Dylan Whiting | Contributing Photographer

I barely remember anything from first-year move-in despite it only being a few months ago. The 90-degree heat paired with the emotional stress of leaving my parents and the creeping fear that somehow everyone already knew each other did not lend itself to much social interaction. Yet it was on this day, sweat-drenched and teary-eyed, that I met my now-closest friends. 

I was excited but also nervous to meet my neighbors on the third floor of Lien House, which our RAs informed us was nicknamed TFL (Top Floor Lien). I was apprehensive of TFL during the first couple days of school; a 2016 Student Life article proclaimed the floor was “known around the South 40 as the most spirited” with a reputation for partying and other such antics year after year despite the fact that all first-year students are randomly assigned to housing. 

Slowly but surely, over the first month together, our floor began to bond. There were little things at first: active participation on the whiteboard my roommate and I hung outside our door, the installation of a comically large pink Rafe Cameron American flag in the hallway, which was later followed by the addition of two more flags with the floor’s RA’s faces on them. The decorations were a unifying factor, demonstrating an investment in the shared community of TFL. However, I found that the most uniting force on our floor was our common room. 

Night after night, students in TFL would sit in the floor’s common room and do homework, chat, use the microwave, and so on. Spending so much time with others on my floor in our shared space created a wonderful bond. Conversations that sprung from homework collaboration turned into conversations about what tickets we should buy for the Lorde concert. On busy nights, all the tables and couches were full as students debriefed the weekend happenings or planned someone’s birthday party. 

The common room is decorated with knick-knacks from a plethora of TFL members, including plants, posters, and a strand of string lights — all of which invite people to sit and stay for a while. A room that was so foreign to me two months ago is now one of my favorite places on campus. I need only sit there for a maximum of ten minutes before a friend comes along. 

The community of the floor extends beyond my fellow residents. One day, when my roommate and I were sitting in the common room, Fadilla, the custodian who takes care of the plants, cut a stem from a plant on the windowsill and planted it in a pot for my roommate. Along with our new plant, she gave us a couple of pears she grew in her garden. We talked about our backgrounds and she told us stories about her family. Fadilla’s kindness towards us and her dedication to maintaining the beauty of the common room is one of the many reasons I feel so welcomed. 

The common room became an extension of my dorm room; it became my home. My fellow TFL members became an extension of my suitemates and are now my closest friends. 

Of course, this bond doesn’t happen magically. Nor does it happen overnight. You have to make the conscious choice to invest your time and energy into meeting new people. This can be as easy as saying “Hi” to others in the hallway or choosing to work in the study room instead of in your room. Either way, you need to put in the effort to make the connection with your floor members. While it may be scary at first, the reward is worth the risk. 

It may be easy to feel isolated and alone in college, and for many, the transition is incredibly difficult. But by connecting with the people on your floor, you automatically get a built-in, easily accessible support system. 

While everyone befriends others outside of TFL, whether through sports, clubs, or classes, the specialness of the friends on your floor reigns supreme. You connect with others out of pure coincidence rather than a shared interest. The people on your floor are there for you in a different way than other friends. Whether that’s in small ways, like borrowing a hammer, WD-40, or a cowboy hat, or in bigger ways, such as helping you wake up your roommate at midnight because you got locked out of your room. (Sorry, Kate!) The people on my floor have been there for me in my time of need, just as I have been there for them. No matter where I live in the future, I know nothing will ever be quite like the magic of TFL.