But for many freshmen who come to Harvard with a best friend or significant other from high school, this connection can make the adjustment to college much easier.

During their first weeks at Harvard, Bradbury and Maasdorp relied on each other to ease the transition to both college and American life. According to Bradbury, it was because of this support that Harvard “became our home so quickly.”

Maasdorp says that their friendship gave her space to relax in the hectic first days of freshman year.

“When you’re meeting all these people, sometimes you just want to be yourself,” she says.

Their connection also gave Maasdorp relief from the attention she garnered as an international student.

“Everyone tells me I’m really interesting because I’m foreign. You can’t imagine how nice it is to have someone who thinks I’m typical and kind of boring,” she quips.

Robert E. Powers ’14 says he thinks that his relationship with Alison Liou ’14—his best friend since third grade and his girlfriend since senior year of high school—actually allowed him to meet more new people than he would have otherwise.

“Off the bat, because of our relationship, we created a social circle,” he says. “I’m not sure if I could have done that on my own.”

STRIKING A BALANCE

As comforting as it can to be to have a connection from high school during Opening Days, most students eventually move on to new college friends. Students who come to Harvard with a best friend or significant other say it can be tricky to balance the old and the new.

However, these pairs claim that the secret to maintaining their relationships is to set aside time to spend together while still pursuing independent activities.

As they adjusted to life at Harvard, Maasdorp says she and Bradbury began spending more time apart.

“We completely branched out,” she says. “Towards the end of last year, we didn’t see each other a lot. But we always had each other as backups ... we’re like an old married couple.”

Byran N. Dai ’11 and Alexander K. Sherbany ’11—an inactive Crimson editorial editor and photo editor, respectively—share a similar story.

Although they were best friends in high school, they are now pursuing different concentrations, participating in different extracurricular activities, and even living in different residential houses, they say.