How I Found My People
Kate reflects on how she met some of her closest friends over the past two years
Kate reflects on how she met some of her closest friends over the past two years
My biggest fear going into college was that I wasn’t going to make any friends. I was worried that the first week was make-or-break, and if I didn’t meet all of my best friends by then, everything would turn out horribly wrong. As I look at my friends now, it’s funny to think about how many of them I met in random ways, and how much that first week both did and didn’t impact my friendships. So here are the origin story of some of my closest friendships at Carleton, and why you can truly never know where any experience will lead you.
Honorable Mention — Blogging
New Student Week
Okay, so I know I said the first week isn’t everything, but I was actually surprised to meet one of my closest friends on day one. Ava and I were in the same new student week group, but we actually started to get much closer after taking a class together. I’m eternally grateful that New Student Week introduced us, but I also like to believe that we would’ve still found our way to each other even if we weren’t in the same group.
Roommate/Going Abroad
Through Gabby, I met Maggie, who was my roommate sophomore fall before we went abroad together. Since I was going abroad in winter term, not many people wanted to share a room with me for one term and get a random roommate the next. So Maggie and I became close in a very natural way – by being thrown into a shared room without knowing each other very well. But actually, this was a great experience for the both of us to get to know each other before London, plus when I went abroad, it was great to have a familiar face there with me. Now Maggie and I are next door neighbors, but we are both theater majors, so I see her all the time.
A&I/First Year Floor
In your first term at Carleton, you take an argument and inquiry class which is only for first year students. Gabby and I met in that class and realized that we actually lived on the same floor. This is another instance of first year activities actually working out really well. But actually, we didn’t start to become close until we were in the same classes together. Truly, nothing bonds you like a 3:10-4:55 class together each fall. PE classes like west coast swing also allowed us to find fun activities to do together!
Summer Internship
In the summer after my freshman year, I worked with a Carleton professor in Winona. He brought another student, Kaelyn, who I vaguely knew. Since we were the only two Carleton students in a new city, we started to spend a lot of time together. We immediately clicked and since that summer, our friendship has only continued to blossom. Outside of our acting class and game nights, we still get lunch together, just like old times.
It seems like I met most of my close friends within my first year at Carleton, but in reality, they only became my close friends within the last year. Although Carleton offers many different ways to meet friends, no situation is ever make-or-break. So if you don’t meet anyone in your new student week group or on your freshman year floor, just wait. I promise you, your community is out here!
Kate (she/her) is a junior History and Theater double major from the Bay Area, California. She loves Carleton’s artsy community, and is involved in the Vocal Studies Program and occasionally the Experimental Theater Board when her fight choreography skills are in high demand. Kate’s favorite places on campus are the practice rooms, either in Myers or the Weitz, where she can sing or play the ukulele. She loves the campus during all the seasons but thinks nothing could compare to the beautiful colors of Northfield in the fall. When not in class, you can find Kate either petting the nearest cat or forcing her friends to watch bad movies in a study room.