For many incoming freshmen, college is daunting for a number of reasons, including the course load and the expectation of "finding your place." We, as college students, have all had to step out of our comfort zones time in and time out and we aren't done stepping into new life seasons yet.

One thing I've come to realize after a few semesters in college is that my fears about not finding friends like those I had back home, or not being accepted by others, were completely bogus. While it may initially be harder to find good, solid, will-you-be-my-bridesmaid friends when you're just one of 60,000 students, those friends you do find are not convenient. In high school, you are friends with the people on your teams, in your classes, and in your clubs. You are rarely close to people who do different things than you, and that makes friendships a means of convenience. This is not to say that high school friendships cannot last a lifetime, but solely that high school friendships are formed off of a means of proximity and likeness. Your closest friends are naturally going to be those who you see the most.

But college friends? Those people are different. They're no longer the people you see the most and they're rarely ever the people in your classes. While organizations on or off campus provide us with people who are similar to ourselves, we don't always find our community there. Over the course of a year or two, we find ourselves closest to the people who have impacted us the most - the people who continuously seek after us as we seek after them. I've found that the people I want to surround myself with most often are the people who challenge me to grow into a better version of myself in every aspect of life. They're the people who will answer the phone anytime I call, regardless of the hour or the fact their phone is on 'Do Not Disturb,' and go for a run with me at any time just to blow off steam. College friends aren't there just when it is convenient or beneficial for them, but they're there just when you need them.

I once had a close friend, upon graduating, tell me that she invested her time in college in the people she would travel to see after they all went their separate ways. College and college towns are temporary, but the people we meet here don't have to be. This town isn't built to house every student for the rest of their life. This town is meant for reunions of college friends, alumnae events, and the Spirit of Aggieland that lives on in us wherever we go. The friends we make here may not stay near us when we graduate and move onto adult life, but they'll be the ones we take days off and weekend trips to go visit. They're the friends we will plan college reunions with for the rest of our lives. The friends you want your future family to know that the friends you should be investing your life in today, tomorrow, and for the rest of our college careers. College friends are the only permanent thing in a seemingly entirely temporary world.