The statement "your friends are the family you get to choose" could not be more accurate. Your friends are the people who are there for some of the biggest parts of your life. I always thought my best friends from home were bound to be the only best friends I ever made in my life but that was until I got to college. I made even more new best friends and had more experiences and memories. I couldn't help but think I was a bad person for having a new set of best friends until I realized it was totally acceptable to have both groups and have them all be my best friends. The experiences I had with both groups are completely different than each other and that is why there are so many differences between home best friends and college best friends.

Partying:

Your home best friends are always going to be your first memories of partying. You'll never forget your first Mike's Hard in your friend's basement at a sleepover where you thought you all were the shit. You'll never forget the first time you cracked that Four Loco open after your high school football team won states. Your home best friends were the first people you drunkenly cried with and then held your hair after you thought you can handle more than you thought. These memories were the first pieces of fun and excitement of partying and you'll never forget who you had them with.

College friends have been there for the worst of the worst. They know about the time you went to that certain frat party and danced on the table until you and seven of your sorority sisters broke it and all fell on each other. They are also the people you experience your first bar with, drinking cheap dollar drinks until you yack all over the hot guy you've been seeing who surprisingly still likes you by the end of the night. They were the people you pre-gamed with the first night of college when you were scrambling to find someone who can get you alcohol. These precious memories are made even better with the thought of these new friends who will last a lifetime.

Boys:

Ugh, your home friends experienced every boy problem you feel like you ever had. They were there for the first time you had a boyfriend, and the first time a boy broke your heart. They know the certain hometown boy who always seems to come back into your life, even when you aren't too sure you want him in the picture. They are going to be the ones at your wedding saying "thank god" when you make a joke about how you're glad you didn't end up with that stupid jock you dated in high school, but most important they are going to be the ones who reflect on your earliest guys and are so proud to have seen you grow.

College is such a weird time when it comes to relationships and that's something your college friends could vouch for. The awkward "Are we dating? Are we not?" is something you say more than a few times in college and your girlfriends were the people who really were they to answer those questions for you. They were there for that boy you made out with at your crummy bar and that other one you went to a formal with that just didn't work out. They will also be there at the wedding but to cheers to you not dating the frat boy who did a backflip off his porch and landed on his back in front of 100 plus people.

Friendships:

Although college changes people, you really can tell who your real friends from home are when you look back after the first few years of college and look to see whose left. Those people who are still there for you when you transition from high school to college are the ones who are really there for you in the long run. Despite the distance and new friends, the bonds you still have from high school are some of the most precious things to hold onto. They know you inside and out like your old favorite book and will always be there no matter where the tides turn.

College is such a new and exciting time. The friends you make are so different from your home friends but that's what makes these relationships so special. You had these girls when you first became independent. They were there for you first college house, the first time you did your laundry and shrunk everything two sizes too small, and even the times you were homesick, they nursed you back to life. They were there for four of the hardest years of your life but also some of the most magical and that's something you all will never forget.