I remember starting the second semester of my freshman year with the worst attitude. Being home for a month for mid-semester break was probably the worst thing that I could have done in that point in my life. It reminded me how happy I was with my family, friends and boyfriend. A few weeks in, I was seriously considering transferring. I didn’t want to switch schools to be closer to home, I just wanted to go somewhere that would make me happier than what I was at St. John Fisher.
Well come to find out, it really only took one text message to change my mind.
Rewind to the first day I ever sat in a college classroom. In my fourth class of the day (yeah, thanks freshman scheduling), I put my bag down in the back row of my sociology class. But something told me to move up next to this one girl. So I grabbed my bag, awkwardly sat down next to her and said, “I’m just going to move up here.” She laughed and we waited for class to start.
For some reason, professors at Fisher are obsessed with introduction activities. It’s probably so they can learn your name faster when they have some facts to associate you with, but I just think it’s uncomfortable. Anyway, I paired up with the girl who had to endure my awkwardness and had to share some facts about her with the rest of the class. Her name was Heather, she was a freshman, her major was nursing and she was from Vermont.
As the semester went on, I found myself looking forward to sociology because I would get to talk to her. She called me Emily from Syracuse and I called her Heather from Vermont. We studied for every test together and as the semester wound down, she said to me, “Promise me we’ll still be friends when this class is over.”
Well now fast forward to a few weeks into the second semester. I didn’t really have too many friends and sort of got ditched often when it came to meals. I ate numerous meals alone and I was over being unhappy. So remembering what Heather said to me, I texted her and asked if I could go to dinner with her and her friends.
When I sat down, there were a ton of people. Names were shot out and as I’m reminiscing on this now, I find it hard to believe there was a time when I didn’t know these people. Night after night, I would go to dinner with them. One Friday, we all went to Wegmans and a movie. After being with Heather the rest of the semester, it’s hard to remember that I wanted to transfer.
Now, a little over two years later, it’s strange when we don’t go to Wegmans on Friday night. We live together now, but it’s not even like Heather is my roommate. I don’t have a roommate. I have a best friend who I live with. On the weekends when we sleep in, we crawl in bed together when we wake up. We watch an obnoxious amount of Netflix and eat so much junk food. We talk about life and have dance parties in the dark.
If I had decided to transfer freshman year, I would have never gotten this close to Heather. I was so unhappy, but as her role in my life increased, so did my happiness. It’s hard to put into words how much she changed my life because she still does every day. She’s my support at school. Sure I have my family, friends from home and my boyfriend to vent to, but when I need to vent about what’s stressing me out, she’s there.
I’m here to tell you that if you just hang on for a few more days or weeks, it could get better. Reach out to someone you had a class with or maybe someone you’re in a club with. Just a simple text message could change your life like one did to mine.
Written by Emily Mein. Emily attends St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. Sharing information or a person’s story with people is why she loves writing. She can never get enough of Twitter, pasta and Syracuse basketball.
