We've all been there. One minute everything is totally normal and fine and the next your entire world is turned upside down. You find out your best friend is leaving you to study abroad for months in another country...it's an absolute whirlwind of emotions and it feels like nothing will ever be the same. But I am here to tell you that this experience, although extremely tough at times, can lead to an even stronger friendship in the end. These are the various phases of when your best friend goes to study abroad.

When your friend first tells you that they'll be studying abroad for the next 4 months...

You help them pack, take them to the airport, and stay with them as long as humanely possible until the very second they have to leave.

And then it suddenly occurs to you...

Throughout the first few weeks without them, every time you have to explain to someone where they are it goes a little something like this...

And whenever you tell a story about them, you have to try not to tear up.

The excitement you feel the first time you get to see their beautiful face through FaceTime is unmatched by anything ever.

Hearing their awesome stories makes you so excited for them, but a little jealous.

But that jealousy takes over when you see all of their new friends tagging them in hundreds of photos of all of them living it up in another country.

Then you remember how much you always have and always will love each other, and it's ridiculous to be jealous.

Sure you can't physically be there for each other right now, but you support each other from afar through everything that happens while you are apart.

As the big day gets closer and closer you start planning everything that the two of you will do as soon as they get back.

FINALLY the day comes, and there are no words for the first time you actually get to see them.

And then everything is right in the world again