The Real College Romance

Introducing GASC (What our friends know us as, don't ask me how it started).

When people talk about college love stories, they usually mean whirlwind romances, late-night heart-to-hearts with a significant other, or the fabled “ring by spring.” But for me, the greatest love story of my college years has been something far deeper, far more enduring, and, frankly, far more fun—it’s been the love shared among my three roommates and me.

From the moment we met freshman year, something just clicked. It wasn’t just about sharing a dorm or splitting the cost of toilet paper (though, let’s be honest, that’s a crucial part of communal living). It was about building a home together in a place that was brand new to all of us. We navigated the awkward firsts—first time getting lost on campus, first midterms, first heartbreaks—and we did it together.

And let’s talk about heartbreak for a second. Because, sure, I thought I knew love when I was swooning over a boy who is now but a distant (and hopefully permanent) memory. But nothing compares to the love of three girls who held me as I ugly-cried, provided forensic-level analysis of every text he ever sent, and then promptly distracted me with takeout and a movie we’d seen a hundred times. The kind of love that says, “He’s not even cute,” whether or not it’s true.

Through the years, our little unit became unshakable. We learned each other’s quirks: who needs complete silence to study, who stress-bakes at midnight (our kitchen has seen some things), and who absolutely cannot function before coffee. We celebrated every win, from acing exams to scoring internships, and we picked each other up after every loss. We spent hours laughing at inside jokes that no one else would understand and turned our tiny college apartment into a safe haven.

Caroline, Alexia, and Gisselle aren’t just my roommates—they are my family. Caroline is the one who keeps us all grounded, always ready with a logical plan when chaos strikes. Alexia is our free spirit, the one who drags us out of our comfort zones and insists that we make every moment count—even if it means convincing us that we definitely need to make brownies at 1 a.m. Gisselle is the glue that holds us together, the one with the biggest heart, always making sure no one ever feels alone—like when we sat together in the living room watching the 2024 election results roll in, bonded by a shared sense of despair and an emergency supply of comfort snacks.

There’s something unique about a friendship forged in the chaos of college life. We’ve seen each other at our best and our absolute worst—sobbing over a tough class, wearing the same hoodie for days during finals, or having an existential crisis about the future at 2 a.m. (usually triggered by one of us asking, “What if we never see each other every day again?”) And yet, through it all, we have loved each other unconditionally.

Some of my favorite memories are the simple ones: lazy Sundays spent binge-watching our favorite shows, spontaneous road trips just because we needed to escape, and hours spent in the living room dissecting life’s biggest (and smallest) problems. The laughter we’ve shared in our shared spaces has been the soundtrack of my college years. There were nights we stayed up past any reasonable hour, ignoring our responsibilities because that conversation was just too good to cut short.

Now, as we step into our last semester of senior year, the reality of change is looming. Soon, we’ll be moving out of our shared space, possibly to different cities, chasing our own dreams. But the bond we’ve built isn’t tied to a campus or an apartment lease. It’s the kind of love that transcends distance and time. Because that’s the thing about genuine love—it doesn’t fade just because the setting changes.

College has taught me many things, but the most unexpected and beautiful lesson has been this: friendship can be the most dependable form of love. My roommates aren’t just people I lived with—they are my sisters, my family, my forever people.

I know that even years from now, when we’re navigating careers, relationships, and whatever else adulthood throws at us, we’ll still be there for each other. We’ll still have our group chat filled with daily check-ins, ridiculous memes, and plans for the next reunion. We’ll still know exactly what each other needs on bad days, still be the first to show up when it matters most.

People often say that college is the best four years of your life. I think what they really mean is that it’s the years where you find the people who make life better. And for me, that’s Caroline, Alexia, and Gisselle.

This is my real college romance—the one that has shaped me in ways no fleeting campus romance ever could. Because at the end of the day, love isn’t just about romance. Love is the people who become your home, no matter where life takes you.