College is already a strange place on its own. It takes a lot of adjusting to and can be some of the best years of your life if you do it right. This is partially due to the vast amounts of people you meet from the second you step foot onto the campus of your choosing. I feel comfortable speaking for myself and many others when I say that college was terrifying until I had a steady group of friends who were willing to tackle this beast of a next step in life with me.

Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who lives in the same state as my college. I can’t imagine how intense the first day of school must have been for someone who came from out of state. I finally made it through the first semester- something that I had been dreaming of for as long as I can remember, but I can’t say that I would’ve been able to do it alone. Not to make this sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, but I would like to thank my friends for being there for me through it all. I couldn’t have survived the SEC without a group of wonderful people carrying me through it; these friends were always there as a therapist, study partner, mother or father figure (you know who you are), party buddy, someone to come to outtakes with me at one in the morning, and everything in between. These people have grown to be a family to me, and that’s more than I could’ve ever asked for when coming to college. It’s funny how you grow used to seeing each other every day, and only being a short walking distance from them at any given moment.

Recently I saw a tweet that said something along the lines of college students living a double life due to their friendships at school compared to their friendships back home. While you may not change the type of person you are once you get to college, you definitely meet new people, and in my case, I have met almost entirely new friends. You grow accustomed to these people and then winter break rolls around. You’re excited to go home, to see your family and high school friends, but driving away from campus, you are also leaving behind another part of you. I couldn’t help but get emotional on my drive back home.

For the next month, the friends that I have grown so close to will also be at home; some live a few hours away from me, others live a few states away. Virginia, Maryland, and Florida to name a few. I’m so excited to be home and see all of my friends from high school who decided to go to college out of state. I’m thrilled to have things back to normal for a while, but half of me is definitely in Miami right now, and I can’t help but hope that this break goes by fast so I can get back to that LSU family that I’m missing so much.