I went into college terrified that I was going to fail miserably at making friends; nightmares of wandering around alone and dealing with the stresses of this next chapter plagued me. Orientation was awkward, generally doing icebreakers with a ton of people you don't know is, but I have to be thankful for that weird period, because it gave me one of the best parts of my life thus far, my friends. We've been to hell and back already, so this is for you guys.

My gratitude for your weirdness is unending.

I know that normal is up for interpretation from person to person, but I feel incredibly blessed to have found a group of people who are my kind of weird. The nights spent getting inventive to cure boredom were some of the best nights. Whether we were bowling in the halls with water bottles and a basketball, or pissing off the people downstairs because we were having an overly aggressive dance party, I never felt like I had to hide any part of myself. We never cared if people were looking at us, because we were enjoying ourselves. Your weird compliments my weird, I dig that.

Your tough love was appreciated.

Sure, in the moment I wanted to sucker punch you in the face for telling me I shouldn't be upset about what I was irrationally crying over, but in retrospect it helped me. Sometimes I needed the harsh truth, whether I knew it then or not. Thank you for telling me to shut up every time I said I was going to drop out and be a stripper, and thank you for pushing me to be the best me when I let myself get down. You were tough on me, but it made me stronger.

You've all taught me a lot.

Before school I couldn't throw a Frisbee to save my life, which may seem like a stupid thing to be happy about learning to do, but I was happy to learn with you. There are so many small things that you all probably find trivial, but learning how to do them from you was important to me, because whenever I do it I'll think of you. Far beyond the little things, you all taught me how to keep an open mind and an open heart. We're all different, and I love you all for individual reasons, but also unconditionally. You taught me that it's okay to not be okay, and I learned quickly there'd always be someone there for me when I needed them. The new experiences I've had with you are something you couldn't pay me any money to replace. I'll always have little pieces of you guys with me.

Thank you for strapping into this roller-coaster.

I can be a trip on my best days, and we won't talk about my worst, but you guys always stuck it out. Sometimes we screamed at each other, we didn't talk to each other, but at the end of the night we worked it out and hugged and compromised. We've laughed together, so hard that I may have a chance for abs, and we've cried together, we've sat at three am and contemplated every aspect of life. I wouldn't trade any of that for the world. I had no expectations for my college experience, but somehow you've helped me exceed them and we have many years ahead of us. Some nights we cried over sappy movies, and others we sat up all night laughing at nothing. You were there smiling with me at the highest points, and you picked me up at my lowest, and I will be forever grateful. I hope the next year gives us a ton of opportunities for two am Sheetz runs even though we swore last night was the last time we'd eat after eleven, and even more time for sitting around doing nothing together. I'm glad we can appreciate a comfortable silence with each other; I know sometimes you just want me to shut up. I tell you I hate you all a lot, for bad puns and stupid jokes, but I love you to the moon and back. There will never be enough thank yous, but this is a start.