Let me make one thing clear before you read this: neither category of friends is better than the other. Both sets of friends are awesome and will be in my life until I die, but they are different. It’s that simple.

Living in a dorm last year with 60 other girls is A LOT different than seeing your friends in school every day and having sleepovers. When you live with a person, they see you at your worst very soon after meeting you. You are forced to talk to them rather than choosing to. It isn’t a forced friendship, but the initial conversations are. It’s a new place with new people; it’s a huge change that I didn’t know I was ready for.

Living with some of your best friends is awesome. It makes the friendship super easy during the school year when you can walk across the hall and vent to your BFF about whatever is irritating you, or cry, or get help with homework. Then the summer comes and you don’t see each other for a few months, but when you return back to campus in the fall it’s as if you never left.

That’s the greatest thing about both friendships: it’s like you were never apart when you are reunited again. Going home to see my family is wonderful for sure, but I look forward to seeing my friends just as much. They’re like my family too. They’ve seen me grow up and go through the awkward middle school phase when everyone wore too much eyeliner.

Sometimes you drift away from people in middle school, and even in high school, but the ones who stayed by your side are the ones you should ALWAYS keep by your side. They have heard all your secrets and gave you boyfriend advice and comforted you when you cried about that stupid boy. Some of the greatest memories you have with your hometown friends were possibly made in school. I met my current boyfriend in middle school. He was/is one of my best friends.

My best friends from home are the ones who are with me during the summer, saw me play soccer when I was five, cried with me on the last day of middle school, threw our caps up in the air together on graduation, picked out prom dresses, stayed up late working on group projects, plucked each other’s eyebrows, and so so so much more.

My best friends from college see me with no makeup on every day, we get to learn about each other’s past instead of watching it, we learn to compromise to make things work, learn to communicate better, grow so close so fast, and get to find out which Netflix shows you and your roommate can both obsess over.

I love my friends from home and my friends from college both so much. I couldn’t imagine my life without them. They have taught me so much and we have made so many memories that I will hold onto forever. Both friendships are adventurous and full of love, and that’s most important.

Thank you friends for shaping me into the person I am!