Friends

At the end of high school I was always told not to expect my friendships that existed to last past a few months to a year after graduation. In some regards, that forewarning proved to be true but not completely. Today I have been out of high school for four years and I am still friends with two of my closest friends from that phase of my life. On the other hand, a handful of people who I thought I had life-long friendships with are no longer a part of my life. Entering college, I was sort of disappointed in the fact that I no longer spoke to so many of my so-called friends. In the midst of my disappointment, my mother gave me some great advice. She told me that “During your time in college, you are going to meet people who you will probably be friends with for the rest of your life.” At the time I was too focused on the friendships that had dwindled so quickly after high school to imagine her advice being true, but of course she was correct.

Since I began college four years ago, I have developed friendships that I cannot imagine being without. The type of friendships that I know will continue long past when we walk across the stage and receive our diplomas in May. One of those people who I have developed a life-time friendship with is now my very best friend. “I don’t know how we haven’t ripped each other’s heads off by now” my best friend says to me jokingly as we sit in our living room reminiscing on the past four years. On top of being friends since our freshman year of college, we have been roommates foe three years now (Including a semester studying abroad). Not only have we been roommates for three years, we were inseparable during our sophomore and junior year. We had all of the same classes, attended all of the same social events, and even spent all of our meals eating together. Most people question how we’ve never been in a single argument or disagreement.  It is all of these things combined that make me sure that our friendship won’t dwindle away and fade out once we leave LMU.

Many people may not take the time to think about the way that their friendships in college can affect their everyday lives, but they can play a very important role. According to the NPR article “How College Friendships May Affect Student Success” It's important to realize that friends can have academic as well as social benefits. Friendships created in college are unlike those that begin in high school or even sooner. In fact, in her article called “The Importance of Friends in College” Samantha Weller says, “College is not only the place where our true selves and intellectual identities come out -- it is the world of opportunities. Friendships in college aren't just different because there are thousands more people; people are there to learn and be themselves rather than "fit in.” I found what Weller is arguing to be very true in my experience fostering friendships I college. I have made life-long friends, and I am not sure my life would be the same without them.