In our culture, it's difficult to succeed in life without meeting the right people. Unfortunately, meeting any person has been a foreign concept to me for as long as I can remember. Despite my love for people, I could never quite make that key connection with anyone because I was scared that I would make the wrong first impression or that I couldn't keep the conversation going.

With that being said, you could probably imagine how amazed I was when I came into contact with people like you; with seemingly no effort at all, you came up to me and struck a chord. While I sat there wondering what you needed, you pulled me into your own little world for a few minutes.

At this point, I finally register in my mind that you want to be friends with me and hey, I want to be friends with you, too! But since I didn't have all that much life experience, I probably had no idea of what to talk about. Luckily for me, you were willing to pick up the slack. As we continued to talk, we came up with our own inside jokes, helped each other out with assignments, and ranted about how miserable our sleep schedules were. You've probably had similar chats hundreds of times, but for me, each conversation felt like a new experience. I don't know if you remember all these moments, but I still like to look back at them whenever I'm idle.

And it's because of moments like these that I feel so comfortable going to college. My past self would have been terrified. Rooming with strangers, attending classes filled with literally hundreds of people, confronting professors who may or may not do me dirty; there's simply no way I could have kept up. However, thanks to you, I more or less got the hang of talking to people. Your influence hasn't gone unnoticed; I've probably picked up your sense of humor by now, and I've got plenty of memories to work with if I want to spice up a conversation.

We probably haven't talked in a long time, and for that, I apologize. I really do enjoy talking to you, but I'm still not the best at maintaining friendships, and I don't want our little reunion to end just because I ran out of things to say. Even if I know how to make new friends, it would be a shame to let go of the people who got me to this point. Whether you're outgoing toward everyone or just saw something special in me, I couldn't begin to tell you how grateful I am that you took the first step.

So, please keep on cracking jokes to the shy classmate sitting next to you. Keep tagging them in irrelevant memes, and keep letting them know that they're on your mind. You have no idea how much they appreciate it.