My senior year of high school, we had a foreign exchange student come to our school from Australia. She seemed very nice, but a little shy. I had said “hi” to her a few times, but I was always a little nervous to speak up and befriend her. For almost a month, I watched her wander the halls, being friendly to everyone, but not really having many real friends. As it would turn out, she ended up being in my English class. After telling my friends more about her, I finally decided to message her on Facebook that night and tell her if she ever wanted to talk or hang out, we were there for her... The rest is history. She fit right into my little group of friends, and we all spent the next five months becoming absolute best friends. Our group basically spent every moment of free time together that we could. We had sleepovers, went on BFF dinner dates, had movie marathons, loaded up on junk food and told each other everything. But what happens when the semester is winding down, and you know that your new best friend is about to leave you and go back to her home?

Having this type of friend “go home” is unlike any other experience you’ve had with a friend before. This isn’t the same type of goodbye you give a good friend who’s going on vacation or a friend that’s moving a state away. This is the goodbye that you give your newfound best friend when they are heading to the other side of the world, with no current plans to come back. It is one of the hardest experiences you’ve faced. You can’t fathom the idea of going to school without them, having movie marathons without them, or even having a sleepover without them. But, the hardest part is not knowing when you’re ever going to see them in person again.

So, I know what you’re thinking. How could a friendship like this ever work? I’m sure you’ve heard of long distance friendships, but this takes that concept to a whole new level. It is quite obvious that this is not going to be easy, but I am here to tell you that it is possible, and it is worth it! When you meet a friend that understands you and impacts you in such a positive way, it doesn’t matter where they live, their presence in your life is crucial. They say that everyone you meet comes into your life for a reason, and I personally believe that. If you were given this great friend in your life, it was for a great reason, and that’s not something you should throw away.

Putting work into the friendship is the number one way to make sure a long distance friendship like this survives. It has not always been easy. When something amazing happens to you, the first thing you want to do is tell your best friends. However, now one of them is on the other end of a 12-hour time difference. That can make things a little tricky sometimes. The time difference can also make setting up times to Skype a difficult task. Skype is a great tool for long distance friendships, but it’s hard to plan out a time that isn’t too early or too late for one of you. It’s also very difficult to make sure that you keep in touch all of the time. It really takes a conscious effort to make sure that you don’t miss a beat in your friendship.

So, what really happens when you become best friends with the foreign exchange student? Well, at least in my case, you end up with an awesome friend, a fun pen pal, and a Skype buddy for life. We send packages and letters to each other often, we try to Skype every once in a while, and we have a constant group message that we’ve used since the day she left to go home. Even though it’s been over a year since my Australian bestie went back to her homeland, I still miss her every day. I get so excited when she sends me something in the mail, and I can never wait to read our funny group texts. I am so grateful that I have this friendship in my life. Whether she decides to come visit the US tomorrow or in ten years, I will still be here with an open door (and a couch for her to crash on) for as long as she’d like.