When it comes to university and making friends, you will often hear two opposing, but very common refrains – “you will meet your best friends during university orientation” and “don’t worry if you don’t meet your best friends right away – there are so many more opportunities and you will meet your people." Well, I’m going to say right away that I can attest to both of these statements, and I am going to tell my story!  

I was lucky enough that my first-year roommate was my close friend from high school, so I had a ready-made friend right away, and it definitely made making friends during orientation soon enough. However, during orientation week, I was in the midst of rugby training camp and missed a lot of residence and orientation events so Maggie (yes, we were roommates and both Maggies, and yes it was a thing we talked about a LOT), was a huge help for making friends in residence. She connected right away with 3 other girls in our residence, some who had had connections before, and I remember coming home from rugby one night to Maggie introducing me to my 3 new best friends – Syd, Shelb & Madelyn. We ended up inseparable from the beginning of Oweek, spent our entire first year together, and are still all close today and getting ready to graduate together.  

While I was at rugby training camp and missing some of the regular orientation activities, I was also getting the chance to make life-long friendships. My best friend and now roommate Bronwyn and I actually have a pretty unique meeting story – we met at rugby practice and became friends when we were doing a tackling drill and she no joke left me with a bruise so big that I had to get the nurse to check it out. I would include a picture of it here, but I really don’t think you would want to see that! I also met Kristen there, who went to high school with Bronwyn, and the three of us became friends, I introduced them to my friends in residence, and the seven of us formed a tight knit group of friends, who I feel so lucky to have experienced university with – see us pictured at our grad photos!

But I can’t say that I immediately met all of my best friends in the first week of school, and it just ended after that. As I went through my time at Mount A, I got involved in clubs and societies, and formed some of my most important university friendships, even if they came later in my experience. Through Global Brigades, I was able to not only bond deeper with old friends, including Bronwyn and Kailey, my best friend since high school, but meet a whole new group of friends that I know will last long beyond my university experience (shoutout Cars & Money if you’re reading this 😊), even if they were only a portion of my time at Mount Allison. To exemplify this, I have my friend Keely, who I became friends with a mere two months before she graduated, (and four months before she left the country for a year) meaning we only actually had two months at Mount A together – but still a university formed friendship, and one of the most important friendships I think I’ve gained here, especially since it was started in such a unique way and through an incredible bonding experience with Global Brigades. The same is true for all the friends that I became closer with through my program and in my classes, that bonded with me through lab work and midterm studying; a bonding experience that really helps you make some super close friends.  

All in all, I wanted to share this because I think this exemplifies the idea that these two common refrains of making university friendships can occur simultaneously, and one is by no means better than the other. I am so thankful for all of the friendships I’ve gained here, knowing that no matter what, these people shaped me into who I am, and helped me gain the memories of this place I will cherish forever.