While going to college it can be very hard to keep high school friendships going. Everyone goes off into different directions with various dreams. Having the same winter break dates becomes the only chance to see each other. At that time, conversations can become harder because everyone has different experiences and schedules. It’s easy to fall into a routine of your own college life and forget about past friends.
Abby, my hometown best friend. The girl that I grew with up with, playing soccer with while we had piggy tails in our hair. Little did we know that within the next ten years not only would our lives change, but also our friendship.
After Abby and I graduated from high school we both headed to southern Minnesota for college. Abby chose to attend Gustavus Adolphus College, and I Minnesota State University, Mankato. Certainly we weren’t that far from each other in miles. Abby came to Mankato for football games and I went to visit her at Gustavus for coffee. After the first year of college Abby told me she was planning to transfer to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I was more than excited for my best friend to be accepted to the U for pre-med. After the realization of how far we were going to be from each other, things began to set in. This summer was more than likely going to be the last time for weekly late night gossip sessions. Thankfully, we both were employed at the same place for the summer.
In our hometown we both work at a local gym. Abby and I worked almost every day of the summer together. She made the shift go by so much faster and much more enjoyable. The days we had off consisted of shopping for overpriced makeup at Ulta, filling up on Chinese food and over analyzing what attractive guys at our gym said to us. Throughout all this time spent together, our friendship became so important to us. Here we are at 20 years of age and we’re still each other’s sidekicks.
After an amazing summer spent with my best friend, the day for me to head back to school came faster then we both realized. Clocking out on our last shift together brought the water works. We both knew that our lives were going to start racing in different directions. How to keep a wonderful friendship when we are both constantly busy?
After almost two months apart our friendship is still solid. Abby and I text, snapchat or Skype almost every day. We complain about exams and papers to each other, I send papers to her so she can proofread them before I submit them, and she calls me with the most recent news from our hometown. No, it’s not the same as seeing her. Everyday, our friendship is important to us so we put in the effort. Both of us have lost many high school friends throughout college and we have a bond that we never want to lose.
Hometown friendships can be extremely difficult to keep. It can be troubling to keep old friends but also meet new ones. Although, the ones from home are the people that you grew up with. Keeping in touch during college can be hard, but for me it was worth it.