I remember high school graduation like it was yesterday. We were lined up in the hallway in our gowns ready to strut the aisle of the church as if it was our runway.

All of us were so hopeful about the future; excited to embark on a journey and experience things we had never before. The idea of college rang a kind of freedom in our hearts. A place with no parents, no restrictions, and a ton of friends around all the time.

We thought what we saw in Instagram pictures or pictures on Facebook are an accurate depiction of college. Girls posing in the cutest little black dresses and candid smiles with their girl squad was what I was excited for. But I was just excited for the opportunity to finally learn about what I wanted to learn about and take classes that actually interested me.

I enrolled in my first journalism class, and I was ecstatic at the thought that this was the first step for my dreams to become a reality. As nerdy as it sounds, I was excited for those long nights in the library with my friends. But when I came into college and reality hit me hard and all of those visualizations in my head quickly vanished.

When I first came to GW, I was heard that in order to make friends, you had to keep your door open for the first week and people will just come in and introduce themselves to you. With my luck, we had a corner room. For those of you who don’t know the anatomy of Thurston Hall, our room is in a wee little corner where no one would walk to. In fact, no one would even know it existed if it wasn’t for our “Don’t forget about us” signs we posted right across the stairwell.

If it wasn’t for my 5 roommates, I would have no friends, and believe me, I wish I was exaggerating.

At least in my experience, making friends in class was hard. I would say I am a pretty social person, and I still had a hard time.

College has also really taught me the difference between acquaintances and friends. I had a lot of acquaintances who I made awkward eye contact in the street, unsure whether or not to say hi when we passed, but only a handful friends I could actually count on.

I guess that’s all you need, but as the semester wraps up, I can say I mostly still feel alone and a little lost.

It took a while to build relationships outside my dorm room, but now I have an amazing group of girl friends who I wouldn’t trade for anything.

What scares me though, is what will happen after freshman year when we aren’t forced to live with each other, or when the “honeymoon phase” of living with each other slowly wears away? When other relationships become stronger than ours?

I have made such strong connections I don’t want this to sounds as if I am not enjoying my college experience, because that isn’t the case at all. I love the people who I surround myself with and I love my classes, but let me be the first one to tell you that the night is usually not as fun as the Instagram picture makes it look.

When I came to college, I tried to fill that hole in my heart that was left when my best friends and I separated for college. Let me tell you one thing: that will never happen. There will be no one to replace old friends, however you make room in your heart for the amazing friends you meet in college.

As for my high school friends, the distance made us closer than ever. We took the fact that we saw each other every day for granted while we were in high school, so now that that’s not the case and we are spread out all over the country. Texts become Facetime calls and dinners when we are back home is an event that requires mandatory attendance.

There is something about long distance relationships that make you truly appreciate what you have. My family is 545 miles away from me yet I feel so close to them.
There is something about distance that makes bonds stronger, and although I miss my loved ones, I know that GW is the right place for me.