some of the people who helped me get through my first year away from home won't be here next year. The first people I met in my classes will be sitting in seats hundreds of miles away next school year with a new set of friends to be made. It saddens me knowing that some of the friendships I've made in my time away from home may lose their kindling due to distance.

Being away from home for the first time forces us to go back to the basics. It may even be tough to say hello to someone on your first day of class. I remember my first ever class trying to work up the courage to talk to the people I didn't know around me. Little did I know the girl sitting to my left in that class would become one of my great friends Freshman year. Today I sit across from her typing this story which she may read later.

So to the friends who helped me get through my Freshman year, thank you. You were the people who willed me to go to my classes and get assignments done in the hope that we would come back for next year. My nights would have been spent in the dorms had I not known I could go anywhere with you, no matter what the time. My thanks cannot describe the love you showed me at my best and worst days. You gave me a second home to call my own.

Sadly not all friends can't return back home every year. Graduation, economy and many other determining factors decide who I will begin my sophomore year with. However, friendship traverses distance. I know that on any given day I will be able to reach out to those people for guidance, and to rekindle the friendship that was formed in that first hello.

College is the realization that we are entering the real world. People will come and go, but the memories you share with them will last a lifetime. The late night dinners, the 2 A.M. study sessions, and even the movie nights. No matter what the moments I've shared with you, are ones I plan on remembering.