Our friendship, unlike most other friendships, started pretty late in my college career. Most people meet their friends in their freshmen dorm or during formal recruitment, but not us. We met in a class, strangers forced to work together on a group project, but ever since then we were inseparable. From pulling all-nighters and running through the campus sprinklers at midnight to crafting for our littles together, you were there for it all. I didn’t meet you in the beginning, and I haven’t known you for very long, but you’re college to me. All the stress, tests, teachers, and crazy memories, and I can’t thank you enough, but I’m sure as hell gonna try.

Thank you for checking on me.

Whether you bought me food or coffee, or called me to see if I was on my way to class. Let me stay in your room when I had a little too much to drink, or walked with me to my car at night, you never hesitated to make sure I was doing okay.

Thank you for knowing how to make me laugh.

It really doesn’t take much to make me crack a smile, but you know how to get those good belly laughs out of me, the ones where you’re clapping your hands and gasping for air like an asthmatic seal. Whether it’s a YouTube video (I’m looking at you, Joe Santagato) or just reminiscing about something dumb we did, we can manage to make a joke about anything that’ll have us laughing for days after.

Thank you for always being down for anything and everything.

Sometimes I wanna be lazy and procrastinate or go shopping or watch that 11^th episode of Gossip Girl, and you never disappoint. You either join in on the fun or encourage me to go for it and then help me justify it.

Thank you for not judging me.

It doesn’t matter if I’m wearing yesterday’s clothes, eating enough food to feed a small family, avoiding the growing pile of laundry in my room, or spending money like my life depends on it, you accept my struggle. (Let’s be real, you’ve definitely silently judged me, but you just smile and wave and keep it moving).

Thank you for doing college with me.

We’ve gotten closer in the past two years than I ever have with most of the people in my life, and you’ve made the last half of my college experience the most memorable time of my life. Without you, I’d be the same girl I was as a freshman: alone, shy, and scared. Instead, I’ve become who I’m meant to be: courageous, sarcastic, and maybe just a little sassy, and I have you to thank for that.

Now that I’m graduating, we can’t register for the same classes or be forced to work together on group projects, but I know you’ll always be a phone call away when that Dan + Shay song comes on the radio.