Growing up in a small town in West Virginia, I saw the same faces every day as I went to elementary school and then high school. The faces got repetitive as I never really was that great of friends with too many people from my hometown (I had my gang - I haven't forgotten about you boys), I never really thought I was much of a social person. When I got to college, I never really expected things to change. I came to college with a cousin who was my best friend at the time, and a boyfriend who I thought the world of and I thought that was going to be the basis of my friend group. Until it wasn't. They both migrated out of my life very quickly, and I fell into a group with amazing people who have made the beginning of my freshman year nothing less than memorable.

The first few weeks of college I went through a rough patch of being lonely and trying to discover who I was. I was really vulnerable and susceptible to the world around me until my friends came in and accepted me. They restored me to the person I was pre-college, maybe even pre-high school because they listened to what hurt me and told me ways to mend it, and held my hand as I attempted to. They've seen me at my worst, so they can see my thrive at my best.

We've shared some of the most awkward, funniest and happiest times of my life so far - and freshman year has just barely begun. We are a close knit unit of listeners, menders, problem solvers and even group mothers. We accept our differences, and choose to learn from them to expand ourselves and our minds. We are a diverse group of friends, and we wouldn't have it any other way. We lift each other up, with open arms to catch each other if the others ever fall back down.

I've been given some of the best advice of my life as a freshman in college, and this advice has been given to me in the heat of dorm rooms, in the cafeteria that has hit or miss food, walking down the cracked sidewalks because physical plant chooses to drive up the sidewalks with their cars and even at parties in the middle of the night. I'm thankful for these people to take the time out of their busy lives to care enough to advise me on what they think they can improve on my life, and things I could do to make myself happier. I've never had friendship that went above and beyond like that.

I'm thankful for the life changing experience that has been the friends I've made my freshman year, you've changed my outlook on friendships and relationships. You have shown me that I am worthy of friendship and companionship, and you've forever shown me that loyalty comes in the form of best friends. You all will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I love every single one of you.