There are some people that you meet in life that you just know will be your forever friends—the friends that will hug you while you cry, the friends that will celebrate every life accomplishment with you, the friends that will watch you walk down the aisle someday. Finding your "forever friends" will most likely be one of the best things to happen to you, with the promise of a lifetime of love and support.

The beginning of my freshman year of college was met with a bit of turmoil and a lot of questioning what I wanted in life and if I was going to be happy away at school. Being so far away from home brought the typical fears of surviving without my parents and holding so many new adult responsibilities, but also brought the stresses of finding new friends, socializing, and stepping completely out of my comfort zone. I wasn't quite sure how exactly I was going to make new friends, and part of me never wanted to leave the childhood friends I loved so much back home, but I knew that I would never find the happiness I sought if I didn't find myself my own "girl gang" at school.

What began with me awkwardly introducing myself to some of the girls on my floor soon snowballed into the most incredible thing I could've ever asked for. Who would've thought that a group of eight girls who had never known each other before freshman move-in would soon become practically sisters? By the month of December, the eight of us were inseparable, and we did practically everything together. Countless late nights were spent watching movies in each other's dorms and stressing over exams. Weekdays were spent meeting for lunch and gossiping about the guys we met at a party over the weekend. I came to trust these girls with every ounce of my being, and spending just hours away from them gave me separation anxiety.

Unfortunately, as life goes on, things don't always work out in everyone's favor. Drama in a large friend group is almost inevitable, and while it did some damage to our foundation, we continued to hold strong. Petty arguments and disagreements led to some strains within the group, but no matter what, we would always find our way back to each other. Now, though we might be slightly smaller than the unstoppable eight that lived on 4th floor Hartranft Hall, we are still best friends who will always be there for each other, through thick and thin.

I am and will always be eternally grateful for these girls, so incredibly fortunate to have found my forever friends so early on in college. And I know that wherever life takes us, whether we're thousands of miles apart or within a five-minute drive of each other, we will always find each other. We will always be there for each other. Because that's what forever friends do.