New Year, New Friendships

by Jaclyn Bosse

With the stress of tackling new classes it can be easy to forget that there are friends surrounding us every day, willing to help in times of trouble. Luckily there are many components within the university that inherently allow friendships to form. For instance, classes here are small, which allows students to get to know each other quicker and hopefully find their ideal study buddy. Some of my best friends happened to be the people who I decided to sit next to on the first day of class. They’re the people I turn to for help if I’m scared about a test, but also my sources of happiness if I need to de-stress. 

Besides finding study buddies in class, another way to meet new people is through events provided by the Campus Activities Board. This organization on campus is student-led and strives to promote events each week that are fun and safe for nightlife. Just this past semester they had a movie night or a guest performer come each week. My personal favorite was when they had a comedic hypnotist visit and perform one Friday night. It was so much fun to meet up with a group of my friends and laugh for the whole hour’s performance. While we were there we even bonded with the group next to us and ended up expanding our friend group. 

Another outlet where I’ve met most of my friends is through the clubs and volunteer activities I’ve pursued on campus. There’s tons of different clubs that allow outsiders to join in certain activities. I went to a Mardis Gras celebration with the French Club and found myself being inspired to join. Now I get to meet up with my friends every other week to discuss aspects of French culture and work to create new exciting events to promote our club. Additionally, I volunteer at the Virginia Living Museum and I needed a ride because I didn’t have a car on campus. Luckily, the university reached out to connect me with a student who also volunteered at the museum with the same time slot. We instantly became friends and in addition to working together with our volunteer services we meet at least once a week to grab coffee and catch up. 

There are so many opportunities here and while it may overwhelm us when things change, the community and the friendships we invest in will never fail to provide us with strength to continue. I am excited to take on my second semester this year and I know I will be challenged, however I feel most excited for the new friendships that await me within this new year.