Going to university is always an adventure. You get to meet an array of new people and form strong bonds of friendship through both your highs and lows. All of these exciting prospects mean that it can sometimes be difficult to stay in touch with your roots. Whether it is the person you have known from birth or someone you became closer with during sixth form, there are friends from home that are really important parts of our lives. However, sometimes we can forget to fully appreciate their significance when we are so far away from them. With that in mind, I would like to offer some advice on how you can keep in close contact with your loved ones while at university.
Get in the habit of reaching out
It can be really hard to remember to check up on people (especially when you have a lot on your own plate). But it is important to drop a message every now and then to keep the conversation ticking over. This does not mean you have to start coming up with daily text messages. But getting into a routine of a weekly exchange is a great way to remain present in each other’s lives. One of my favourite things to do is just send pictures from my day without much context and see my friend’s response.
Put a face to a name
No matter if your text is a couple of words long or a lengthy paragraph bordering on an essay, words on a screen are extremely detached. It is so difficult to go for months on end without seeing your friends. Sometimes you can even forget what they look like! That is why I would recommend trying video calls or audio messages. Although they do take up a bit more time, they are the perfect way to establish a more genuine connection, because you can process how someone is actually feeling from their body language and tone of voice.
Take it offline
Those hour-long FaceTime calls and extensive Snapchat vlogs are all well and good to begin with, but they can eventually get exhausting. Given the constraints of the pandemic, a lot of our lives have moved online and it has meant that there is a disconnect between appearance and reality. The standards and expectations that come with social media can make you feel like an awful friend for things as small as leaving a message on delivered for a few days or not replying to a TikTok you’ve been sent. Furthermore, a lot of people become reliant on these platforms to save their friendships – for example, Snapchat streaks ensure you ‘message’ every day. Rather than submitting to these fake niceties, why not try something more genuine like writing a postcard or a letter?
Actually hang out!
This one can be quite a challenge to achieve during the semester. However, if you are home for the holidays, then make the time to see your old friends. Even if it is something small like going for a walk or grabbing a coffee, having the opportunity to be physically together again makes it a lot easier to strengthen your friendship. Plus, if you do miraculously happen to have a free weekend and have some money saved up, a trip across the country to visit your friend at their university is never a bad idea.