Since I've moved home, I've been thinking a lot about friendship. Until around year 10, I didn't really have many friends. That wasn't because I didn't want them. I was genuinely too shy to speak to anyone. As a result, I often sat alone on lunch breaks in primary school, and I distinctly remember crying every day when Mum dropped me off at secondary school, because I didn't want to go in. Of course, I wasn't a complete loner. I had a best friend called Hannah until the age of around 7, when her family moved to Australia. Then came Emma, who I hung around with until the end of primary school. And then secondary school came, along with a new supposed best friend. But she was manipulative, and it took me a few years to realise that she wasn't really a friend at all. Towards the end of my secondary school life, I began to stand up for myself and made a really good group of friends. I still see them today, and although we've grown up, and slightly grown apart since I started Uni, I still consider them as some of the most important people in my life. I'm hoping that time will make us as close as we once were.

My best friend Daisy has played a pretty major role in my life. She knows me inside-out and can, much to my surprise the majority of the time, read me like a book. Dais is the kindest and bubbliest person I've ever met, and I consider myself lucky to class her as the closest person to me, outside of my family.

My University friendships differ to my home ones. In some ways I feel closer to my Uni friends; I've lived with most of them, and spending so much time with people obviously brings you closer together. I have, like every other University student, had my ups-and-downs with friends. The past year in particular was what led me, in a way, to start thinking about my friendships, and how I am as a friend. I've found being a good friend particularly challenging this past year. I worked really hard for my finals, and I'm very aware that I've neglected some of my friends because of this. In another sense, I've found the past year as a friend challenging as well because I've felt at times that I've had to step away from certain situations. But today I stand by the fact that friendship means supporting the people you love, regardless of your opinion, or your views.

At the age of 22, I finally feel ready to class my parents as my friends. I know how cliché that sounds. Most of my friends are more than ready to move out, and away from their parents. But I can still honestly say that my parents are two of the most important people in my life. Guy and I have both traditionally been 'Mummy's boy' and 'Mummy's girl', yet in more recent months I'm really happy that Dad and I have become closer again. I phoned them up first to tell them of my 2:1, and I was genuinely happy that they were proud of me. I'm very aware that Guy and I can argue with the best of them, and I'm sure we've both said things to each other before that we regret. But this is the closest we've ever been, and I care about him more than I do most other people. My little brother is, despite our differences, one of the closest people to me.

My friendships with boys have also changed. I'd gone out with my boyfriend, Sam, for almost 10 months before my year abroad, and when I came back we started going out again. We've been together for over a year this time round. There had been one other boyfriend inbetween those two times. I've spent a lot of time thinking about that stretch of my life, but today I can honestly say that I'm the happiest I've ever been, and that Sam makes me happier than I ever could have imagined. Whilst I make no claims that he's some sort of Romeo figure, he makes me laugh, and at times I think he knows me, though I hate to say it, better than I know myself.

So as I prepare for the world of work, I look back on the friendships I've made, and the journey I've taken so far. And, actually, despite my somewhat rocky start, I find myself thinking that I wouldn't change my journey for the world. Here's hoping the next chapter in my life is as enjoyable as the previous, and that as time goes by, in the words of the Beatles, I'll get by with a little help from my friends.