A victory lap with my ride or die

Going into college I was absolutely terrified. I was so scared I wouldn’t make any friends, and I would be alone in my dorm room watching Love Is Blind all day. I mean who could resist. 

But I was also excited about the possibility of all of these new opportunities at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg. It felt exciting to think about having a group of girls to eat at Scranton Commons with or sit around and talk about celebrity drama with. 

"Man, Johnny Depp will never recover from this!" 

"Oh, poor Brittney. Free her!"

I felt so ready to leave Cedar Cliff High School in the past and start the next stage of my life. Although the thought of being friendless scared the crap out of me, I knew this is the risk I had to take. I thought if I kept an open mind and talked to as many people as possible, I’d find a group of friends to call my own. Talking to the girls in Columbia Hall is what really helped me. My freshman roommate and a girl who lived across the hall were the two who helped me branch out and meet new people. Sure, enough one day my sophomore year one of them introduced me to my best friend Morgan.

Up to that point, I struggled with not feeling included in the group of girls I met through my roommate. I wanted to be invited to all the random trips to Walmart snacks, the late-night Jersey Shore watch marathons, and the study sessions to finish those last-minute assignments, but I didn’t want to seem needy. I had the feeling these girls were definitely close friends of mine, but none of them were “my person." 

Then one of those girls introduced me to Morgan, and we just hit it off. She was always the one to invite me to all those things I felt left out of before. Our friendship went from just hanging out at parties on the weekend to doing absolutely everything together. Sure, we still like to go out with each other on the weekends, but the times when we truly connect with one another is when we go to the grocery store, or the student rec center, or we just spend the whole day sitting on the couch watching guilty pleasure reality TV shows like Vanderpump Rules.

I'm so incredibly grateful I have her to go through this experience with. College is hard to navigate. Classes and schoolwork are stressful and on top of it there are always personal problems like friendship drama or issues at home to deal with. It can just be a lot sometimes, but with Morgan by my side, it makes it a lot more manageable. She is always there to listen and gives the best advice. She has been my support system through the last three years, and I couldn’t be more grateful. 

Everyone dreams of having that one best friend they do everything with ... that they share everything with ... that is their ride or die. I truly believe you can find that in college just like I did. College life brings people closer together because no one understands the stress, schedule, and mindset of being a full-time student more than the ones you're doing it with. 

To survive you need to have that person by your side. I always have this feeling that everything happens for a reason, and I knew there was a reason I came to Bloom. I came here because I was meant to meet my best friend and when you’re least expecting it, you’ll find your Morgan too.

So, from now until we graduate in May, I’m going to appreciate every moment I get with her by making sure we have that Fourth Taco trip, or we drive to my hometown together. I’m going to enjoy every time we go to the gym, cook Italian food together, or watch The Kardashians for hours straight. 

Soon I’ll move back to the Harrisburg area, and she’ll move back to the Philly area for the last time. We’ll live two hours away and won't be able to see each other every day. We're going to have to plan times to see each other instead of texting “Wanna go get coffee in 5 minutes?” 

But just because our relationship will look a little different doesn't mean she'll ever stop being my best friend. I'll always be so grateful I found her.

— Monica Wilt, a senior communication studies major at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg with an emphasis on organizational communication, is interning with the Office of Marketing and Communications this spring. She is a native of New Cumberland, who loves Taylor Swift, Philadelphia 76ers, and the show Survivor.

#BloomOnward #HuskyLife