From the ages of five to eighteen, you typically spend most of your time in one place, surrounded by your family and the friends you’ve known and grown up with. Over the years you move schools and lose some of those friendships, but you’re still in that familiar circle of friends. What about your family? The familiarity of coming home after school and seeing your dad in the kitchen on the phone while your little brother is taking a nap on the couch. You have a routine and familiar relationships. If you also chose to go out of state, leave everything, and don’t know how to balance those relationships back home. Then I am with you one hundred percent, No clue what I’m doing but this is what I found that makes it a little easier.
I left Connecticut to come to Michigan State University. It was a great decision don’t get me wrong I love it here. However, I have friends back in Connecticut that I don’t want to lose over this distance. We all live busy lives and that’s no surprise to anyone. Most of my friends are in college and busy with their classes, so we don’t always get to talk on the phone every day. One thing that helps me stay in contact is I make calls every Friday as I’m walking twenty minutes to class. I call one friend and if they don’t pick up I call another one. Having that short time of walking to class is perfect for a small catch up. It allows us to tell eachother how university is going and get a good idea of how the other one is doing, so when we do see eachother again it’s like no time has passed. It is a limited time meaning you won’t get through everything, but you will get enough to know that you’re not missing anything huge in each other’s lives.
Something I do with my family is take random photos over the week of what is going on. Then Sunday night I send a photo dump to my parents showing them how class is going, what I’m up to, or the dining hall food that my dad always asks about. This allows them to see both my face and what I am up to. It shows them everything is okay and I’m not just sitting in the dorm crying, wanting to go home. Also, when they send photos of what’s going on at home it makes me feel like I am not missing a huge chunk of their lives by being away. Plus I get to see pictures of my cats who I dearly miss.
By doing these two things I have been able to stay connected with my friends and family from far away. It makes the waiting till Thanksgiving break go so much faster. If you’re ever feeling homesick and want to stay connected with your friend back home try some of these strategies.