In recent years, it’s occurred to me that love is something that is very different from what it was a generation ago: It’s unrecognizable from anything from the previous generation. The purest forms of love that I have experienced have solely been with family and friends. Significant others are often riddled with the types of problems that come with romantic relationships. But besides a tiff over trivial things like doing the dishes with friends and roommates, I’ve only had fantastic friendships since coming to UCSD.

There’s been a lot of talk of soul mates around my apartment lately. Do they exist? Are we all destined to have one, or maybe more? Is a soul mate a romantic partner or can it be a friend? And as I’ve spent more time with my roommates, I’ve realized that if anything, soul mates are much more likely to be friends than romantic partners.

I met Flavia freshman year of college. We were both in Marshall College and were both communication majors, so we basically had every class together. She was pretty intimidating at first, but as soon as we started talking about the TV show “Friends” and how we were both atheists, she was hooked.

Two years into our friendship, Flavia admitted something to me. She told me that the summer before starting college she had looked through the “Marshall College Class of 2014” Facebook group which I was a member of. She glanced through profiles and stumbled upon mine. She saw all my pseudo-hipster high school profile pictures, like the one of me in the snow in New York wearing a red coat. It was a picture taken on a disposable camera (I was pretty cool, I know). Upon looking at these pictures, she decided that she wanted to be my roommate and my friend and proceeded to cross her fingers that she’d get an email saying I was her future roommate.

Of course, that didn’t happen, but we did end up meeting within hours of moving in on campus, and after a few communication classes, our friendship was confirmed. She didn’t admit this adorable stalker-ish story until sophomore year, but at the time, I thought it was one of the most flattering things anyone has ever said to me, even though it’s completely reflective of generation Facebook.

Now we’re juniors, and we’ve agreed that we’re soul mates. She thinks like me. She talks like me. And she’s one of the few people that has the same type of humor as me. Every day spent with her further proves that we are the same person. This is the purest version of love I think there is. Above all boy problems, family problems, etc., I know my roommates (shout out to Bella and Jess, too!) will be there for me no matter what, and vice versa. And if you’re sitting here reading this and scoffing at how cheesy this article is, I’d probably say that you’ve never had a true best friend, and maybe you should go out and find one. Just because it’s trite, doesn’t mean it’s not true.