A 66-year-old man, a divorcee, a pair of best friends with a vaguely homoerotic dynamic, and three people bound to end up in a love triangle walk into a library for the first meeting of their study group. No, this is not the beginning of a convoluted joke. It is actually the origin story of a friendship that spans six seasons. The 2009 television series Community follows six community college students as their relationships evolve from a study group to friends, and then to family. Just like in the series, your first year can be tough. It often feels like everyone around you is miles ahead while you are still trying to figure out where the AIM building is. But once you find your people, everything becomes much easier.
The Community study group seems to have been formed purely for entertainment purposes. However, it actually mirrors the diversity of the university space. Tens of thousands of students from different upbringings and walks of life arrive at the same university. It is quite possible that your closest friends will have a very different life from the one you have. Maybe you are an Annie – fresh out of high school and ready for new academic challenges. Or maybe you are a Shirley – coming back to education with a new outlook on life. These differences hardly matter in university, because friendship becomes less about what you have in common and more about supporting and uplifting each other. When meeting new people, it is important to always approach them with an open mind and open heart because you never know where you may find friendship.
Sometimes, finding your “people” is not as easy as forming a study group. The first person you exchange numbers with may end up being the person whose status you view from time to time. The person you borrow a pen from may end up becoming one of your closest friends. These people will form your support system, so it is important to find someone you truly connect with rather than clinging to the first person who asks you for your name. It is important to choose good friends who you can trust because these are the people you will need when times are tough. If you do not meet anyone you click with instantly, there is no need to worry. Friendships need to be about more than just having a good rapport, so it is important to be picky with who we let into our lives. After all, these are relationships we want to last for more than six seasons (and a rumoured movie).
Your friends will become the most important people in your life. These are the people you will rely on to help you back up when you fall, and trust me, you will fall. If you choose them wisely and let them in, your friends will become your second family. They are the people who will cry with you through loss and heartache. They are the people who will call to make sure you made it to your 07:30 lecture. Even in the darkest of times, evil Troy has his evil Abed to get him through it. Once you find your people, you will see that they will become more than friends to you. As you grow together, you will find that found family is more than a television trope – it can be a reality.
Every friend you make in university will become a part of a support system that keeps you afloat in times of need. Whether it be your closest friends comforting you in seasons of sadness or a friend from class reminding you of a deadline, your friends will be the people who help you carry the weight that comes with being in the real world. Soon, you will see that the people you keep in your life will become your community.
