Summer break is a strange time for college students. You have packed up everything in the dorm room you grew to love over the past two grueling semesters, and suddenly it looks just as empty as it did on move in day. You tear up as you hug your new friends goodbye and prepare to head home. You promise to text each other every day, and to keep up with your Snap-streaks, which is a much more serious commitment. You tell each other that nothing really is going to change.
And then you move back into your childhood home, and the friends you’ve eaten every meal with all year are many miles, if not STATES away. Just like that, they’re gone, and you’re all alone. The ever-present roommate and close friends are no longer just a few feet away from you at any given moment, and you have no one to talk to before falling asleep at night.
However, this is the Internet age, and we have a hundred ways to keep in contact with our far away friends: texting, phone calls, Snapchat, FaceTime, or messaging via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Even though I am guilty of having so many different communication options to choose from, somehow days get past me without me having talked to my friends from college at all.
But let me explain myself.
First off, I apologize. This is one of those situations where it’s not you, it’s me. Anyone who knows me knows that I am HORRIBLE at keeping in contact with friends and family (which is ironic because I am a Communication major). It’s no excuse, but it’s just how I am. It wasn’t so apparent when we were at school together, because we were together all day every day anyways. There was never much of a need for you to text or call me, because we were always in such close quarters. Except for the occasional “lunch?” text message, our communication was face-to-face. So, now that summer break is upon us, and we have gone our separate ways, back to our hometowns, my failure to keep in touch has become very apparent. I am aware of this. But I am not doing this to hurt you. In fact, I'm not even doing it on purpose. I am just being myself, and I realize that I could hurt feelings in the process.
Don’t think that because of this, I love you any less. The past year of college was so much fun thanks to you, and there’s no way I could have survived it without you. The memories we made and the bond that we created mean just as much to me now as they did at school. Now that I am home, however, I am surrounded with memories and bonds with my family and my hometown friends. Not that they have replaced you, but being home is like being in an entirely different universe than being at college. It really is like living two completely different lives.
And I struggle to keep up with my two different lives. When I’m home, I fail to keep up with the lives of my college friends (there’s a good chance I don’t remember what job you have this summer, even though you’ve told me five times). When I am at college, I also fail to keep up with my family and friends from home. It’s a constant balancing act that somehow gets more difficult in the summer. I am home enjoying company of my friends from high school, but I also miss my college friends. And I’ll try to show you that I’m thinking of you and I miss you by sending you the occasional Snapchat of my cat with no caption. That’s my way of trying to tell you I miss hanging out with you and can’t wait to see you again.
So here’s to the amazing, irreplaceable friends I made at college this year. I see you, I love you, and I miss you tons. I can’t wait for school to start again so we can go back to spending all our time together again. We’ll talk soon.
All my love,
That friend who doesn’t answer her texts but loves you dearly and thinks of you every day.
