People from your hometown are the people that morphed you into who you are today. Their importance is immeasurable and forms a bond to be reckoned with. Universally people agree that you should always stay, or try to stay, connected with your hometown friends. However, many sources seem to forget the importance of relationships that are right in front of you. I believe that hometown friends and actively trying to stay connected utterly imperative, but also the relationships that you make in college are important. Hometown friends are like no other relationship, they are intrinsically important for growing up to who you are today. They are unique by nature, and therefore require a unique way of keeping the relationship alive. There is a large amount of effort you must do to keep in touch with friends many miles away, and all the effort should not restrict you from making new friends wherever you are right now.
Authors such as Huber Gonzalez are one of the few that write about staying in touch with hometown friends as well as relationships in college. Gonzalez argues that there needs to be a fine line in which a person interacts with their friends back home and their new friends in college. Gonzalez is absolutely right in this assentation, if you put too much effort into just a single side, there is no balance, and something will be broken off. Many of the sources that I have gathered never acknowledged this in great depth, unlike Gonzalez. Many sources seem to shed a light on hometown friends, which I believe is of the utmost importance, however, there needs to be an asterisk next to that. Indeed, hometown friends are forever, but college friends may reach that level of friendship that falls under hometown friends.
Although many writers glance over relationships about new and current relationships formed in college, there are still many conversations to be had about hometown friends. In an article found on Elite.com, writer Gabrielle LaFrank writes about the intricacies that occur with hometown friends as time and life move on. LaFrank asserts that as time moves on your life and many other things take ahold of you and hometown friends to skew away from one another. From new relationships to moving across the world, many things get in the way of old friendships. Along with her argument, she reasons that the fire could always reignite, hometown friends are forever, once the fire starts it's never truly dead. The entire article resonates with me. I commend LaFrank, hometown friends have an irreplaceable bond that lasts a lifetime. Though things do get in the way, there will always be a way to reconnect with your hometown friends
There is a multitude of reasons why hometown friends are so special, from growing up with them to having the same experiences throughout our entire lives, there are no shortages of explanations. When someone doesn’t have a hometown, such as Elia Rathore, there is more emphasis on relationships that you have than relationships that you already formed. Rathore grew up moving from one place to another, and it taught her to be ready to move and have no strings attached to a single place. Of course, she made friends throughout her life, but nothing compared to the relationships I have with my friends back home. Rathore has an interesting aspect in life, in college, she only has to really focus on her relationships there rather than balancing that along with her relationships back at her hometown. However, without a hometown, specifically hometown friends there is a nuance that is illustrated throughout her life. Since she has been used to being the ‘new kid’ in school she is more attuned to make new friends, however, they may not have the same strong relationships since those who did have hometowns are used to making relationships last years rather than months.
The relationships that you form in college are as important as the relationships you formed many years ago back in your hometown. When Alexa Mellardo, a blogger found on Elite.com, asserted “our hometown friends will always hold a special place in our hearts -- and will most likely be in our wedding parties someday.” This I wholeheartedly believe, but there is also another demographic that she is forgetting about, college friends. The people you meet throughout your life hold a varying amount of importance, and hometown friends and college friends are no different. Many of my hometown friends will be at those special moments of my life, and I will be at their special moments. Conversely, I believe that the relationships that I make in college will eventually get to that level as well. Though I am a bit early in the college experience, I feel true bonds forming from the friends that I made so far, and who is to otherwise.
Many of the sources give many tips and tricks on how to stay connected with your hometown friends. Many may be useful, but the best way is to just be open to one another. Everyone has their own lives and relationships, you have to want it to really keep the relationships between your hometown friends alive. If you do let them slip, though, just remember that the bond that you have with your hometown friends are for life.
There needs to be a delicate balance between maintaining old relationships and maintaining new ones. The exact balance can only be determined by an individual, but once you exceed it you will know. A missed call that you wait to return later in the day goes from a few minutes to a few days. You miss crazy stories that your hometown friends told or you didn’t go to dinner with your college friends because you’re finally going to return that call. It all depends on what you, as a person can and want to do, but you need to make sure that you don’t lose one or the other.