After three years at university, I can finally say I’ve found my people.
The day my parents dropped me off was one of the scariest days of life. I sobbing when my mom left me in my dusty, small room in Gord-Brock.
I was terrified of failing my classes and living alone. Not wanting to do my own laundry, my worst nightmare was accidentally shrinking all my clothes.
Most of all, I was terrified I wouldn’t make any friends.
I came to university as a quiet, shy, and reserved 18-year-old girl who was, as my dad liked to say, “afraid of her own shadow.”
My first day on campus I met two kind girls, one of whom, for lack of better words, took me in. While our friendship was short lived, she introduced me to someone who undoubtedly changed my life—something I will forever be grateful for.
This new friend and I became inseparable to the point I think it started to annoy the people around us, but we didn’t care. We shared things about ourselves we never had the guts to say out loud before. We loved each other in a way that differed from the way we loved anyone else in our lives.
She was my first heartbreak.
People always say you won’t stay friends with the people you were friends with in first year. While this may be true in my case, I’ll always have a place in my heart for the people who took me in, taught me what it was to love, and how it feels to be loved. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here writing about how I’ve finally found my people.
Funny enough, the two girls I met on my first day on campus also introduced me to my best friends, my people, Cordy and Layla.
Layla’s by far the funniest and kindest person I’ve ever met. She refers to herself as a “local jester” and keeps my life fun and light. When work, school, and life become stressful, she reminds me to take a second to breathe and to never take anything too seriously.
She feeds me whenever I “accidentally” forget to eat and lets me be my silliest self without any judgement. Even though I give her crap for not caring enough about things, I know she cares about me and that’s way more than I could ever ask from a person.
I don’t think I have the time, space, or words to describe Cordy, but I’ll try my best. While we both agree neither of us are funnier than Layla, Cordy is on of the wittiest people I’ve ever met and never fails to me laugh.
She’s my biggest er and always has my back, especially when I need it most. She keeps me grounded and brings me back to earth when I’m being delusional, and my mind is in a million places at once. She’s my best friend and as cliché as it sounds, I can’t imagine my life without her.
Though we met during our first week on campus, we didn’t become friends until a year and a half ago. Now, we do everything together. We cook dinner together on Friday nights, hang out in the kitchen pretending to do work until the early hours of the morning, and eat fruit roll ups in our mandatory 200-person lecture every week like clockwork.
This year, we made an addition to our group, Julian. While we weren’t looking to expand, we took him in regardless.
He’s the most strong-willed, stubborn, and honest person to exist. Though we disagree a lot, and he gets on my nerves, at the end of the day I know he comes from a good place. He’s affable, logical—sometimes to a fault—and believes in me more than I believe in myself.
It took me three years to find my people, and while it may seem like a long time, I wouldn’t trade those years for anything or anyone. I know how lonely university can feel, even when you think you found your people like I did.
Just know, people come and go exactly when you need them to. That’s life. It may take some time to grieve, but know the right ones always stay.
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