“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”

~ Amy Poehler

Living in an apartment in college is fun; you finally have your own room, bathroom, kitchen and so much more. You don’t have to walk down three flights of stairs or take an elevator to simply do laundry. No more timing when you’re going to take a shower because you share a bathroom with your entire floor. No more dining hall food, where you eat the same boring foods every day. You’ll actually know what you’re eating because you’re the one putting food on your plate. But what’s better than all of those things? The people you live with, because they are the ones who will put a smile on your face at the end of the day.

To my apartment mates,

Thank you for putting up with me for the past year; I know living with me may not be easy and you’ll get annoyed with me at times (probably more than you want to), but I wouldn’t choose anyone else to live with my last year at college. We’ve had our issues, whether it was with taking out the trash, unloading or loading the dishwasher, or cleaning, but we managed to get through it. If something was a concern we’d address it right away. But despite all of the issues we all know how to have a good time (maybe a little too much fun), especially now that we are all of age.

Spongebob. We quote it on a daily basis and have come to the conclusion that it’s another language we speak. People who visit probably think we’re weird and are concerned for our mental health, but we don’t care. We watch it so much that we know the exact hours during the week they come on, and when that happens we’ll all sit down and watch it while reciting an entire episode, or five.

It’s a miracle when all of us are together for a meal because we all have crazy schedules. I treasure those moments the most because that’s where we have our deepest and most interesting (most of the time random) conversations and get to know each other better than we already do.

The best part about living together is that we are each others' therapists. It’s nice that we live with a guy because when one of us is having boy troubles (which is on a daily basis) we immediately go to him. Getting a guy's opinion on that sort of thing comes in handy. None of us sugarcoat anything, which I love. We all love each other and know that all of us can handle the hard-core truth.

Meagan: I’ll never forget you coming into my room every morning (sprawled out across my bed) or standing in front of my heater because it’s like an igloo in your room. You know how to make everyone laugh, whether it’s the things you say or the stuff that you do. You’re a burst of energy that’s never ready to give out. You’ll try and cheer everyone up no matter what it takes, even on our worst days.

Andrew: You never sugar coat anything; you tell it how it is and that’s that. Your sense of humor is something else. You’ll make one-liners that will all have us laughing for minutes on end. More importantly, you care about each of us in so many ways; you’re like our own personal bodyguard. You always have our back, no questions asked.

Natalie: Out of all of us, you’re probably the one who quotes Spongebob the most. You’ll send in our group text random Spongebob memes or gifs throughout the day. You’re always a good person to talk to because somehow you’ve been through it all so you can relate easily to whatever one of us is going through. You’re one of the most caring, loving people I know and you show that every day.

“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”

All of you have impacted my life in more ways than I can imagine. You all show your unconditional amount of love for each other and that’s one of the things I admire about each and every one of you. You inspire me every day to become a better person for others and myself. You have all shaped me into the person I've become today and that's one of the best things you've all done for me. I wouldn't have been able to make it through these past four years without any of you. I know that if I ever need anything I don’t have to hesitate to go to anyone of you.

Thank you for making my last year of college one that I’ll never forget. Even though we may get sick of each other at times, I couldn’t ask to live with a better group of friends, a group of friends who will be for a lifetime.