Coming to college, I knew it would be hard to make new friends. In high school, I always had a solid group to hang out with, considering I was on my dance team and spent practically every day with the same people. It was comforting to know that I had a lot of people who would always have my back and were willing to making plans whenever or wherever.

During the first week of college, I became closer with my roommate and met some of the girls on my floor. I wanted to get to know as many people as possible so that I could develop another big friend group, similar to the one that I had in high school. To be completely honest, it was hard to talk to several new people at once; trying to figure out what their interests were, where they were from, or what classes they were taking was difficult. I was automatically thrown into a diverse group of people, so I had to gauge the vibe that I would be getting from others, or the vibe I would be giving off myself.

My main goal, though, was to find friends that would be just as awesome as the ones I have from high school. I knew that the only way I could meet new people and make friends was to join clubs and get involved on campus. It was slightly overwhelming to find my niche and join clubs that sparked my interest, considering Penn State is so big and has so much to offer.

After really putting thought into it, I decided to join a sorority. I knew that being involved with Greek life would help me make tons of new friends and connections that would last a lifetime. I only knew one girl that was planning on joining the sorority I was looking at, so I was a little weary as to how I would connect with several other girls.

At the first event I went to for the sorority, one of the girls approached me and asked me more about myself, where I live on campus, what my major was, and why I wanted to join a sorority. I thought, “Wow if this is how everyone is going to be, I think I’ll be able to make lifelong friends.” Low and behold, I kept in touch with the girl who approached me, introduced her to my friend that I already had, and together, we made it our mission to get to know people as soon as possible. We went to events together, talked to other girls in the sorority, and started to make those vital connections. After some time getting acclimated to the sorority and the other girls, we formed our own small friend group and have been inseparable ever since.

Just to solidify how strong our friendship has already become in the past few months, my one friend got us all matching rings with our names and letters on them. In my opinion, I think that is the true definition of a lifelong friendship. It's a bond that I can’t share with anyone besides my sorority sisters. Every time I wear my ring, I know that I’ve found my people here and they’ll always be there for me. We constantly meet each other for lunch, go to dinner before meetings, go out together on the weekends, or just text in our group message whenever we can. I’ve never felt more comfortable, or more “at home” with a group of people in my life, and I couldn’t ask for anything better. Every day I’m thankful that such wonderful people have been able to become my best friends, and I only look forward to the upcoming years with them.