The friends you meet at university will be in your life for a long, long time past graduation – and when you share a house and have to organise sharing household bills, then these good relationships will last.
We’re not talking about the random girl you were best friends with in the first couple of days of Fresher’s Week who then suddenly and thankfully disappeared without trace.
It’s the awesome people who you have bonded with over a beer or four, who you share the organising of utilities and bills with and who have seen you through a rollercoaster three years of undergraduate life.
You’ve shared your first independent home with them.
Living with someone means that you really, REALLY get to know them. How you look at 6am, how fast you can move along the landing from the bathroom when you’ve forgotten your towel, the way you like your tea and what you sound like having a 3am drunken row with your boyfriend/girlfriend.
Having to share household bills means sharing every part of your life; good and bad.
They have held your hair back for you when you’re drunk and sick.
Being a student means making some dodgy life choices. Your Uni mates have watched you open a bottle of Sambuca and realised they better sober-up because you are about to get VERY messy and they’ll need to save you from drunk dialling your that person you fancy.
There’s no judgement from these friends as they know you would and have done the same for them. Bacon sandwiches and builder’s tea will be provided the next morning as you both use your student broadband deals to try and erase every trace of shame from the night before.
You have seen each other in some really grim states and nothing has scared them off, that’s true friendship.
The stress of exams and dissertations has been lived through together.
Emotions run high when the deadline is looming and that post-grad swot still hasn’t returned the book you NEED from the library. Screaming at them for offering tea and advice isn’t the way to treat a friend but if you apologise and they forgive that’s a great sign of a strong friendship.
You have shared a life changing experience.
University mates grow up together. The change in a person during their undergraduate years can be huge and watching each other take that journey will bond you for life.
Important decisions have been made with their help, sharing household bills has made you both more responsible, they have seen you get your heartbroken and emerge stronger. It’s all powerful stuff and no period of time in your life will replicate it.