College provides you with an array of opportunities. You can take that anthropology class you’ve heard so much about or you can join any club on campus that appeals to you. College is a place where you can easily find so many new things to experience. Among those new things are the people you will meet. Some will be professors you doubt have a degree. Some will be your residence hall neighbors who either play to your good side or the side that wants nothing to do with them. No matter whom you meet, I can guarantee that the people you call your friends will be both the best and worst relationships you’ll have on campus.

Having friends in college can sometimes be one of the greatest things during school. You met most likely within the first month of school and because everything was so new and you were both so nervous, you came to an unvoiced decision to call each other friends. This may have happened just because of the first day jitters, but the unfamiliar feeling between you guys doesn’t last long. You end up actually liking each other and getting along to the point where one a.m. conversations become a sort of tradition. You find that you can always count on your friends to run to the dining hall with you at all hours of the day because let’s face it - ramen can’t really carry you through the whole school year. Coffee dates turn into study dates and study dates turn into late nights and having someone to sympathize with how tired you feel come the early mornings. Friends in college become more like family, but at some point, you hit a wall.

When school is over and everyone starts to pack their bags, the realization hits that you won’t see each other again until September. Sure, you had that thought every now and then during the year when your friend mentioned something from their hometown. You both come from different areas and you live in different cities, different counties and sometimes even different states. However, no matter how much planning you’ve put into the trips you would make to see each other when summer came around, it becomes more complicated when you’re actually rolling your suitcase out of your residence hall and you give that final wave goodbye through the car window.

You text a lot and send each other endless pictures of your pet you’ve claimed they need to meet or the little brother that you absolutely have to come babysit with her sometime, but it’s not the same. Seeing each other is possible but it all depends on how far of a drive one is willing to take or the train schedule for that day if driving isn’t an option. Let’s face it, we’re college students. Planning is not and never will be our strong point. The truth about having friends in college is that it can be both the best and the worst thing in the world. You miss them when you’re home, but when you’re at school, they are your home. It’s hard, but it’s worth it. They say the friends you make in college are friends you’ll have for life - maybe that’s simply because we already know what it feels like to be separated, and yet we never miss a beat when we’re finally together again.