College is a whirlwind of responsibilities, from schoolwork and extracurriculars to jobs and internships. Finding the time to keep up with such active lifestyles AND maintain a healthy social life can be very exhausting. While we struggle to fit lunch dates with friends in between classes, work shifts, and meetings, it’s even more difficult to preserve closeness with friends who live far away.
As you try to manage a full schedule from Monday through Friday (and sometimes even Saturdays and Sundays), fostering your relationships with friends who live in the same town as you is definitely more manageable than with those friends who live elsewhere. You might have the same coffee break at 3 pm, as well as the same shift at work. You probably have the ability to take the same classes, or join the same clubs or Greek organizations. Even if you don’t have these things in common, they still might live next door or down the hall from you, so you’re used to seeing each other on a regular, if not daily, basis. The same can’t be said for those friends who live in a different town, state, country, or even continent. You might have the same lunch break, but reaching each other may take longer than a few steps down the hall. Trips to each other’s place of residence may take hours or days depending on your mode of transportation, and you most definitely don’t have the same work or class schedule.
Suddenly you get really busy, and before you realize it, you’re halfway through the semester and you haven’t spoken to your best friend in months.Trying to stay connected to people who live far away can be difficult and emotionally draining. Liking their statuses or Instagram photos is not the same as seeing their faces every day. However, it is a constant reminder of what your friendship means and how it continues to evolve. You rejoice in their accomplishments from afar, and send your support through Facebook messages and texts. You reminisce about that one time you took a spontaneous trip to San Francisco, or that other time they made you walk all the way across campus to the furthest parking lot because they didn’t have the right parking permit. You remember those long nights you spent stu(dying) for finals, or that one summer when you had a fro-yo date pretty much once a week.
Although life may get even more hectic and you may not talk to them as often as you would like, it doesn’t change the fact that these people continue to hold a special place in your heart. Not all friendships will be able to withstand the toll that distance imposes, but the ones that do are the relationships that you will forever cherish because they were the ones that stood the test of time and persevered through one of the biggest obstacles in life. These friendships are ever-lasting because they’re filled with understanding; you constantly make an effort to retain the same feeling of trust and intimacy, and when you finally get to see each other in person you realize that distance and time will never break your special bond.
