Moving onto campus as a freshman is always a huge milestone in life for a person. You may be nervous about making friends and stressed about finding yourself, but when you find your people, life gets way easier. Life is a little different now. Because the college freshmen were given a refund to go back home, most people, including myself, took that opportunity to save money. While I was on campus, my two roommates and I became friends with three other people in order to make college life feel more normal (while following Covid guidelines of course). While all of us but one went home, I thought, how are we supposed to keep that friendship alive from home?
Everyone knows that Covid-19 is a very stressful time for everyone and no one is having the best time of their lives either. The pandemic is making life harder on everyone when it comes to school, working, and making friendships. As a Temple freshmen, I was so excited to move onto campus and meet new people. I was so in love with the campus vibe when I toured. I knew that this school was for me and I would meet people who I would have connections with for the rest of my life.
Getting involved and creating opportunities for myself was also a thing I wanted to do, but life is a little different now. I decided that if I was going to be happy for the time that I was living on campus, I had to make new friends. Some people think that going to college means that you party and never see the people that you met again, and while some unlucky people get that experience, I was determined to find myself a small friend group. My two roommates and I created our tight circle and became super close. Everything was starting to fall together on campus for us, and then we all left to go home. So how were we supposed to stay as close as we got from home?
We decided to make a group chat and talk in it everyday to stay connected. This obviously is not as good as seeing each other in person, but it works for now. We all Facetime each other here and there to update each other on our lives. If you made friends while you lived at college, you need to keep those connections because life still goes on. Covid will eventually end and these people that you met will come back into your life. Stay updated with them on social media and talk to them frequently. Times are certainly changing, but that doesn’t mean that you need to completely limit yourself from making and keeping friendships.
Going to college during a pandemic is most definitely limiting to a person, but you need to make the most out of a negative situation. Not everything in life is going to be easy, so make the things that come to you naturally a regular thing in your life! Make sure to stay in contact with your college friends and check up on them. Eventually, we will move back on to campus and life will be normal again, so don’t lose hope, good things are coming, and don’t forget to wear your mask!