Leaving family and friends 614 miles behind and starting a whole new chapter at college is a terrifying task, and the months and weeks leading up to the big move is filled with anxious visions of what college is really going to be like. However, Pacific University offers this thing called Voyages which is essentially a bunch of different outdoor activity trips all over Oregon for groups of Freshmen who are interested and willing, and I thought it would be a great way to settle in early and of course to make new friends.

On our move-in day we played ice-breaker games with our group and looking back now it’s insane to think that one of my favorite people was just the girl who could make 350 milkshake flavors and liked elephants. But what actually started one of my first college friendship was a painfully awkward 2-hour long conversation on a bus. It was one of those long, and drawn out small talk conversations with plenty of awkward silences to fill in the lulls in conversation. By the end of our 5-day voyage I knew Lisa was the one person I really wanted to be friends with and the one person I hoped she wanted to be my friend too. It was an extremely childish thought to have but entering college feels like entering kindergarten in lots of ways--mostly in the sense of just begging people to be your friend is a semi-socially acceptable thing to do.

The first few weeks of college are a blur of school events, traditions, and people. It is hard to even explain the uniqueness of college friends and how much these last few months and these people have changed my life. Now, Lisa and I sit and laugh at how strange and silly our sides of the story of our friendship are and how much has changed since August. Lisa and our close friends do everything together; from breaking out into song, spontaneous trips to see Moana, spending too much money at the mall, and facetime calls when we are on break. I love most things about college and the new people, friendships and relationships are at the top of the list.

So while I did pay 600 dollars for my Voyage, I now like to say that I paid 600 dollars to meet Lisa, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I have tried to write this article a few times, and I cannot seem to quite capture whatever I am trying to say so here comes the obligatory cheesy friendship pictures.