One of the scariest things about going to college is meeting new people and making friends. Most first-year and transfer students wonder how they will fit in. We ask ourselves, "Will I ever find my people?"
It may take days. It may take months. But, it does happen.
I made a few great friendships in my first semester of college, but it was not until my second semester that I found an amazing group of friends.
I was discouraged in my first semester because I did not quite fit in yet. I did not have a great relationship with my roommate. All of my friends seemed to belong to already-formed groups that I doubted would include me.
After my first semester, I started to give up on the idea of belonging to a group of friends. As a shy and awkward person, I typically have trouble finding friends, so I was used to not having a large group of people to call my friends. I did not expect to be popular by any means. I had already convinced myself in high school that it was the best thing in the world to have one or two really good friends.
It still holds true that having one or two best friends than having 100 friends that are just acquaintances. But, I soon learned that having a solid group of friends is one of the coolest things in the world.
I was almost positive that all the applications for friend groups had been closed for months by the time the second semester rolled around. I must have missed the memo that they sent out during orientation.
Then, one of my close friends introduced me to a couple of her friends at lunch. Eventually, I got to know the members of her group through lunch and dinners that my friend invited me to. Each one of them seemed extremely nice and friendly. At that point, I was really wishing I had got the memo about friend groups. I was just the friend that always crashed the party – if you can consider meal time a party.
Somehow, over time, this amazing group of people began to actually invite me to some of their outings. We formed a group chat and just like that I had found my group. In college, things are a blur and I still am a little fuzzy on just how everything came together but what I do remember is that by the end of the second semester I was friends with the best people in the world.
We had spaghetti nights, Panera outings, and even a picnic during finals week. We have inside jokes. And, on many occasions, we lost track of time telling stories about our home towns or talking about life.
Our group studied outside together, ate together and laughed together. At the end of the year, we helped each other move out of our dorms. Everyone was so fun to be around that it was hard to leave. Luckily, most of us will be rooming on the same floor next year.
I am so incredibly thankful to have a fabulous group of friends that will always be there for me. I never expected to fit in but I finally found my people.
