Thursday, March 28Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

The Real Value of High School Friends

Lets face the facts: you are now in uni. New location, sometimes new country, new courses, and most importantly: new faces. With this leap to sudden independence from all things relating to home it’s easy to sometimes forget about the past, the familiar. High school now seems like a distant memory, something related to the past. However there is one thing that will always surpass this life transition: true friendships.
Realistically speaking high school friendships tend to slowly die away, who you used to call your ‘bff’ now leads an estranged life, a casual ‘happy birthday’ and a ‘miss you’ thrown in when an appropriate amount of time passes from the last time you spoke to each other. Some say this is a natural process, I disagree. Because when you meet people who make you happy you should never let them go. True high school friendships last forever, and here is a condensed list of reasons to never part with those special people:
1. Lets face it, they know you better than anyone else. They have seen you struggle your way through adolescence- I’m talking about braces, crazy hairstyles, first stage awkwardness when talking to the opposite sex, first break up and for some, first love. You have grown up, both emotionally and physically, together. They are basically a second family, you have shared a life with them- but not in a creepy matrimonial kind of sense!
2. They are a reminder of your past. This point is especially valid for international students. High school friends bring you a sense of ‘home’, they remind you of your cultural values. They understand your weird (erm hilarious) jokes like no body else can.
3. They give you a break from the struggles of contemporary life e.g. Uni exams, weight, etc. That’s because they transport you back to when you were 12- when all these issue did not have a minimal bearing on your life. Plus in most cases high school friends do not go to the same university as you, so talking to them is a complete academically unrelated stress-reliever.

4. They know the real you, which is the most important aspect of a friendship. This is a quality that takes years to develop.