When I first entered college, I was sure that I would never be able to find friendships like the ones that I had created throughout my childhood. When you are from such a small town, you go to school with the same people from kindergarten until the time you graduate high school. Because of that, I had best friends that I had been friends with for many many years.
After high school, I felt a little lost. I was excited to meet new people but I was afraid that I would never have the same kind of connection with anyone ever again. But then I found my friend group.
As I started to become more comfortable with the people around me, I found the one thing that I thought I wouldn't find: best friends. And college best friends are different than any other best friends. College best friends are so much better.
1. They are there for you at one of the weirdest parts of your life.
They entered your life at a transitioning stage. At this point in our lives, no one has it figured out. No one is sure of anything and everyone is always slightly afraid of the future. You are at a point in your life when you are realizing that it is less important to have a ton of friends, and more important to have real ones.
2. They will take care of you.
College best friends are the best friends who take care of you when you have one too many Tsunamis or decide to start the night off with a Long Island. They are the ones who relentlessly document your whole night for the sole purpose of embarrassing you later and often times they're the ones buying the shots that result in an unexplained bruise (or 3) the next morning.
3. They do crazy things with you.
College best friends are the friends who come up with crazy ideas to which you automatically answer, "if you do it, I will!" As long as they're there with you, it can't be that bad of an idea, right?
4. They put up with your drama.
College best friends aren't phased when you text them a book sized text about your guy problems. They've been there and they've got your back. Just hope that you aren't in the middle of class when something big happens, you may never catch up to that group message.
5. They watch you mature.
College best friends have seen you during the time that you have grown the most in the shortest amount of time. They have seen you go from the high school version of yourself to the version that is ready to take on the real world. Because of that, they probably know more about who you really are than most of the people you've known for years.
6. They are always there for you.
But most of all, college best friends will always be there for you. The next part of your life involves a lot of hard work. You might never have the chance to do whatever you want on a random Tuesday night again. These are the friends that you'll call up to complain about your jobs and your busy lives. These are the friends that will convince you to come back to your college town in ten years to relive the glory days. And let's face it, you'll be the old ladies causing trouble in the nursing home.
Just remember that that is exactly what you are living right now. These are your very own glory days. Thank you to my best friends for helping me to make some of the most amazing memories and for making sure that I take a risk now and then. You guys are the best friends that I could've ever asked for!
"It's better to look back on life and say: 'I can't believe I did that.' Than to look back and say: 'I wish I did that.'"
