You survived your grueling finals week, you moved from your dorm or apartment, which looks like it belongs better on an episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive" rather than on a college campus, back home, and for the first time in a long time, the weight of the world finally doesn’t feel like it’s all on your shoulders. You were reunited with your friends and family from home, and it felt oh so good. It's finally summer — the sun is shining, the weather is beautiful, and you are responsibility-free for the next two months. You couldn’t be happier to get out of your classes, and with final grades at hand, it set in that at last, you are free from the harsh pressures of college life, at least for a little while. But the final drag of summer has left you noticing a change in heart, a little something I like to call the summer slump. With quite a few weeks of the sunshine season under our belts, and only a couple more to go, we realize maybe summer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. If you are anything like me, you’ve been working yourself to death at a minimum wage job, you’ve had little to no social life, Netflix has become your ride or die, you spent most of your days bitterly jealous of everyone who looked like they’re having a more fun summer than you (which is everyone), and most of all, you miss your college friends like crazy and for many a good reason.
1. Your college friends are unique.
These friendships are much different than the ones you experienced in high school. You aren’t just friends with these people by circumstance because you were stuck together in the same building for 12 years; these friends picked you out of thousands of people to be the one they share their life with. For this reason, these are the friendships that truly will last forever. They’re the ones you’ll take cheesy candid pictures with on graduation day, they’ll be your bridesmaids and groomsmen, they’ll even be the ones for whom you ship the kids off to the sitter for the night in the event of a long anticipated reunion when you reach adult life.
2. Your college friends stuck by your side through all your weird phases.
College is the time we use to experiment and to find ourselves and who we really are as individuals. I think we can all admit that, from time to time, we’ve gone a little overboard in a desperate attempt to find some sense of individuality within ourselves. Whether you went through a totally crazy and rebellious stage or just minor changes, your college friends are the ones who stuck by you the whole time and loved and accepted who you were, even before you found yourself.
3. Your college friends value what is really important.
Your college friends have a deeper concern for you. They care about your well-being and happiness in every sense. While they want you to have your fun, they also care about the important stuff. They’re the ones who will drive you to the doctor, check up on your grades to make sure you’re applying yourself and push you to strive to be a better person all around. They care, they are concerned, and sometimes they even seem a little too invested, but at the end of the day, you can't thank them enough because you always know someone is there.
4. Your college friends are mature enough to realize that you will mess up sometimes.
They get that stuff happens sometimes, and they are always there to forgive you for your not so proud moments with open arms (and if they’re anything like mine, an endearing “I told you so”). They love you even when you don’t deserve it. Maybe you talked to your best friend’s freshman year crush, ate her leftovers, spilled something on the brand new shoes she let you borrow, or accidentally starved her fish to death when she went out of town for the weekend when she trusted you to not do any of those things. No matter how big or small your mistake, while they may be disappointed, they are always there to accept your apology and forgive you with an open heart.
5. Your college friends JUST GET YOU.
They know what makes you tick. They are the people who know what is wrong before you know yourself, and they know just how to fix it. When that loser breaks up with you, they know that all you need to feel better is a good cry and an entire 12-pack of tacos from Taco Bell. They’re the first person you text when you ace that crazy hard test and are probably already at your place to celebrate with you when you arrive home after it. Your college friends are your family when you’re away from home. They know you’re going to do stupid things, weird things, funny things and amazing things, and they’re more than ready to be the one who gets you through them. If only they knew how thankful we really were for that.
While the summer slump can be disheartening and make the return of the fall semester seem like a lifetime away, the best thing you can do is realize that it will be here soon enough, and with it will be your college friends, ready for another year of unforgettable memories. These are the friends we cherish because they will go through the most important parts of life with us during our greatest achievements and biggest heart breaks. They will be the ones cheering us on, pushing us to strive for more and holding our hands the whole way through. What could be better than knowing that in a few short weeks we finally get to return to friendships like that?
