When asked about the biggest concerns that one has before going to college, the answer, "I'm nervous that I won't make friends," tends to be a common trend among future college freshmen. Going to a completely new place around completely new people can be overwhelming. Simply resorting to the comfort of high school friends or "home friends" frequently feels like the easier option.
I truly thought that if I didn't go to school in my home state, I wouldn't be able to make friends and relationships as strong as the ones that I had back home. I was, nonetheless, frightened to go to college and I didn't even want to try attempt to make new relationships. Now, sitting here six months later, I am forever grateful that I did.
To the friends who I didn't know a year ago,
I didn't realize that there were other people in the world who could understand me as much as my friends at home did. I also never acknowledged that the friendships that I could have here would be some of the greatest that I've ever had. I remember telling one of my friends before leaving for school that I was going to "change" in college. I think that I used the word "cool" to describe the type of person who I would become after my freshman year. Honestly, I thought that I needed to change in order to make friends because I thought that no one in college would accept the bizarre, frequently overemotional person who I am. While I didn't know it at the time, I was going to find the people who could, in the words of my best friend, "match my crazy."
I probably met you in the most unlikely of places or in some other weird circumstance where we both thought that we'd never really be close. It might have been at one of the new student events or in my rush line. When I met you, I didn't know the impact that you'd have on me. I didn't know that the girl in my rush line who I eavesdropped on would eventually become the person who I call at 2:00 a.m. to talk about my night or the person who already knows every detail about my life, despite the fact I've only known her for a few months. I didn't know the friend who I met through mutual friends would be the one with whom I swap the ugliest Snapchats and FaceTime with, even when we live 15 minutes apart on campus. I especially didn't know that the girl who I met on Roomsurf would become way more than just the person who I share a room with.
I want to thank you. Thank you for convincing me that it is, in fact, possible to have best friends in college. Thank you for being there at 2:00 a.m. when I needed you to cry to or to watch a last-minute rom-com with me. Thank you for showing me what I'd always been missing and for being the people who made me want to continue being the person who I always was without every worrying that I wasn't "cool" or "good" enough. If we could become this close in a span of six months, I can't wait for what the future holds. You've made me a stronger person and, for that, I am overly grateful that I chose to get out of my comfort zone and attend a school that feels like light years away from home. In fact, you've made this new place my home away from home. While I'll always have my friends from high school, I've now found a new type of "home friend" in all of you and I couldn't be more thankful.
So, here's to many many more brunch runs, date parties, late night phone calls, and broken hearts because I wouldn't want to share them with anyone else.
