To the friends I've made,

Thank you for the memories.

Thank you for the laughs.

Thank you for your presence.

Most of all, thank you for being there when I needed you and thank you for being in my life.

For many people, their first semester of college is a whirlwind and a large cloud of confusion. It’s off-putting getting thrown into a whole new environment where you know almost no one. You’re forced to find your own community and find “your people."

Having gone through two semesters and going into my third, I’m pretty confident that I’ve, for the most part, found “my people." A big thing, personally, is finding my own community and thus, my own people. Before I go on, I’ll explain. By saying that you’ve found “your person” (also a phrase quite popularly taken from "Grey’s Anatomy"), you’ve found someone you feel safe with, someone that you can have a 30-second dance party with, someone that you can tell all of your secrets to or even someone who you see all of these similarities between yourself and them where you say things at the same time or you develop very similar mannerisms the longer you’re friends.

College is this whole new environment you’re basically thrown into and it’s how you bring out your own presence that quite possibly makes a huge university that much smaller. But the people you put together as your own little community quickly become “your people."

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my own struggles of making/keeping friends, but overall, the people I’ve become friends with are people I’ve come to love. Even for the people that I already know and am so thankful for my life, I have two words: thank you.

Between the similarities, mannerisms and each memory created, I cherish every moment. If you haven’t or maybe you have heard me say I’m a big memory person, it’s true. When people say “find your happy place," memories are mine. I love reminiscing about each memory I can remember, even the ones that I remember from my childhood and seem completely random.

But from whatever has come from this past year, the memories made, laughs shared, looks given and so much more, I’m so glad I met you and know you. Just know that you’re becoming some integral part of my web of memories and friends. So thank you. Thank you for being there. Thank you for the laughs. And most of all, thank you for the memories.