Dear friend who is 3,000+ miles away,
You should know that I’m very proud of you. You took the big step out of our comfortable campus bubble we call home and flew across the world to a place you have never been. I hope that you have found this place to make you as happy as you deserve. The guts to embrace the adventure you embarked on is something I’ll always admire. I stood with you each anxiety attack of the way from applying to your program, to getting accepted, to applying for a visa, to buying plane tickets and to saying our last goodbyes. I still stand with you, just from afar.
I feel as though I’m in a long-distance relationship now that you’re gone. I miss you. I know we facetime, text and SnapChat all the time but it’s not the same as getting up in the morning and running into your room to catch up on what happened the night before. Don’t worry about seeing pictures we post here, because we have FOMO just as bad as you do. You should know that you can count on me to follow every abroad Instagram account you make, like pictures you post and read every blog entry you write because it makes me feel as though I’m experiencing everything with you. And somehow, doing all of these forms of social media helps us know that we’ll be back together before we know it.
I’m thankful you got this incredible opportunity to expand your experiences and knowledge. You’re still one of my closest friends and we both know you’ll come back different, but better. The involvement with a different country and its society will shape you in a unique way that I can’t wait to see. You’ll share your growth with me as well as the campus as a whole. But we’ll still be able to get into the same shenanigans that we used to before you left and maybe you’ve learned a thing or two about how to cause more trouble.
I’m looking forward to deleting all of my world clock locations and being back in the same time zone. Also, I apologize for the delay in texts when I’m sleeping as well as waking you up with my endless rants. You’re just the first person I go to first when something happens and if something does happen then I completely forget that it’s 4 in the morning for you. But thanks for always getting back to me.
At the end of the day - eat as much delicious food you can, drink as much as you can because you’re finally legal, don’t forget the study part of study abroad but most importantly enjoy the thrill of the experience because once you get back I’m never letting go.
Love,
Your patiently waiting friend
