Every year, the time comes to say goodbye to your bff at (insert school name here) and return back home to your other bff. May is this weird time when one part of your life gets paused and this other part of your life hits play again. Fortunately for you, just because one part of your life is paused doesn’t mean it won’t start up again when August rolls around. The friends you make at school are amazing, and you could not imagine being away from them for three months because who else can you hashtag drunk selfies with on a fraternity porch? The answer is no one.

But these friends at school are also the friends that your parents have never met and you have never gone to high school with them, and because of this they have no idea how much of a dick Mr. Murphy from AP English is or how Chad’s ex-girlfriends best friend is now pregnant with twins. Friends at home are the friends who will probably always “get you.” They were around even when you thought ripped jeans and hot pink eyeliner were cool, and they continue to be your friends even though you now only see them for three months a year, if that. You constantly text them during the school year and Instagram photos of them constantly when you are home, but then suddenly, as quick and easy as it is to fall back into sync with them, they are gone again.

Now you are back at school and can make all these great memories with your friends at school again, because drinking without Melanie and Peter is just not possible. It may feel weird at first, being back at school with different friends, but they are just as amazing as your friends back home, and what almost makes them better is that they don’t know about who you were in high school. How are they to know that you dumped Homeroom Brad at turnabout, and he ended up crying and his mother called your mother? Well they have no idea and probably never will, and that’s completely fine because you and your friends at school have already found a new Homeroom Brad, and his name is Film Studies Steve and you know his gym schedule.

The beauty of having friends at home and friends at school is that each group creates different beautiful memories. Your friends at home can’t take drunken selfies on a fraternity porch with you, and your friends at school could never drink that whole bottle of Riesling before seeing Aunt Suzie and your mother for lunch. It may be depressing in the beginning, but after a couple days, you realize that you wouldn’t have it any other way. Making memories and meeting new people is just too good to turn down, and you know that your best friends will always be there for you no matter if they are at home or if they are at (insert school name here).