Friendship is defined by the Webster’s Dictionary as, “the state of being friends”. However, your friends do not alway get to live in the same state as you. In some cases, you might have a friendship with someone who lives halfway around the world.

Even when you have a friendship with someone in the same state as you, it can be challenging. People today live very busy lives, so trying to get a time where you and your friend’s schedules match up to meet for coffee at Dunkin’ can be very difficult. Usually, friendships today are mostly held with the assistance of technology.

Technology is especially helpful when you have a friend who lives in a different country. If it is hard to be able to find time to talk to a friend in your same state, imagine how much harder it is to find the time when you are in different time zones!

Knowing the time difference is very important when talking to friends on the other side of the world. If you do not know the time difference, you might end up trying to call your friend in the middle of the night. Not only do you have to factor in the time difference to be able to talk to friends half way around the world, but also if there is wifi.

Phone plans with international services can be extremely pricey. In order to talk to a friend who lives in a different country, you have to use apps to communicate. To be able to use apps like Voxer, Whats App, WeChat, or even just Facebook and Snapchat use data. Phone plans do not always have unlimited data so quite often you have to make sure you both have wifi to be able to tell each other about your life.

Even though you can message and chat with your friend half way across the world, it is not the same as having them in person. You do not get to have your friend at life events such as break ups, graduations, birthdays, holidays, and other celebrations (like when you quit your job with a horrible boss). Of course you can still FaceTime or Skype, but the quality is not the same as having your friend by your side and holding your hand through life’s milestones.

Only being able to see your friend on Snapchat and Facebook can be rough. It is hard to be close to them and still have the same quality relationship. You can still gossip about boys and see them having fun going out to clubs, but you are not at the club with them.

Having a long distance friendship is very hard. Although it is hard and challenging, it is worth it all. When friends move half way around the world, it is usually for a good reason. Any good friend just wants their friend to be happy with what they do. Having a friend move for work might take its toll on the friendship, but at least your friend is happy and doing what they love. Besides, if your friend is happy, that should make you happy.

No matter how far a friend might be from you, if you are truly friends, you will put in the effort. A great friendship is not something you can just throw away and forget about. A great friendship takes effort but that just makes the reunion when your friend returns home that much greater. Cherish your friends when they live in the same state or country as you because even if you think it is challenging, it is not as challenging as have a friendship with someone who lives half way around the world.

My friend moved to China and I miss her every day, but I know she still my friend and we have a great friendship that I would not trade for anything in the world!