In life, you do not meet a lot of people that you automatically connect with. People that you do not have to put on a face for and try to impress. A person, who you swear you have met in another life or maybe just your souls have met.

The older we get, the more we realize it is not important to have many friends but to have a few quality friends. So quality over quantity when it comes to making friends. That means it becomes a lot harder actually to make friends with people because you are making sure they have the qualities that you seek to a friend because there are too many phonies out there.

The first year of college came, and I was anxious to start making new friends and branch out. The people in my dorm immediately become my friends. We watched movies together in the lobby and we all that need to want to fit in and find our niche, so we found that in each other. The friendships I made were very simple, and I did not sense any red flags, so I continued to stay friends with them. My friends were a lot similar to me in the sense that we were all from small towns, so we shared the commonality. A few of us had some deep conversations. It was evident that we did not know each other.

The second semester came, and I start drifting away from my intentional friends. Of course, we still hung out and did things together, but it just wasn't the same. I start venturing out and making new friends because I realized I had nothing to lose. This was college and if I couldn't push to my limits know when would I ever get another chance to do that in a safe place such as my Gustavus bubble. I met some cool people who made me see the world differently. Friends who challenged me in all aspects of my life. People that I shared good laughs with, smiles, tears, and everything in between. I was slowly finding people in my life that shared similar values, but who were at the same time very different from me. It was just an exhilarating feeling. My already big smile was just getting bigger and bigger.

The second semester I also met my twin. At face value, this girl and I are opposites. Everything from skin color to body shape, but at our core, we are so similar. She was a friend of a friend, and we decided to take a walk to the Arb one day, and we had one of the best conversations I ever had. Since our arb adventure, we become inseparable. Where Emma was, Hanan was. We did homework together, eat food together and even had slumber parties. Towards the end of the semester, it became evident that the school was just not for my friend and she was talking about transferring. I was devastated, but I wanted her happiness more than I wanted her here with me. We promised each other our friendship would survive this, and we would keep in touch, but I was very skeptical, but I give us the benefit of the doubt.

Year three and our friendship is stronger than ever. We visit each other, text, and have wonderful phone conversations. This girl inspires me with her strength and endurance. Her ability to see the best and everyone and everything is something that I truly admire. I have been blessed with a pearl, and everyone deserves to have an Emma in their life.