Justin Marinelli
Senior Writer
An important part of college is not just learning to adjust and make friends, but also learning to make the right friends. One of the keys to not only success but to having an awesome life in general is having a varied friend set. In my experience, here are some of the friends that are either essential or incredibly important.
First off, you need a friend that is really comfortable talking with people, especially to members of whatever sex you may be attracted to. Having one of those fearless friends who can just walk up and strike up a conversation with almost anyone is an utter boon to your social circle, provided that you either actively join them or passively let yourself get dragged along for the ride. You never know who you might just meet.
Second, it’s also incredibly helpful to have a friend who is always able to dish out incredibly wise advice. Even the brightest and most self-sufficient person will eventually run into situations that are difficult to handle alone. It’s those times that you need a friend who can always figure out the best course of action. Life always has a few bumps in the road and having someone who knows how to ride it makes it a lot easier.
In a similar vein, another essential friend to have is the one that you can tell anything to. Keeping things in and shouldering your burdens yourself isn’t impossible and there are some things that need to be kept secret, but being able to get things off your chest every once in a while is immensely cathartic. Additionally, knowing that you’ve got someone who will be a source of support no matter what is a fantastic confidence booster when facing just about anything.
A lot of the time we end up spewing a river of statements that can be … inaccurate. Whether it’s an off-color joke, an argument not rooted in fact or just acting like an idiot in general, oftentimes we tend not to realize when we’re not living up to our intelligence. Having a friend around who will call us out on these things is way more important than we tend to realize. I would argue that it’s a necessity.
Finally, I would say it’s incredibly important to have a friend with a nose to the ground when it comes to things going on around campus. Oftentimes, you hear about really cool events that don’t get enough publicity or unique opportunities that not too many people know about. You can also stay abreast of who’s hooking up with who, and other things like that. A friend with a finger on the pulse is a worthwhile friend to have.
Life is a lot more fun when you know a bunch of great people, and I’ve found that these are the people who are great to know. This is nowhere near an exhaustive list of people worth knowing (because frankly, almost everyone is worth getting to know on some level). If you ever find yourself in need of a new friend or two, try to find someone with one of these strengths. It’ll pay off handsomely for you in no time.