I found the people that bring out my weirdest side.
Moving off to college is a bittersweet moment. You are starting a new life, in a new town, with new people. That means making new friends. It's hard to grasp the fact you won't be 5 minutes away from your childhood friends or your high school bff anymore, but as they say it's time to spread your wings and fly.
Thankfully, it's not as bad as you expected, the whole making new friends thing. You are on a campus full of thousands of new adult-ish people looking for friends as well. Once you make your first college friend, you feel accomplished in a way. It gives you a sense of hope the next four years won't be so lonely. But then 3 months later you have friends that you met at football games, or the girl that sits next to you in bio, the guy who forgot a pen on the first day of class, all these people that you've become more acquainted with.
Making new friends in college never ends, as soon as you get comfortable with all these new people, you start a new semester and you gain more friends. Some people even find their 'crew'. And if you are as lucky as I am, then that means you have found your people. The ones that miss you while you are in class even though ya'll just had lunch together, ones that will take care of you when you are sick and all you want is to be home, ones that will celebrate your birthday because it falls in the middle of the class week, ones that will be anxiously waiting on the couch when you get back from your first date of the semester, ones that track your phone just in case they need to save you from said date, ones that will stay up all night to help you study, ones that will laugh at you and with you.
They are there to order pizza with you at 1 a.m., and to go out on the town with on the weekends, ones that wake up after a night of fun willing to go get hangover medicine; aka Whataburger.
You probably have a group chat going with your squad that keeps each other up to date over holiday breaks, or that you text when you find out good news, or that is just full of memes that you all relate to. You hate being away from them, and once you are with them again it's constant laughter and roasting. There is a variety of personalities in this friend group, but you all just happen to balance each other out. You start new traditions with each other. You know whether ya'll choose to stay in for the night or go out, it is bound to be a hell of a good time. They are there when you make a 34 on a test you just thought you had, or when that boy you had your eye on actually has his eyes on 14 other girls. You wait longer than usual to let them meet the boy you are dating because you know they are going to interrogate him and full blown embarrass you. But for some reason you love these pain in the ass friends, and you care about their approval.
Through heartbreaks, sick days, bad grades, bad dates, stupid boys, birthdays, shopping dates, late nights, family issues, drunk tears, sober tears, all of it, these are the people that are there to clean it up. You may disagree, and things may get ugly but you have a trust with each other that isn't questioned. If you are at a party and someone gives you the look, you know to gather everyone else and head out, questions will be asked in the car. Even if you are talking to a cute boy, or you're the current beer pong champ. These are the people that will save you from creepy guys at the bar, or will get out in the middle of the dance floor with you, even though none of you know the dances.
Each of you have an embarrassing night where your hair had to be held back, and there are pictures that you cringe looking at. But it's after drunk nights you realize you've got a set of friends that will last a lifetime. Cause lets face it, you've all probably agreed what would happen if you all ended up 40 and single. Sure you have friends from class or other organizations that you enjoy spending time with, but you know these are your 'ride or dies'. They'll be sitting together at your funeral laughing, because they know you'll be coming back to haunt them if they cry.
You feel like you've been friends for years, but it's only been a couple of semesters. These people hold some of your biggest secrets, but you wouldn't want it any other way. You still contemplate letting them have the microphone at your wedding because they have too many college stories about you and your grandma probably shouldn't know about the night you went 'bumpin and grindin'.
These will be the girls standing next to you at your wedding, the girls your kids will call auntie, the girls that you will meet up with every few years and reminisce on your college days with, the girls that no matter where you go in life or how long you've been apart, once you get back together you know the laughter will be genuine and the tears will be happy.
College gave me my people. My squad.
