There comes a point while you’re in college that you establish your group. They are the friends that you always hang out with on weekends. Most likely they are your first friends you met when you began your college career. When you go out to parties or to an event it is most likely the same group of friends.

They know the ins and outs of your life, know your class schedule, about your family, alcohol preferences, Starbucks order etc. They could walk into your apartment or dorm room run into your room and jump on you until you show some sign that you are alive and ready for class or a night on the town. Those people, those friends are your family.

While living in the dorms we would all have different class schedules. We would see each other in passing or met up at a meeting point on campus (Starbucks in our case) to talk about classes, goof around or just procrastinate college obligations. Some days we wouldn’t see each other at all.

One thing we would all try to do by the end of the day is all get together for dinner. Dinner is the time of the day to unwind before heading into a long evening of assignments and take a breather from those pressures for an hour or two. Just like with your family back home, these friends are my family away from my family. I would not survive college without them.

Now living off campus with some of them living in dorms currently, it has become more difficult to see them throughout the week. Work hours, opposite class schedules, and time aside to do assignments are all factors that have contributed to some distance. For my close knit group who is used to seeing each other everyday, it is strange if one person strays for too long. We become worried and check in on them to make sure they’re okay. Reassurance is key that all is well and that life just became a bit busier.

Yes, we see each other on the weekends which is time to catch up from the past week's events. We unwind, have fun and some bizarre shenanigans is bound to happen (which leaves us with another life long goofy story to tell).

We all just got together and had a Taco Tuesday. By far, it was one of my favorite evenings spent with my friends. Everyone contributed to make that awesome dinner happen. From cooking and getting the toppings together to the clean up afterwards (thank you, thank you). There were laughs and we all were relaxed. There was nothing crazy just some tacos, Coronas, and conversation. We all hung out in my living room and watched David Ortiz’s last game against the New York Yankees. I could not have asked for a better evening.

Of course it sucks when homework creeps back into thought after a nice dinner, but that’s okay. Even just a few hours makes a difference in all of our evenings whether you realize it or not.

Aside from just the weekends, it is okay to make time. Make time for your friends. To me they are my second family. As crazy as we all are, we all love each other just as much. Have those Taco Tuesdays or Stir Fry Thursdays. Screw a dinner theme, just get together, or send out that goofy Snapchat just to know that you appreciate having those friends in your life.

Like my dinners back home, we would talk about how our days were. I didn’t realize I took that for granted until I got to college. Now, I have those dinners away from home, at my second home with my second family.