The first change was that my future became the main topic. Every time I saw friends, somebody asked about Maastricht, housing, moving dates, or whether I was excited. They meant well. I also wanted one evening where I was not the person leaving. Then plans became symbolic. A normal coffee was possibly the last coffee before the move. A disagreement felt too risky because we were running out of time. We tried to create important memories on demand and sometimes made the friendship feel like an event we were closing. One friend became distant. I assumed they did not care. Much later they admitted that hearing about the move made their own situation feel stuck. They were happy for me and did not want their jealousy to become my problem. I had been interpreting silence as indifference when it was actually an attempt at kindness. Another friend wanted constant promises: we would call every week, visit quickly, and remain exactly the same. I made the promises because refusing sounded cruel. Privately, I knew I could not predict my new schedule or who either of us would become. After moving, the chat from home continued without me. Their jokes referred to evenings I had missed. My stories required introductions to people they had never met. I began sending only the highlights because explaining everything was exhausting. Highlights made my life look easier and more exciting than it was. At the same time, new friendships in Maastricht moved fast because everybody needed people. We shared fears and practical problems before we knew each other’s ordinary history. That closeness was real, but different from being known for years. For a while I compared the two kinds of friendship and found both lacking. Old friends did not understand my present. New friends did not know my past. Now I see the value of both. I do not need one group to contain every version of me. Some old friendships will become occasional and still matter. Some new friendships will be intense for a semester and then soften. A few may survive every change. The painful part is that no conversation can guarantee which ones. Friendship is not maintained by promising that nothing will change. It is maintained by making room for the change without treating it as abandonment.