Everyone says that college is the best four years of your life. You'll meet your best friends for life there, your future bridesmaids, and for some people, your future spouse. I tried my hardest to go into my freshman year of college with this mindset: that meeting new friends was okay and that being away from home was okay. But, truthfully, I felt like I had already found those things.
My senior year of high school has probably been one of the best years of my life so far because of my friends. My high school best friends are some of my favorite people in the entire world, and are the people that I want in my wedding, and who I hang out with whenever I come home for a break. They are the people who know me the best, and the people I most want to spend time with. So why do I need to try and find other best friends?
This may sound super cheesy and cliche, but I'm also at the point in my life where I am with a guy that I genuinely want to spend the rest of my life with. Everyone says a high school relationship will not last outside of high school, but here I am, halfway through my sophomore year of college and we are still going as strong as ever. What's the point of going to frat parties and flirting with meaningless guys if I already have a guy that I love with all of my heart and who I genuinely want in my life for the rest of my life? He's my best friend in the whole world, and knows things about me that even I don't know about myself. So why would I want to toss him aside for meaningless hookups in college? It's just not me.
I also have an amazing family who I am so close with. When I'm at school, I text my mom all day every day, call my great-grandmother once a week, and keep in touch with everyone as often as I can. Being away at school and away from them is so tough for me, and coming home for a break or even just a weekend is honestly what gets me through each week. I count down the days until I get to go home, because I get to see my family, my friends, and my boyfriend.
My freshman year of college, I felt so guilty for going home so often. People would even tell me that I was missing out on the "college experience". But so what? What if the college experience just isn't for me?
As a sophomore, one of the best things that I have learned is to stop feeling guilty for what I want. If I want to go home every other weekend, so what? If I want to drive down to visit my boyfriend multiple times a semester, so what? If I want to stay in my room and watch Netflix instead of going out all night every weekend, so what?
If people want to judge me because I am not living up to their standards of the college experience, then that's fine. Judge me. I'll be happy at home on the weekends in my own bed with my family down the hall from me, and my friends and boyfriend just a short text, Snapchat, and phone call away.
