The hardest part about college is realizing that you no longer have a permanent place to call home, and everyone has potential to be a temporary person in your life. Believe it or not, even the house you grew up in won’t feel the same and then friends you left behind will meet new friends. Part of the problem is that once you leave for college everything changes.
If you think about it, your home is more or less a vacation home with the addition of your parents and any siblings. A majority of the times, all of your friends from high school won’t attend the same college as you, so breaks usually act as the only designated time that you have to catch up.
We all develop into different more mature people throughout our college years, and part of me believes that is because our college becomes our temporary but permanent home. Depending on the school, a lot of students live in their own apartments near campus and that in itself is the initial step to determining your permanent residence in your college town. Home indefinitely is where your heart is.
Not to be a dramatic college student, but it just feels different and a part of everyone dies whether or not they want to admit it. A contributing factor to this epidemic is the realization that it is harder than expected to keep up with old friends. You don’t know awkward until you’ve thought of a memory that you shared with a new friend and have tried to share it with an old friend.
Trying to keep old friendships intact while creating new ones is the hardest process ever. It’s basically another form of a long-distance relationship. Whoever said long distance relationships don’t work surely hasn’t met my friends and me. The bond between girls and the length of their friendship is stronger than anything. If you’re both on the same page it’ll work out.
In a perfect world, everyone would be able to live the best of both worlds and balance a relationship with new and old friends. Too bad we don’t live in a perfect world. I’m not implying you have to choose between the two, but basically, you have to choose between the two. Even if you try to level out both of the friendships and try to provide an alternative to choosing favorites, it most likely won’t work.
The first actual fight my best friend and I got into was over a new friend she made that she tried to hang out with during my only time away from school. At first, it was a slap in the face and I was heartbroken because it genuinely did feel like this kid had swooped in and stolen my best friend in what felt like less than 2 months.
Little did I know that was the process of growing up. At the end of the day, no matter who “steals” your friends away from you, you will still have an unbreakable bond. No one will be able to replace the life-changing memories that you both have experienced with each other.
