By Zac Bestwick
Studying abroad can be one of the most exciting opportunities college can offer to students, but what if it’s your friends who are off on international adventures and you’re the one left behind? How do you keep up with the people you care about from Foggy Bottom when they’re across the globe? It’s certainly a challenge, but it’s worth it to maintain our relationships with the people we love. Here are a few tips for keeping up with your friends studying abroad:
1. Reach out for no reason
It may seem like a no-brainer, but it can sometimes be the hardest part of staying connected with a friend living abroad. Since you won’t be crossing paths with them organically like you would on campus, it’s important to routinely reach out and spark up conversation. It depends on the friend, but it may be less likely that they reach out to you, and for good reason. After all, they’re experiencing once-in-a-lifetime travel and may be too busy or distracted to reach out regularly. That said, remember to check your WhatsApp or other messaging platforms in case they have reached out. Foggy Bottom dwellers may have notifications turned off for these services in favor of text messaging, which isn’t always available to international travelers.
2. Plan FaceTime calls
In the spirit of reaching out first, try to plan video calls with your study abroad friends so that you have a chance to catch up with them face to face. It’s important to plan these calls ahead of time rather than just calling them up, they may be busy enjoying their surroundings. Reach out to your friend and set aside a specific time to talk and put it on your calendar so you don’t forget. (I learned to do this with my high school friends when we all went off to different colleges and each took on busy schedules.) Schedules are especially hard to sync up when your friend is studying in a different time zone, so keep this in mind when planning your video calls.
Remember, when you’re with friends in person, kickbacks and hangouts can spring up organically, but in long distance friendships this likely isn’t going to happen. Even something as simple as a thirty minute chat will take some effort to set up. If your friend can’t make time to talk that week, give them some leeway and try again another time.
3. Be Patient
Semesters can go by slowly when someone you’re used to spending a lot of time with has left to study abroad, but in the grand scheme of things a semester isn’t all that much time. Your pals will be back soon. Especially if you haven’t studied abroad yourself, try to keep in mind that they’re having a unique and valuable experience that they’re unlikely to ever have again, so if you don’t hear from them as much as you’d like be sure to cut them some slack.
It’s likely that they have made some new friends on their trip, but don’t worry, you haven’t been replaced. A key part of studying abroad is getting to know interesting folks from all over the world, but they’ll be back before long. When your friends get back from their journey, invite them over or take them out to dinner so you can go back to business as usual and hear all about everything they discovered abroad.
