Traveling back to your hometown after a long stretch away at a university can be nerve wracking for many. Personally, coming home often makes me feel as if everything has changed with out me; I am no longer a part of a community that use to be my whole world. Keeping in touch with many of my highs cool friendships has proven a challenge for me, either I am too concerned with what is happening at my university or with my new friends to keep track of the lives of my once best friends. Over the course of my freshman year in college I have realized that while developing new friendships is crucial to your college experience, holding on to old friendships is worth it.

Coming home to old friendships can be awkward and uncomfortable, mostly because neither party knows exactly where they stand with the other. In high school, I had a tumultuous relationship and worried that meeting up with her after the start of our freshman years at different universities would be awkward. Luckily, we attempt to keep up with each other since the beginning year and even regularly FaceTime. When I saw her, it was just like old times. We started playing our favorite songs while driving to get Mexican food. I was surprised how naturally we fell back into friendship and the old groove of things. Even though we have had our fair share of fights, I know that she will always be there for me and that element of our friendship is very special to me.

On the other hand, I have lost a friendship since the start of my college career. Over the course of our first semester, we mutually realized that our friendship was only a superficial facade to maintain social grounds in high school. Usually, this would make me feel sad or like I had done something to terminate our friendship. However, I discovered that our personalities clashed, and I was actually withholding how I truly felt in order to keep the peace within our high school friend group. People sometimes are only meant to be in your life for a season, and that's okay. Not all people are meant to be by your side forever. This does not make them bad people or disvalue the friendship, it just makes room for new relationships to grow in their place.

I have learned that friends are friends no matter where you meet them or the circumstances surrounding your friendship. I have made some pretty fantastic individuals at App State, but I also made some awesome friendships in high school that are still in tact today. It is interesting to take a step back and watch how college is treating them and to hear how they are also growing and experiencing college for themselves. Even if we have slightly changed, our friendship compatibility overshadows all of the fears and concerns I previously had. Some friendships have changed dramatically since graduation but the true friendships that were made will maintain the same no matter how far away you go, or where life takes you.