One of the best parts of college is meeting new people and making new friends. Everyone told me when I came out to school that I would have a lot of fun, and that I would create a whole new group of friends. What they didn’t tell me was that that group would change around so much, or that they would become more of a family than friends by the end. It’s interesting how being away from home creates such a strong bond between friends.

The first semester is just a lot of fun and figuring out how this whole college thing works. You find a group and you party with them pretty consistently.

Then, second semester hits, and your hyped-up vision of the college life crumbles, just a bit, as reality hits you and you realize that you’re actually in school. Your circle of friends begins to add and drop more people, and you aren’t sure if you want to stay in yourself. The great thing is that this is when you find your real friends. When all the drama starts going down—and believe me, it will—who are your true friends? Who stays by you? Those are the people you’ll likely remember all your life.

Friends are essential at this point in our lives. We don’t have our family around us all the time. We have to create a new support system for the time being. It’s been amazing to watch my own friends lift and care for each other through this rough semester, treating each other as family.

That’s what we are. When one of us is going through a hard time, someone is always there with great words of wisdom (though no one is sure where they come from). I’ve watched how my own friends, and other friend groups on campus, are just so aware of each other and are so observant of the way people are acting around them. Friends really are the saving graces of the college life.

It’s crazy how fast life changes at this point in our lives, but it’s even crazier to see how many people come and go during this time. There are some people that you only were an acquaintance with one day, and you’ve become best friends with by the next. Some people you even hate at first, but you end up really loving them by the end.

College is definitely about education, but I think one of the most important things is that we’ve made some of the strongest connections in our lives here. These friends will leave for church missions, or for grad school, or maybe another university; but, they leave lasting impressions on us.

Everyone we meet leaves an impression, but it’s a miracle when we find those who we truly connect with and just love with what Kant calls a “complete friendship.” These connections we make are rare, but they teach us some of the greatest lessons of our lives. So, as this school year draws to a close, reflect on your friends, and make sure you let them know exactly what they mean to you.