Entering college and making friends can be one of the best things ever. It is said by many that high school friends don’t last as long as college friends. College friends are like the “lifetime friends.” These are supposed to be the people that are the future bridesmaids/groomsmen in your wedding and the parents of the kids that you’re own are going to have play dates with. Friends can really make your college experience amazing. Most people link up during orientation, GroupMe’s over the summer, in their dorm halls and/or once classes start.
In the beginning of the year, everyone seems so friendly that it’s hard to really decipher who would be considered a “good” friend. It’s common that some of the people that you finish with may not be the same people you started with. It could be because an incident happened or you all just simply outgrew each other. It’s best to pick people with the same interests as well as some slight differences. While picking these friends, it’s good not to cling to just one clique. Having multiple groups of friends will reduce the chances of you being stuck if something were to happen. One thing you DON’T want is to feel like you don’t have anyone to talk to or go to events with.
People get up on the wrong side of the bed every day, so you never know when something might pop off. Sometimes things happen out of the blue, but other times there are more than likely some signs. If the vibe changes when you all together, then that’s a major red flag. The conversation in the chat might change too. The conversation could go from always talking and joking all of the time to barely a few words a week to almost every time you say something, you get ignored. Or maybe when you see them, they come off as being dry as if y’all weren’t just telling each other the tea last week. These signs shouldn’t be ignored, and if they occur more than once then something should be said. It shouldn’t be said in a way that could come off as aggressive; instead, it should be done in calm casual way. This could solve the problem and avoid a friendship breakup (unless they want to act phony as if nothing is wrong, then issa problem for real). So, let’s say that you do confront them, and they response is complete BS. They try to make up a lame excuse, doesn’t look you in the eye, and/or they try to change the subject. It’s time to nicely distance yourself from the negativity, because why stay when you’re not wanted (and that’s a life rule in general). This is where having multiple groups of friends would come in handy, so you could have something to fall back on.
These temporary friends that you meet during your freshmen year are what I call the “Freshmen Friends”. They’re the friends that you are friends with during your freshmen year and that’s it. They aren’t really the “college lifetime” friends. You may be a little sad when the breakup happens, but it’s okay because what’s not a blessing is a lesson.
Photo credits: https://www.splitit.it/blog/la-regola-dellamico-non-sbaglia-mai-si-sposa…