You can equate my Fordham friendships to budding flowers — they first embed themselves in soil as seeds and then grow and enrich into quite beautiful manifestations. Indeed, some of my college friendships have been challenging, but they have helped to shape me into the person I am today. Whether it be a friend I have known since the beginning of Freshmen year, or someone I have met this Summer, I try to absorb each and every experience I have shared with these people, becoming all the wiser in the process. My Fordham career has allowed me to meet people who share in my academic interests, exercise habits and hobbies, music tastes, etc. My friends overall are people with whom I have created deep emotional connections and human bonds.
I knew plenty of people from my high school who came to Fordham alongside myself Freshman year, but I really tried to make friends on my own. Little did I know how interconnected this campus would be! The people I started getting to know from the beginning all the way up to today, all somehow know a girl I had known in the 6th grade. Such a small world! I truly embrace my Fordham community both here and at home, ensuring I keep those friendships year-round.
A key factor in expanding my friendships at Fordham was allowing myself to be open to befriending both boys and girls. Frankly, I’m not sure if I know more boys or girls here, but I’m not counting. I started welcoming in this idea because I felt as if organic friendships with boys were hard to facilitate in basic schooling. I do, however, gather more and more perspectives from different genders, races, sexualities, and classes and feel so empowered knowing how different a person can be beyond those “just like me.”
I enjoy my time then most when my overlapping circles of friends are all in one setting. It allows people of different parts of your life to come together, all connected by a single thread: you. Try to create a setting for larger friend groups to link up, alllowing people to share in different perspectives, ideas, etc. The main way I connect with new people on a deeper level is not to assume their cultural background or beliefs, but to let them speak for themselves and listen. Luckily, I avoided potential problems that could arise from my friends feeling upset or hurt by my behavior toward them based on my preconceived notions.
Gifting my friends with mementos of activities or experiences we share is always a plus, because no one seems to think you’ll remember what they said or randomly mentioned one day. Reminding them of my appreciation to have friends like them has helped me at times when I felt lonely or stressed in my time at Fordham. My favorite thing to do with my friends here is also consider them my colleagues, who will one day take on and shape the workforce with me. Bouncing ideas off each other, discussing analytical, worldly ideas, and confiding in them when I need assistance has really helped me in feeling secure in my academic experience.
We all learn together in one space, so why not make the most of it?