Author: Punxsutawney Phil

When applying for different colleges with friends that one topic comes up repeatedly. “What if we go to the same college together?” or “Imagine if we were roommates!” Well, I have something to tell you. DO NOT GO TO THE SAME COLLEGE AS YOUR HIGH SCHOOL BEST FRIEND. If you want to build up future relationships and grow as a person, you do not want your high school best friend to cling to. By going to the same college and even rooming with your best friend of 4+ years, you will never put yourself out there as much as you’d want. College is all about discovering yourself, learning new things, and forming new relationships. If you already have a close friend, why make new ones? People will be less inclined to get to know you if you already have someone attached to your hip.

Of course, I miss being attached to the hip with my best friend from high school. Her name was Liz and we have known each other since the summer of fifth grade. When senior year rapidly approached, and it was time to pick schools, we both knew we could not go to the same college. We both have pretty bad social anxiety, and when we talked about it with each other we realized we would not be able to leave our shells if we had each other to fall back onto. I was extremely reserved throughout high school because of this social anxiety. I always went back to the thought of, “I have close friends I don’t need more.” Liz also had the same thought pattern. Throughout high school if there was a school trip we would only go if the other person was going. We knew we’d have the most fun if you were with a person who knows everything about you. Even after all of that I now go to UW-GB, and she goes to UW-Madison. Though we are three hours away from each other, I would argue our relationship has never been stronger. Because we are not constantly living our lives together, we get excited to share new news. Being 125 miles apart was so smart.

Photo: @sansanmaoer on Instagram.

  Starting off I will not lie; I hated high school. I hated the people I graduated with, I disagreed with the administration, and there were only a few things that made high school worth going to. The things that gave me motivation to keep waking up were to work hard to get into college, see my friend in one class period, and taking the best naps in class. But at the end of the school day, I knew I had one thing to look forward to: seeing my cat, Leo. If I wanted to nap; he was right next to me already asleep. If I wanted a snack; he wanted to share. If I wanted to relax and watch TV; he was there. No matter the mundane task if Leo was there, it was made better. Even when I had a crappy day at school, I always had Leo waiting for me at home. Though it was usually the students that made it crappy. I knew I could always talk about my cat to break the deathly silence and start a conversation. Everyone knew who Leo was in my school because he was my favorite topic to talk, write, and make art about. During my senior year I opened myself up to a lot of new people and it was because I had an easy way to start a conversation: Leo! Though nearing the end of my senior year everyone asked me the same question: “How are you going to leave Leo for college?”

When the day finally came and I entered college, I tried to pretend that I did not miss Leo as much as I did. Whenever a professor would ask me for a fun fact about myself, I’d bring him up, majority of my artwork is still him, and everyone I’ve become friends with knows about him. But everyone talks about their animals, all my artwork just looked like an orange cat not someone special, and it’s hard explaining Leo without the person meeting him first. The trickiest thing is not having him by my side every night. As someone with chronic insomnia I knew I could always reach over and pet Leo to help calm my anxiety. However, my anxiety is not as high as it used to be in high school because college has been great to me. I love my professors, I love independence, and I feel motivated to work. All of the things that used to stress me out at high school are gone! But the thing that would make college perfect is if I had my little Leo with me. I find myself daydreaming about a scenario where he would be here with me. But he needs three heart pills a day, he hates car rides, and he has a very strong bond with my other animals at home. I couldn’t strip him away from everything he knows. I would feel so selfish bringing him here for my own selfish desires. Because, I am loving my life on campus, but I wish Leo could be here to experience it with me as he has experienced every other part of my life since 6^th grade.