By Kate Leo
Throughout high school, I was lucky to have a core group of about five friends. From the first month of high school, I connected with most of them, and we quickly became best friends. I remember many birthday parties, hundreds of jam sessions in the car, and at least three Galentines Days. They were my go-to people, and I did almost everything with them. When we all split up to go to college, I was nervous that I wouldn’t find a group of people that would understand me as well as they did.
But upon arriving on campus, I underestimated the easiness of making friends. Living on South Campus, I have a suite of eight people, and I am lucky that we all clicked almost immediately. Because we all live together, they became the main people I go to for celebrations, stress, anger, and encouragement. And as I went to different classes and joined a sorority, I found “my people” everywhere. At first, I felt all over the place. How do I split up my time between all these people I am meeting? How do I know which group should be my core group of friends? But with a semester under my belt, I realized I didn’t have to choose. In fact, it is healthy to have all these different friendships. Each group has their own values. My suite is like my family; they see me laugh and cry the most. My friends in my classes help me study the best and keep me on track with my classes. And having a wide age range of friends in the sorority, I get to hear a range of advice going from what classes are the best to take to where the best Mexican food is in the Chapel Hill area.
I believe in quality over quantity, but that doesn’t mean that you have to confine yourself. That was a hard concept for me to grasp at first, but even having two or three really good friends in each place helps to broaden my horizons. For example, last month when trying to plan out my classes, I asked my suite how to balance exploring business and medicine. They were supportive and gave me suggestions, but we are all freshman, and there is only so much we know. But when sitting at lunch one day in the sorority, I found a girl who was fulfilling physical therapy requirements while minoring in business. After only talking with her for 30 minutes, I gained a better understanding of the possibilities in double majoring or minoring.
One of the main reasons I chose UNC was because of the range of people I knew I would meet. Everyone has different ideas and perspectives, and I feel as if I am beginning to realize the opportunity to meet the thousands of different people. Someone always has an answer. I cherish the memories my high school friends and I continue to share, but I know that I am also making lifelong friends here. I see my mom still going on mountain weekends with her college friends, and I am looking forward to doing the same thing someday. That might even mean going on three different trips with three different groups!
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