College is a time where lots of new experiences occur. Duh, we all knew that. Stating the obvious is just my forte.
Anyways, as we know some of those experiences include meeting many new people and making new friends. This at least has been my experience and I hope it holds true to each reader.
Part of the reason I went away to college was to meet new people. Not that I did not like people from my hometown, high school, etc. Shit, I still know plenty of people from home who go to school here.
Again with another obvious, but UC has a plethora of different people across campus bleeding into downtown, stretching near Kenwood and more.
New people galore and I loved it.
I know I said I didn’t dislike people from home, but still I was ready for a fresh start and within the process I shed old connections. Perfectly fine with me, so is life. Yet, I started to not be in as much communication with my close friends as I was when I lived a hop, skip and a jump away from them. Not perfectly fine with me.
These are the friends I have unbreakable bonds with, which is why I eventually realized that the constant communication was not necessary. As a senior in college now, I can report that this is 1836592749% true.
Being real friends does not mean constant communication. I think that the age of technology has put any of us in the mindset that being in constant communication is the “norm” and if you’re not then damn, do you even care about the other person?
This mindset clouded my mindset for the first two or so years of college. As I grew older and went home to visit friends once in a while, each time I realized more and more that when we would link up we would pick up right where we left off. Like there was no time and or space that had been between us before.
And I want to tell every single one of you.
Hold onto those friends. Not saying that some of your college friends won’t be there because believe me, I plan on having many of mine in my life for a while. I’m saying to hold onto the true friendships you’ve carried across years of life. The ones that will be there when you have not seen or talked to them for months.
Every time I think about this subject, I think about this old rhyme I learned at Girl Scout camp.
“Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold.
A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long, I will be your friend.”
Oh yeah, I just threw the cheesiness out there. But what is life without a little cheese? Both in this sense and actual cheese.
I digress…
Regardless, hold onto the ones who are true; they don’t come around often.