Making Friends as an EPPS Student

By Yusof  Nazari, EPPS blogger

Entering college from high school is a move that’s filled with trepidation and worry. It’s much like moving to a new city. Leaving all of your friends, accomplishments, connections, networks, and maybe even your parents behind if you move far enough away.

Among all this commotion is the glimmering sliver of hope that change might not be such a bad thing, and that maybe you’ll find new friends among the masses that attend the same school that you do. It can be a scary task, as meeting people always is.

With this in mind, I walked into my UNIV1010 and EPPS Freshman classes with the same trepidation that one does when they see a fly they want to swat, slowly crawl onto their television set in the middle of a Will Smith movie marathon.

Thankfully, this wasn’t needed. My classes were filled with some of the most wonderful people I have ever had the pleasure to know. Whether it’s Henry with his 45 minute long joke about the billionaire’s pink golf balls, or Courtney, who introduced me to a lot of music that I’m currently loving, making friends wasn’t difficult at all. I was scared that the EPPS school was small, and that I wouldn’t find people to hang out with, but now most of my good friends are my classmates that I walk to lectures with on a daily basis.

They’ve taught me that reaching out and introducing yourself might be the most basic thing you can do, but it’s also the most powerful. Who knows, maybe the person you’ve got your eye on to friend up is just as nervous about meeting people as you are.

The best part about making friends in EPPS is the things we have in common. Being mostly liberal arts majors, we’re able to speak on and debate social and political issues with an openness and breadth of knowledge that I hadn’t experienced since my debate days.

I’ve heard so many opinions and arguments, whether agreeing or disagreeing with me, and all of my peers have brought interesting and new insights into my thought-processes on social and economic issues. If we can learn anything from out liberal arts degrees, it’s that the world is a crazy and nuanced place, and I’m glad I have new friends to talk about it with me.