One of my biggest concerns about coming to college was losing touch with my best friends from high school. I’ve been friends with the same girls since elementary school and didn’t want to leave behind the people I had grown up with! Even though I’ve made amazing new friends in college and have had a busy first semester, I’m still making an effort to maintain my old friendships using these seven methods:
1. FaceTime them
I prefer FaceTime over calling or texting because it’s the closest thing to being face-to-face with your friends. It might be tempting to set up a schedule to FaceTime your besties, but I’ve found that it’s hard to keep up with weekly or even bi-weekly FaceTime sessions because other activities can get in the way. It’s much easier to FaceTime your friends randomly, like when you’re walking to class or eating at the dining hall.
2. Keep the group chat going
If you had a group chat with your friends in high school, keep it alive! And if you didn’t, what better time to start one?! Check in with your friends every once in a while to see how they’re doing. You don’t even need to talk about super deep topics, just small updates are enough to keep your friends clued in to what’s happening in your life. For example, you could ask everyone what the highlight of their week was or tell them a funny story from your day.
3. Tag each other in memes
If you see something on social media that you think would make your friend laugh, tag them! It’s small things like that that let your friends know you’re thinking about them. Even though it’s not as personal as a text or phone call, tagging your friends in memes is an effortless way to stay in touch even when you’re miles apart.
4. Send a letter
Just because you have the ability to talk to your friends with the touch of a button doesn’t mean you can’t go old-school and send them a letter! Letters are a much more sentimental and meaningful way of keeping in touch with high school friends. And as we all know, getting mail in college is super exciting.
5. Care packages
Care packages might be pricier and more time-consuming to put together, but the excitement your friend will feel when she gets it will make it worth the effort. Pick out some candies and snacks that your friend loves, put them together in a creative way, and top it off with a sweet note. Care packages are great for special occasions like birthdays or to cheer up your friend when they’re having a rough week.
6. Plan to see them over breaks
Going home and reuniting with your high school friends after being apart for months is the best feeling. Plan ahead a time to hang out with your friends while you’re all home, because figuring it out beforehand will give you all something to look forward to.
7. Visit each other at school
One of the best ways to keep in touch with high school friends is to actually go see them! Visiting friends is a great way to see what their home away from home is really like. Personally, my spring break is a week after my friends’ and I’m taking that as an opportunity to visit some of them at their schools.
Keeping in touch with your best friends from high school can be challenging, especially when your schedules don’t line up and you’re distracted by the craziness of your first semester in college. My best advice is to accept the fact that FaceTime or calling your friend once a week might not be possible – don’t get discouraged when staying in touch gets hard! You know you’re really good friends with someone when you reunite and everything goes back to normal, as if you weren’t just apart for months. On the flip side, if staying in touch with someone feels like a chore, then maybe they were just an acquaintance rather than a friend and that’s okay! You’ll make more amazing friendships in college.