Being a freshman in college is not an easy task. You’re back to being the newbie. The newbie, which is the one who has no idea where anything is, and trying to make new friends can be pretty awkward and impossible. You try to march confidently through the beautiful quad of campus and end up dropping all of your books or tripping in front of everyone. While not even a single person is probably paying attention to you, you know that you haven’t changed that much from that awkward freshman that you were in high school.

I consider myself lucky. A few weeks into school I got a job on campus. I couldn’t help but to apply to the busiest place on campus… Starbucks. The job wasn’t the best pay, but I figured it was a great way to meet new people and really get to know the campus! Lucky for me, I was right. Not even two weeks in, I met a girl that completely changed my freshman college experience. I automatically knew we’d be friends when we both had the same sense of humor (and she could reach the top shelf when I couldn’t)!

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A few weeks later after we had gotten to know each other a little better I found out that she lived in the dorms. This is such a struggle for a commuter like myself. People want to hang out, but I live a good distance from campus. It’s hard to interact with people who live right by each other when you have to drive so far. You don’t feel as involved, and you don’t know much about what’s going on. When my friend and I got closer, she asked me to stay the night. I COULD NOT wait. It was so new and exciting! It turns out… I was completely wrong. Well, maybe not completely, but there were a few downsides!

First of all, I slept on the floor. For some reason, I assumed there would be a huge, glorious bed awaiting my arrival that night. It would have pillows galore, and a soft fuzzy blanket that was ready for me to shimmy my way under. To my surprise, all I had was a blanket, a pillow, and the rock-solid ground beneath me. Needless to say, no shimmying was being done that night.

Next, people were still up even when the sun was rising in the window. Trust me, I knew because I thought they were insane, and I had been listening to their loud music the whole night. I found it amazing how they stayed sane with such a little amount of sleep. Also, meeting all of those new people was pretty intimidating. I’m very personable, but it was a lot to take in in one night…and then there’s always that one person that expects you to remember their name after only meeting them once! Like who am I? There’s no way I can do that! Maybe the letter it starts with…but don’t set your expectations any higher than that!

Honestly, though, this experience made me thankful. To the person (my person) who took time out of their freshman year to help me socialize, I am so grateful that I met you. You helped me in more ways than you know. Regardless of sleeping on that horrible floor, or the noisy people running down the halls in the middle of the night, you helped me meet people that I will never forget and that I will always have. You made me feel like I had a home away from home. Anytime I needed a shoulder to cry on, you were that shoulder. We saw each other through everything this year… between our first wild college parties, Zumba every week, seeing our accomplishments and failures, and talking each other into eating those Boss Burger’s (when we knew we actually needed a salad), you took me in as one of your own.

So to the girls and guys who took the commuter in, thank you for sharing everything that you own with me, and thank you for making me feel like I have a second family. You were truly a blessing.