See you during Thanksgiving…or next week

While Christopher was in Chicago, I was with our group of friends at Ellie’s – one last night of games and snacks before we all go our separate ways in the next weeks. The thing is, though, most of us aren’t really separating. The majority of our friends are either staying right here in West Lafayette to attend Purdue University or are coming with me to IU.  In fact, there are five girls from our high school class on my dormitory floor. In addition to old classmates, several debate friends from throughout the state will be at IU.

I’m not sure how I feel yet about attending college with so many people I already know. (I should mention for our readers that our graduating class had less than 200 kids, and that most of us have been attending school together since Kindergarten.)

On one hand, I feel like I’m missing out on part of the college experience.  There will be people at IU who remember my middle school science fair projects or that I dressed like Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl every day of the eighth grade. I certainly don’t plan on reinventing myself in college or anything, but I have obviously changed over the years, so it would be nice for people to not have preconceived notions about me.  Also, I hope the fact that I already have some friends at IU won’t make me lazy and less motivated to take the effort to make new friends.

On the other hand, college seems far less daunting. I have already spoken to several older friends from high school who now attend IU to pick their brains for advice, and I know many of them will look out for me this year.  I also feel like I have some semblance of a network already in place.  For example, there is a Facebook page for our high school’s alum who are at IU to coordinate rides between home and school.  I know I will have the opportunity to make new friends due to IU’s enormous population, but I can also rest assured that I will have several familiar faces to turn to if the need arises. I am also genuinely looking forward to developing deeper bonds with high school friends who will be with me in college. After all, nothing beats old friends.