Making Friends

What It’s Like to Start Over Again at University

Article by Emily Dennis Illustration by Mae Holzer (@maeholzer)

As attributed to Aristotle: “without friends, no one would choose to live”.

I came to university quite alone. I did not really have many friends left.

During my gap year, most of my friends from school had gone to university themselves and made new friends and did not tell me when they were coming home. Equally, I only got one invitation to go and visit one person, which I did, but then that was that. My best friend at the time and I fell out so badly that we still haven’t spoken four years on, and then my next bestie denounced all technology when we both moved to university, out of fear that her strange dad was going to text her and turn up out of the blue. I kept it to myself, but I was desperate to make a friend. I’m experiencing it again now, and it is a re-