College: our time to find ourselves (whatever that garbage means) before we become an adult in the real world. It's scary - things are constantly changing, people come in and out of lives in a blink of an eye. Nothing is the same as it was when we left for college, we've all moved on whether we admit it or not. But when the dust clears and we reevaluate what's important to us, there's one thing that remains: our best friends from home. Soulmates, sisters from different misters - whatever you call them, we all have them. They've seen us through our juicy couture days of middle school or our large group dates to the movies so we could "hang out" with a boy. Through thick and thin they've been there, so it's hard not having them down the street from you, granted now miles and miles away. And this new and "improved" relationship is basically #struggcity.
You're constantly playing catch-up
You go from seeing them practically 24/7 to seeing them for only a week here or there during breaks. They no longer know what classes you're struggling with or what boy you're low-key crushing on. There's no better way to say it then it flat out sucks. You feel like you're out of the loop and you hate not knowing everything they're going through. You feel like a bad friend but its so hard to keep up. What should be a two minute story turns into a 15 minute extravaganza, full of background details and pulling up everyone under the sun's Facebook to show who exactly you're talking about. It's tiring.
The horrid time distance
It sucks having a friend that's two hours away, but it's even worse having friends who are overseas studying. You try to remember what time it is there, but sometimes you're in urgent need of them that you forget and wake them at some extraneous hour of the morning. And when you do remember, it's like you're in between a rock and a hard place. Do I skip dinner to talk to them or is this gonna be another 15 minute catch-up-and-dash type of talk? And don't even get me started on the struggles of Skype and FaceTime.
Visits are nearly impossible
We used to talk about how we'd visit each other all the time after we graduated, but oh were we wrong. What seems so easy literally turns into a struggle to find time to visit or how we're actually going to make it there. And then when you do have something planned, some test is sprung on you or you realize you're a broke college kid and there's no way you could afford this. So I guess you'll visit each other during break. Oh wait - you have different breaks. Could this get any better? sigh.
Missing the important moments
You're so used to being there for everything - hell, you were there the day they passed their drivers test or when they got their first boyfriend. Now it's like you're reading the newspaper of their life events - Instagram and Facebook break the news before they even have the chance to tell you. And then there's the all important birthday. No longer can you throw a surprise party or decorate their locker (silly hs stuff but hey, still cute and sentimental). You're forced to make a collage and post it on their *shudders* Facebook wall. Of course they know you care but it's not the same; a shot "in their honor" isn't the same as the look on their face when you surprise them (despite what, drunk me might argue).
They're not with you: plain and simple
You no longer have the comfort of knowing that when you have a bad day they'll pick you up at midnight and take you to the diner or snuggle in for a movie night after a bad breakup. They're there in spirit but its not the same; it's hard knowing your other halves are so far away and they really can't do anything for you.
But at the end of the day, that's life. You'll be thrown miles and miles apart and there will be nothing you can do about it. So all you can do is thank your lucky stars for having such amazing friends as you do and count down the days until you're reunited.
