My mother always told me that when I went to college I was going to meet some of the greatest friends I will ever have in my life. As much as I hate to say it, she was right. Looking back on first encounters, wild nights and daily lunches, I can honestly say you all have made college something I will never forget. You're some of the loudest, craziest and overall most insane people I have ever met before, but the thing is, I could not imagine it any other way.

I know that I make you guys crazy most days. You all drive me crazy too. And we probably make everyone else around us crazy in the manner of yelling at each other when we’re crossing streets, when we are screaming in a fit of laughter in the cafeteria, or the obnoxious amount of Snapchat stories we post of each other doing generally stupid things on a day to day basis. I’d say Cal Lutheran is probably sick of us by now, and will be referring to us as a group of wild hyenas when they hear us coming, but honestly that makes our friendship that much better.

You probably all have wanted to kill me at least once since the beginning of it all, but you haven’t acted on that urge, and I’m really glad that I have each and every one of you in my life. When it comes down to it, my life would be a hell of a lot more boring without all the dumb things we do, and all the memories we’ve made since meeting that one fateful day when you decided to introduce yourself to me (sorry, you’re stuck now).

We’ve all come from different places. I know we all talk about our friends from back home and how they can never be replaced, and don’t get me wrong, they never will be replaced, but there is something to be said about the friendships we’ve made here on campus with each other. There is something to be said about the movie nights, the ice cream and boba dates, car rides to the beach with the windows down screaming to music as loud as we can, and the endless selfies we have from nights venturing off into the streets of Thousand Oaks with no destination whatsoever. They are some of the best nights I’ve ever had.

I know we all have those moments of homesickness, weakness or even worse when we’ve had to take care of each other. There have been sicknesses, injuries, and few broken hearts and livers. There have been days where you guys have taken the bad and made it good once again, and picked me up off the floor when I was in a million pieces. There are some days where I don’t know where I would be without you guys by my side, and I can honestly say my life has been utterly changed by the presence each of you have in my life.

I look forward to the future, where we’ll be in the next three years, and the number of memories we will continue to make as we attempt to figure out college and life in general. Things will change, there is no doubt about that in my mind, but I know for a fact that what we have here will go the distance. I think that not only would the patrons at Cal Lutheran miss us and our fits of laughter, but my mental state would shatter, and we all know that no one needs that.

So to the best friends I’ve made at Cal Lutheran, this one’s for you. Thank you for being my friends, and thank you for making my life so much sweeter.