Dear new friends I've made at college,

Thank you.

You made my transition into college about as smooth as it gets. You accepted me and all of my little quirks without a blink of the eye. You never questioned when I would respond to a question with a weird noise instead of using actual words. You would just laugh and shake your head as if saying. "Well. you're a dork, but I love that about you." If I would happen to get really excited about a band I love going on tour, or releasing new music, you would let me get all of the excitement out of my system before pointing out you have no idea who I'm talking about. You let me have my moment of joy, and shared it with me instead of immediately shutting me down and telling me you have no idea who I'm talking about.

Thank you.

You became my make-shift family when I was missing my own. I didn't always let on how much I was missing my family, but you all always seemed to know. And you would remind me how loved I am, and then proceed to suggest having a pizza night or a fro-yo run to distract me from missing my family for a few hours. I don't know if any of you knew how much that meant to me, but it meant the world. You all were so selfless when it came to helping me when I was bummed about missing my family. Even if you didn't have time for fro-yo or pizza you would send a cute picture of a dog knowing how much that would cheer me up.

Thank you.

You always made sure to take care of me. If I was sick you would prowl the aisles trying to find the medicine that best fit my symptoms even if I was no help whatsoever. You would surprise me with popsicles when my sore throat was lasting longer than we all thought it would. If I wasn't feeling very motivated but had a lot to get done you would be my motivator and make sure that what needed to be done got done. If I needed to practice a speech in front of someone, you would sit there and let me fumble through my first run, and then tell me everything you liked about it while at the same time giving really helpful constructive criticism. If I said that I was going to go and workout or finally do my laundry you would hold me to it, knowing that it's something I really need to get done. Most of the time you would even offer to do it with me, knowing that I would really get things done then.

Thank you.

My first year of college was better than my own expectations and I had pretty high expectations, and a huge part of that was being able to find such amazing friends that loved and supported me.