We’ve all heard the phrase. We think of long nights spent with great people. We think of fun parties or even just sitting around a board game laughing in the way only your friends can make you laugh. What I didn’t realize is how special these people become. No one understands the bond of friendship that one finds in college until you have experienced it.

Yes, you will spend long nights anywhere from a fun party to the library or in your bed binge watching Netflix. College students are notorious for not getting enough sleep. So yes, there will be long nights that turn to mornings. But it isn’t all bad. Those nights you spent staying up late with your sorority sisters laughing at one another’s jokes or eating popcorn and watching a silly chick flick will become amazing memories. That awesome fraternity party you went to last year, again, will make a great memory. So don’t always go to bed early, you might miss out on some really great adventures.

College is where you make your true friends. That’s not to say the high school ones aren’t important or become less relevant, but there is something about the college life and experience that binds us all together. You used to be able to spend too much time with your friends. You would both get tired of one another and start to bicker and fight. When was the last time this happened in college? It happens much less. Now, especially when you live on a college campus with your friends, or even near them, you go home to them. No longer do you spend a long day in school and in classes and go home to your parents to eat dinner and do your homework; instead, you will go home to your friends and tell them all about your day. You will call your parents when you get exciting news, but most likely, your friends will know first. I think it’s just part of being in college.

When you set out on this journey in your early twenties, it is defined by looking for who you are, who you want to be. Mentally, are brains are coming towards the end of their development and we’re becoming more (not completely) rational thinkers. We are trying (and sometimes failing) to make it on our own. We’re still learning that time management is key. We’re trying to have it all: the social life, the grades, and sleep. Basically, these four years, and probably longer, will be spent trying to figure it all out. However, we are all trying to figure it out together.

I’m not sure if it’s the particular atmosphere here at Birmingham Southern that encourages this family-like closeness, but I like to think it is our human nature that drives us to band together. We talk about it again and again. BSC is like a family. We support and praise each other, and always band together when life gets rough. You will meet your people in college. You will make amazing and unforgettable memories. So here’s to those nights, those mornings, those friends, and that family.