Finding your best friend — or just friends in general — in an ocean of over 50,000 students can be difficult. After being bombarded with images of couples during cuffing season, especially if single, you might’ve felt upset. These best friend stories are here to cheer you up.
Katie and Kritima
Liberal Studies sophomores Katie Nugent and Kritima Lamichhane both spent their first year at NYU London, where they met at one of the orientation events. Nugent was almost not let in because she was late but after succeeding she noticed Lamichhane and went up to her on a whim.
”I went up to Kritima and said, ‘OMG, I love your eyebrows!’ and she responded with, ‘OMG, I love you!’” Nugent said. “Now, we spend almost every day of our lives together.”
During their first-year orientation, Nugent and Lamichhane were inseparable, finding solidarity in showing up to the events in oversized sweatshirts and leggings, breaking away from the rest of the London students who decided to dress up every day.
“We quickly learned that we were the same person and just went with it,” Lamichhane said.
Today, the duo remains close. After Nugent’s 9:30 a.m. accounting class, Lamichhane always meets her outside of the Stern building to spend time with her, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. They can be spotted scrolling through TikToks together or supporting each other at their respective sorority events.
Ian, Mateo and Veronica
Their College Cohort program is what originally brought Stern first-years Mateo Guevara and Ian Polanco together. On the first day, Guevara approached Polanco, handed him a cup of coffee and simply said, “Hi, I’m Mateo!” The guys quickly became friends, connecting over their Business & Political Economy majors.
Eventually, their duo became a trio when Stern first-year Veronica Sandoval joined, having all bonded over a mutual dislike of their statistics class.
When classes started, they found out that they were all in the same statistics class. For Sandoval, the class was especially challenging and she struggled to complete the assignments. Being the only one who actually knew what he was doing, Polanco created a study group and invited both Sandoval and Guevara. It was through this study group that their friendship blossomed.
“Mateo is one of the smartest people I have ever met,” Sandoval said. “Ian is one of the kindest. He used to bring coffee to our 8 a.m. stats class because he knew it would relieve my stress.”
The trio spent the majority of finals season grinding out math problems in the lounge of Founders Hall together. Now, with their first semester over, they continue to stick together. One tradition that they have is watching “The Bachelor” every Monday in Sandoval’s dorm.
“I don’t give compliments that often,” Polanco admitted, “but Mateo always speaks his mind and Veronica is so inclusive. We all also have the same sense of humor.”
Lise, Han and Kathrine
CAS juniors Lise Swain and Han Nguyen and sophomore Kathrine Serebrianski come from completely different backgrounds: Swain is from San Francisco, Nguyen grew up in Texas and Kathrine is an international student from Moscow, Russia. What brought them together, however, wasn’t cohort or a hard class. It was actually a Brooklyn-based food market, Smorgasbord.
“I met Han and Kathrine when we all joined Zeta Tau Alpha last year at a sisterhood event at LF Stores,” Swain said. “After being grouped together for a photoshoot, we went to Smorgasburg where we hung out, laughed and ate great food for the rest of the day.”
Last year, Swain and Serebrianski also spent time together in their general chemistry class. Now roommates, the trio spends almost every minute outside of class together. A typical evening for them includes a lot of Trader Joe’s meals and reality TV.
“What I love most about them is that we can all be comfortable together in silence,” Nguyen said. “That’s when you really know!”
Being in the same sorority has also brought them closer. One of their favorite sorority events was going to the Queen’s County Farm pumpkin patch in the fall and eating apple cider donuts.
“What I love about [Han and Lise] is their beautiful, intelligent personalities,” Serebrianski said. “It’s just always so great to be around them.
Email Gaby Baldovino at [email protected].