I took a semester off and that was easily one of the hardest yet, most important things I've done in my life so far. I'm not here to talk about that though, and if you'd like to read about why it's okay to take a semester off you can check out my first article here, Taking a Semester Off. Because of this, making friends turned out to be not as easy as I'd imagined.

One thing I expected going into school was to meet "my people" pretty much as soon as I got there. Or more realistically to be introduced to a bunch of people and at least have a temporary group of people to hang out with for a while. However, that never happened for me. Maybe it's because of the fact that during my time off from school I learned how to be myself and became incredibly more introspective about myself and who I am.

On the same note, it doesn't make it any less hard for a naturally extroverted and slightly codependent person, like myself, to come to terms with this.

I can remember being in my dorm on my first day, not clicking with my new roommate, and not really finding a way to integrate myself into the dorm community in my building. All I could think about was the fact that I am lonely, just utterly lonely here. Sure, a countless amount of people I know from high school attend my State School but, none of them were the type of people I wanted to be friends with.

I had a dream of being a part of the rowing team and tried desperately to join even though it was second semester and the odds of the team accepting a new member were slim to none. I rushed sororities even though their whole platform went against all of my moral beliefs, solely because I couldn't handle the fact that I was essentially a loner. So after exhausting all of my efforts to find a group of people that I could call "instant friends" I decided to just give up. I made friends with people in my classes and eventually we got dinner together sometimes but, I still hadn't found "my people."

All my friends from home would talk about was how happy they were with their new BFFs and how incredibly lucky they were. It's not like I had no one, I would talk to people in my dorm sometimes or people from my classes. However, the culture at my school was a lot less accepting than I had thought. This meant that I would meet people and we would be friends but, I never got introduced their group of people, the friendship never went past us two. Therefore, I ended up with a bunch of acquaintances in a bunch of different places.

Yes, it's discouraging to have a goal and idea to finally meet the people you truly connect with and love like your second family. As the overused, cheesy saying goes, good things come with time. This story doesn't have a full circle ending where I meet amazing people and everything ends up okay, in the end. This is real and raw, to state it blankly: I still don't a best friend at school nor have a met a group of people I can call my chosen family. However, I've learned to accept the fact that it's okay to be alone.

In this year I've spent getting to know myself I've learned a lot about who I am and the way my mind works. I spent most of my life trying to make sure I fit in with a group of people and making them happy. I neglected to take care of my mind and body. I used to be too afraid to do almost anything alone. I wouldn't go to the gym if my friends didn't want to, I wouldn't watch a show if my friends didn't like it all because I was too insecure in our relationship to make them unhappy.

But, I neglected the most important relationship--the one with myself. I used to be afraid to be alone because I was afraid of being by myself with my thoughts and needs. Now, I am comfortable enough to realize that my body and mind need to go to yoga and the gym when I feel it's the best time for me, not when it's convenient for other people. It may seem small but, it's a big accomplishment for someone like myself.

As all the incoming freshmen will be coming to college for the first time I want to share what I've learned about being at school. I came in with the notion that it takes five minutes to meet your best friend and that you'll never have to be alone because you're around your best friends. I learned really quickly that that is so incredibly wrong and a really unrealistic expectation to put on yourself.

College is a time to explore who you are and you can't do that if you're just trying to fit in or connect with people. You need to get comfortable with spending a lot of time by yourself because that's the only way you're going to really connect with yourself. Take time to go into town by yourself and sit in the smoothie shop with an overpriced, organic juice and your homework and just relax. Don't worry about all the people in that store who came in with a cluster of people.

Just remember that in time, people will connect with you. You can't put a timer on things like this because you'll never feel satisfied with yourself.