College is a time of change, of learning different things and meeting new people. It can be a difficult time to hang on to old friendships with all of these new challenges. Here are some tips for having a long distance friendship in college.
Instructions
1. Recognize the change. If you and your friend are relocating to colleges far from one another, it is unrealistic to expect that your friendship will stay the same. Acknowledge that there will be greater strains placed on your friendship by distance and time to keep the impact of these outside pressures at a minimum.
2. Encourage one another. Even if the two of you are majoring in very different fields, try to understand the challenges that each of you will be facing. You may not be able to understand completely since you're so far apart, but being supportive of the new obstacles each of you is facing will help keep your friendship strong.
3. Make time for each other. It may be tough between studying, class schedules and working those oh-so-fun work-study jobs, but the only way to keep your friendship going is to make sure that your schedule includes your friend, too. Use a weekend day as a regularly scheduled time for phone calls. Take a break from studying a few times a week to email and check in.
4. Take advantage of vacations. Though you'll also want to catch up with family during holidays and spring breaks, use them to see your friend if they come home from college, too. During the summer, plan a trip together so that the two of you can have some fun on a road trip.
5. Be understanding. If you feel that your friend isn't making time for you or that your friendship is growing apart, don't give up. Talk to your friend and explain how you feel. Understand that your friend is probably experiencing the same challenges at college that you are and that if you are feeling overwhelmed by class loads and time constraints, your friend may be feeling the same way. Give it time and work things out together.
6. Share your interests. You and your friend are traveling in different circles and doing new things while you are at separate colleges. But there is no reason why you can't make your friend a part of the new things you're involved in. Make time to go see each other's games or performances, and talk about all the new events that you've been participating in.
7. Work at it. The bottom line is that no matter how devoted you and your friend are to one another and keeping your friendship strong, living far from one another at different colleges will make things complicated. Retaining the bond that the two of you have is going to be hard work and will require an effort from both of you.
Tags: your friend, your friendship, that your, each other, friendship strong