When I started college, I became friends with a foreign exchange student. It's cool being friends with someone from a different country because you learn about a different culture than your own. My foreign friend happens to be British. Since the exchange program ended, our friendship has consisted of not having money to visit each other and trying to schedule Skype calls around each other's time zones. But there are some pretty cool things about having a long-distance British friend.
1. There's always someone to talk to when you wake up in the morning.
Those time zones can be pesky, but when all of your friends at home are still asleep and you are dying to tell someone about your dream, your British friend has already been awake for six hours.
2. You learn about British politics...
It's crazy that other countries know about our politics more than we know about theirs, don't you think?
3. ...and have someone to complain about American politics with.
I swear no one hates Donald Trump more than the Brits.
4. You learn British lingo.
Even if you don't know how to use it correctly.
5. You have a better chance of meeting the Queen.
I swear this was supposed to be a joke (because come on, it's the most commonly asked question that Americans ask) but then the conversation above actually happened while preparing for this article and I rest my case.
6. You get to pretentiously say that you have a friend who lives in England.
It just makes you seem so much cooler and more cultured, even if the country is one of the closest culturally to America.
7. You have an excuse to visit a different country...
Because you can't excuse spending money for your own pleasure when you're a college student.
8. ...and have a place to couch surf when you do.
Because if you are actually going to spend the money for a flight over there, the least they can do is make sure you don't have to pay for a hotel. *wink wink*
9. You get to exchange holiday cards and paying extra for an international postage stamp.
"Look, it's a Christmas card from ACROSS THE WORLD!"
10. If you're like me, you get to be friends with someone who shares a name with Benedict Cumberbatch.
It really does bother me that he just goes by Ben.
11. You learn everything that is actually wrong with The Crown.
When their grandparents literally remember growing up at the beginning of the Queen's reign, they know and point out everything in the show that is made up.
12. Like all long-distance friends, they are unbiased.
When you complain about things that are happening in your immediate surroundings, they have no problem telling you that you are the problem.
13. You mostly talk on Snapchat.
Your conversations consist of stupidity. And unless they screenshot or save your chats, there isn't any evidence of you being an idiot. Not that they have anyone they would be sharing it with, anyway.
