Being 24, I think it's safe to say I know a lot about being a teenager and all that things that go hand in hand with it, having lived through it not too long ago.

One thing I've learned, unfortunately the hard way, is that most of the people you're friends with in high school the day after graduation it's likely you'll never see them again. Ok that's a lie, maybe you'll spend that whole summer before going off to college with one another playing the whole "we'll be best friends forever," card or "nothing's going to change between us," and "we can make it work two hours apart." Wrong. Now that's not always the case, but 90% of the time, you're wrong. Things won't be the same, people lose touch. Even with all this technology now-a-days, it's not enough. That's life.

Now, I'm sure you'll stay in touch the first one or two years or so but slowly things will change. You'll get new friends; face time and phone calls with your old friends will become short and scarcely. You'll start dating other people. Lets face it we're all human, sexual beings, and being away from your significant other while most of you are probably sexually active (it's 2011, sex is like a handshake) isn't the ideal situation when you're only seeing your significant other on major holidays and vacations. You'll begin to learn that you're not the same person you were in high school. And that's okay!

College is where you find out who you are. You "find yourself" as most people like to say. When you go off to college you can be whoever you want. You create yourself.

So why am I writing about this being out of high school for five years now? I hear too often from high school kids that their worry about college is that they won't find friends like they have in high school or find that girlfriend or boyfriend who they're so "deeply in love with."

Nothing is more frustrating than seeing someone in high school think that's their whole life. It's not. I promise you. College was the best four years of my entire life. Cost me an arm and a leg, but the party was worth it. These are the people you're going to be friends with forever. These are the bridesmaids at your wedding.

Now before people start getting all crazy yes, there is alway that exception that happens where two people really are "high school sweethearts" and stay together forever and there are those true friends that stick with you through all the ups and downs. But they're limited. I promise you there is so much more to life than small town living.

My only advice I can give to people is to take like for all it's worth. Life is too short to wonder. Base all of your decisions solely on yourself and do what is going to better your life. It may sound selfish, but realize no one else is making a decision based on you. Great friends, whether 10 miles or 1500 miles away will stick with you and that "can't eat, can't sleep reach for the stars over the fence" kind of love, will conquer all.