No one really tells you what it's like to leave your best friend for college. It's around mid-year when you start to really see where you'll end up at school. Some friends will bear the cold at Syracuse, Michigan, and Indiana while some will find themselves in the warmer climates of Florida, Tulane, and UCLA. Regardless of where you go, if your best friend and you choose different schools, there's no doubt that the tears will flow, the time spent with each other becomes more important, and the inevitable feeling of depression and hurt ensue. You will talk about buying plane tickets and driving the 14 hours to see each other on alternate weekends. You will make plans that seem so farfetched, but you still choose to believe in them because it's all you will have left of your best friend once you leave.
It soon becomes May and after all of the nights you've done sleepovers and parties you soon remember you must pack your clothes to start your new adventure away from your special person. FaceTime becomes overused and you spend late nights awake staring at your ceiling wondering if you'll drift away from your best friend. It's the day to leave and now your friend boards the plane to move in while you drive to school with your parents. You beg your parents to let you fly to your friend's school, but reality sets in and you know you won't be able to do this.
You arrive at school without your person and reminisce about all of the good times high school carried. As you enter your dorm room and meet your roommate you realize you can't do this. However, take a breath. As a few weeks settle in you realize the people at your school are the ones who will support you no matter what. You go to tailgates and football games and see the light from the darkness. You go to class and feel happy for the first time in a while. You share a few laughs in the library and attempt to get work done. You forget why you worried so much about leaving your best friend because you now made 100 new ones. Now if that one person from home you spent your high school days with are really your best friend, they’ll still be with you no matter what you do. They will visit you on occasion and you’ll be reunited on breaks and vacation. Everything will be ok and your days of worriment in your room scared to venture off into the college world will now seem like a distant memory.
