When it came to my first year in Chapel Hill, I was one of the lucky ones.
As a natural introvert, it would have been difficult for me to make close friends. None of my close friends were going to UNC and I was a little apprehensive about putting myself out there.
But I lucked out when, a few months before orientation, an old buddy from middle school reached out to me: Did I want to room with him at UNC? I said yes, and I often think about how different my college experience would be if I had turned him down.
That's because my first-year suite at Ehringhaus consisted of seven of the coolest people I'd ever met, along with myself. I lived with my friend from middle school, four of his high school friends, a friend of one of his friends and, weirdly, an acquaintance with whom I went to high school.
Despite being very different people in a lot of ways – different ethnicities, interests and ways of seeing the world – the eight of us became fast friends, and to this day several of them are still the people I'm closest with at UNC.
More important than our differences were what we had in common, and it seemed like I shared different interests with the various members of the suite. I was able to talk about sports with some of my suitemates, share new music with others and debate the nature of objective truth with a few, all while hanging out on the couch in my room.
So far, this story might seem completely useless to you. You might be thinking, 'Oh, so all I've got to do to make friends is share a dorm with a diverse and interesting group of people that I love to hang out with? Why didn't you say so?'
The point, though, is this: Find your people – people that feed the distinct parts of your personality. Focus on similarities, not differences. Don't think about all the reasons why you shouldn't be friends with a given person, or the ways that that person is undeniably dissimilar from you. And don't strive to hang out with exact replicas of yourself. It's OK to have a group of friends to play Xbox with and a group of friends to watch the big game with.
The great thing about UNC is that everyone here is intelligent, curious and multifaceted, with a variety of passions and world-views for you to come into contact with. So branch out.
