Going to college is a major life change for everyone with the opportunity to advance their education. It comes with a more rigorous academic schedule and workload, but it also comes with a completely new social situation. For someone going out of state to school, and the only person from my high school in the entire university, it makes an even more dramatic change.
Being thrown into an environment without one familiar face is alarming. But there are so many opportunities to meet new people and it keeps life in college exciting because you are not stuck in the same group as you always were. Not having any obligations to anyone else and being able to just do your own thing is so liberating.
Of course, this does not mean that all of my high school friendships dissolved. However, it emphasized which of those friendships were worth keeping around. Seeing the choices that some of my friends have made after they moved to college revealed a lot of true colors of people that I once held very close to me. It's a new concept for a lot of college freshman to understand because everyone goes through some form of a change when they move away. But some changes are a bit too drastic for comfort. My friends that didn't get so wrapped up in their own lives to forget to reach out are the ones that I know are worth keeping. There is something incredibly exhausting about having to be the first person to reach out every time you want to be in contact with a friend too, so cutting out friendships that do not work both ways have also been a relief.
Having certain people from my life and my routine from high school leave for other people is also a major change that I've experienced but wasn't expecting. Some people completely cut off communication just because of who was and was not in my life anymore. This hurt at first, but I realized that the people who thought that bailing on me was a good decision are not even worth the effort. It's hard to miss people who only held you back, and easy to see how people can just be fair-weather friends. Instead, when seeing that I was having a rough time, the people who reached out to me and comforted me with their words and friendship are the ones I know are worth keeping around. There is nothing more comforting than having these real friends so close to me and pick me up when I'm feeling down or just to talk about anything.
It is also important to point out how being in college makes it so much easier to find new people to spend time with. People at school have been able to be a source of positivity, comfort, and friendship. These people have also helped me through my rough times, handle the losses of people leaving my life, and have also showed me what true friendship is.
I know that every person who has entered and exited my life stayed or left for an important reason. The transitions that have occurred in my life showed me who really is good for me and who I don't need to have around, and it is all for the better.
