It's crazy that my freshman year of college has practically ended, and how quickly the year flew by. Yet what is even crazier is how much has changed since the day I moved into my dorm.
I can vividly remember the first night, and the entire first week. College was super overwhelming, and it felt so lonely to not have a group of friends to go out and explore campus with. I have never felt as homesick as I did that first week, and I wanted more than anything to have friends there with me.
Luckily, the weeks went on, and I began to meet the girls in my hall who would end up making this place feel like a home. We all endured the first month of classes, going through sorority recruitment, and experiencing what college exams were like. Through all of these things I began to realize how incredibly lucky I was with the hall mates that I was randomly assigned.
We would all joke throughout the year that we were by far "the best hall in the entire building," and while I don't care whether or not we're the best hall, the people in it sure are some of the best people I've met at Michigan.
I have no idea how I would have survived freshman year if it were not for the girls of Third Elliott. You guys were there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on, you made studying for brutal exams way more bearable, and you gave me weekends full of adventures and laughter.
Six o'clock dinners with our huge table made the dining hall food taste so much better, going to the gym was somehow fun when I went with you guys, and trips to the grocery store or the mall felt like trips to Disney World.
I remember my mom sticking an article in my first care package that first week of school that stressed the importance of "finding my tribe." A tribe that you can go out and have fun with, but one that you have just as much fun with if you stay in. I am so lucky to have found that tribe, and that we all got to live just doors away from each other all year.
I don't know how I am going to survive the summer with us all spread out across the country, and I can't wait for our reunion visits. Thank you for making Michigan feel like home, and for being my family here at college.
