Dear my resident advisors,

Thank you. I am so super lucky to have had you both as my RA's in my freshman resident hall for my first semester. Coming to college was such a scary thing for me and I didn't think I was going to be able to adjust well at all.

Going through my first couple of weeks, I started to make some friends and felt a little comfortable with being in a completely different environment. Eventually, I started to sit out in the common room with my friends and we would just sit and talk, getting to know each other. Sometimes we'd do homework, other times it would be bonding over watching Judge Judy or Jerry Springer. I was finally happy with my friends, but I wanted to make sure I was able to have more connections.

My RA's started to notice how we all sat outside in the common room literally every single night. Like, I really don't know when we weren't all out here. They started to sit out with us for a few minutes at a time getting to know us, and I thought that was really awesome. A lot of other people have never even had conversations longer than a few minutes with their RA's, let alone late hours into the night talking about life.

We all started to get to know each other so well, and it was great seeing either of my RA's walking on campus because they're so nice to me and always say hi. I finally felt like I had a group I was comfortable with, and I felt like I had actual people I could go to if I had any problems.

Then, I had a problem. I started to have a problem with a previous relationship I was in and it affected where I lived. I had to move to a different resident building in the middle of the semester, and it was so sad. The RA's that were there for me and who I could always see, well, they had to sign me out and check my room where I turned my key in, saying I wasn't living in this buliding anymore.

"We're always going to be your resident advisors, call us if you need anything."

I know it sounds so cheesy, like how could a first semester freshman become so close with their RA's so fast, but I honestly loved this building and I loved the staff. I'm so grateful that I met these two girls, without the two of them helping me either academically or socially, they were without a doubt there for me.

So, to my lovely RA's, thank you guys for showing me what it's like to have compassion for other people, even in the hardest situations. Thank you for being a friend and a mentor at the same time. Thank you for the laughs and the nights out in the common room until 3am. Thanks for letting me eat your food and steal your comfortable blankets. I'm so happy that you still treat my like your resident, even though I now have two new RA's.

Thanks so much to the two of you,

Much love from your fav cinnamon apple.