Freshman year is a whirlwind of getting situated in your Warren Towers dorm room, heading to Allston for parties, and dealing with tough professors. Everybody is looking to make new friends. Get excited for (and watch out for) the five types of friends you’ll make this year!
Your FYSOP best friend
Although a lot of participants love doing community service, let’s get real. The purpose of the First Year Student Outreach Project is to move in early to beat your roommate for the best bed, and make new friends. Over the course of the week, as you are screaming chants and “riding the pony” with a bunch of other excited freshman, you are bound to connect to one or two of your group members. This is your “FYSOP best friend.” As many people have compared FYSOP to camp, the FYSOP best friend is like your friends from camp; you’re best friends at camp, but how much do you really talk during the school year? Make an effort to stay in touch as other extra-curricular activites pull you apart by setting up a Facebook group or thread to keep in touch.
The people you crawl with
The term “freshman crawl” refers to the first couple of weekends of the first semester where freshman are usually seen in packs of twenty or thirty stumbling in their heels to find a party in Allston. While the parties are usually a disappointment (especially if all thirty of you can’t even get in), the people you bond with on the ride over will last you…well till you each find your own party connections. Although exchanging names and phone numbers may make you feel popular and cool, you probably not talk until the next “crawl.” And hopefully you will have stopped crawling by the end of the semester.
People on your floor
Okay, you’re finally in college. It is time to create the stereotypical memories in the infamous common room (sorry West Campus kids without a common room, you’ll just have to hang out in the study lounges). One of the best things about living in college, and living in a dorm highly populated by freshmen, is that everyone wants to become friends. This may be the only time that can run across the floor to ask for tape turns into a three hour conversation about life, so take advantage of this college opportunity!
Class Buddy
It is always good to have a friendly face in class. It makes the lecture less boring and helps you develop that study group you’ve been waiting to form. Reach out by asking about the last lecture before class, or talking about first day nerves (“I heard this professor was really difficult!”). Even if you had a great connection don’t be upset if you only talk to that girl from Chemistry 101 when you happen to be in line behind her in the GSU.
First “best friend”
Maybe you joined the same club. Maybe they are an extension of your FYSOP best friend, a person on your floor, or your friend in class, or all three. Everyone has that one person first semester that they instantly click with, only to find out second semester that your feelings have changed. Sometimes a connection over your mutual love for that Jenna Marbles video is the only thing you have in common. Don’t worry-there are 4,000+ more fish in the sea!
These stories don’t always end in tragedy. Lots of people who met in FYSOP end up as sophomore roommates. Maybe that girl in your COM 101 class and you go to movies every weekend. However, do not be surprised if your group of friends changes dramatically from first semester to second semester. College is about new experiences. You are finally away from all the people you’ve known since kindergarten. As you experiment hanging out with new people, know it is okay if you don’t find your life long best friends in the first (or second semester). Make mistakes and a lot of them. Like FYSOP and the freshman crawl, it is all part of the experience.
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