Let’s be honest here: we have all struggled to keep in touch with our friends from home. And as someone who places a lot of value on my friendships, it’s disappointing to realize I’m not doing the best I can to keep in touch with my friends from home. Having been through almost two semesters of college already, I’ve learned a few things about keeping my long distance friendships alive.
First and foremost, long-distance anything is hard. With different time zones, schedules, and lives, finding time to prioritize catching up with old friends can be challenging. Something that my friends and I have done is scheduled a weekly FaceTime call. We all make sure that we plan our schedules around our call and if something comes up, we reschedule to a different time that works for us. While we have all flaked at one point or another, it’s important to reschedule and prevent flaking out from becoming habitual.
Another thing I have done is set weekly reminders in my phone to check-in with my close friends from home. Just a quick “Hey! What’s up? Hope we can catch up soon!” can go a long way in staying in touch with your long-distance friends. Sending a check-in text every once in a while shows your friends that you care and want to stay in touch even while you’re away at college. Also, whenever I see something that reminds me of one of my friends, I use it as an alert to remember to text them and check in.
My friend at Emerson (shoutout to Marieska!) keeps in touch with one of her friends by writing letters. Letters, over texts, are physical and tangible representations of a friendship and can remind you how important it is to stay in touch with your close friends. While texts can easily be forgotten about or disappear, letters are something that you can hold onto and treasure forever.
Something else that’s important is making the most of your time together when you’re home. At least for me, being home is my time to become an introvert and stay in bed all day. But, I always make sure I see my friends as well. In-person interaction is so fundamental to staying close with your friends from home. As much as I would like to stay in bed and do nothing, whenever someone wants to hang out I always say yes!
It’s hard to not get caught up in college life, especially when it surrounds us most of the day, but there’s no more comforting feeling then hearing the sound of an old friend’s voice. Hopefully this article will encourage you to stay in touch with your close friends from home and cherish your memories with them.