With just a few weeks left until graduation, I am finding it especially difficult to come to terms with the thought of leaving this place.
When I received my acceptance to BU back in 2021, I was beyond excited. It had been my dream for years to go to school here. As an aspiring young writer eager to explore new places, I couldn’t wait to start my next chapter in Boston.
After a fun, yet fleeting summer, the time finally came to “ship up” to Boston. I remember second-guessing myself at the airport, again when I said goodbye to my family after three hectic but exhilarating move-in days, and still throughout the first few weeks of my freshman year. Feelings of self-doubt crept into my mind as I was thrust into a new and scary environment—Had I made a mistake moving away from my family? Would I make any friends like the ones I knew back home?
I had heard that the people you meet during those first few months of your freshman year wouldn’t be your friends forever. I am happy to report that the opposite couldn’t have been truer for me when I met my first, and forever, BU friends, Clara, Hannah, Eloise, Macy, and my roommate Chloé. These girls shaped my first semester and altered the trajectory of my entire BU experience in ways I could never have imagined but couldn’t be more grateful for.
Coming to BU, I knew I wanted to join a sorority in my second semester. Once again, I was greeted with feelings of apprehension amid the excitement of this new experience. On Day 3 of recruitment, I remember logging onto my Zoom call with Alpha Delta Pi and talking to a girl named Dillon—I also remember thinking to myself that she was so cool and that I just had to talk to her again. Because of Dillon, I knew I made the right choice in running home to ADPi, and that was only further solidified when she became my big.
Since then, watching our family grow has easily been the best part of my ADPi experience—first with my amazing little, Emily, who is the funniest person I know; next came my grand little, Kristiana, who is literally going to take over the world someday; to now, with my great grand little, Louise, who is the biggest sweetheart. As cliché as it may sound, this sorority gave me the sisters I never had growing up, and didn’t know I needed until we met.
There is something so unique and special about the bond you make with your friends in college, something that is unlike the friendships I’ve known since childhood. People aren’t wrong when they say your college years will be some of the best of your life, but they can also be some of the most trying, full of unexpected grief, uncertainty, and healing.
In the spring of my sophomore year, my Nonno passed away. I was beyond devastated and struggled for a long time to cope with my grief while living away from home. I don’t know what I would have done if it weren’t for the love and support I received from these very friendships to help me navigate the heavy weight of this loss.
The list of people I have to thank for being a part of creating my home away from home in Boston could go on for miles. To my ADPi sisters, my Her Campus ladies, and my best friends, whom I consider family, thank you for making the last four years unforgettable.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve found myself soaking in every piece of this city, this campus, the memories, this life that we’ve created—rewatching Glee with Clara (and our sweet treats) or running down the halls of Rich 13 to bug Caelan every night, buying matching purses with Hannah for Marmon and making it everyone’s problem, playing silly games and cracking jokes at the BU Pub with James, laughing with Norah in our Italian classes each semester, catching up with Chloé for long-overdue dinners, planning our weekly ice-breakers with Lilly for the HC writing team meetings and listening to each of their responses, dressing up in the most ridiculous costumes for generations of big-little reveal, all the facetime calls home that made seeing my family in person that much more special, popping over to Avery’s apartment and always staying for longer than I intended, asking my biggest mentors to write LOR’s for my law school applications and getting to tell them about my acceptances, or meeting Eloise at life alive for one “last first” lunch date. Every moment, no matter how big or small, has been a blessing that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
So, thank you, BU, for giving “home” an entirely new meaning. And to that scared little 18-year-old girl, wondering if she made the right decision all those years ago, I am here to tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, the answer is yes.
It definitely doesn’t suck to BU.
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