For many of us who do not live close to our college friends, this virtual semester–and the recent announcement of a second virtual semester– is taking its toll. We recognize that the decision has been made for our safety, and is probably the right call, but that doesn’t make it any less tough.
While there is no way to make the situation ideal, here are some suggestions for activities to feel more connected with your far away friends!
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Have weekly calls at times you would usually be hanging out
If you always spent Friday nights being DUC stuck next to the ice cream machine, try recreating that environment to the best of your ability by eating ice cream and hanging out over Zoom, Discord, Skype or any other video chatting platform.
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Video call each other to study together
Recreating environments can be helpful for this one too! If you always studied at Kaldi’s with a chai tea latte, hit your local coffee shop to pick one up (socially distanced and with a mask of course), and then create a spotify session with some coffee shop themed music. Spotify has lots of coffee shop themed playlists to check out, and I know Sirius radio has a coffee house station as well.
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Plan events you would normally do, but virtually
If your friends get together to carve pumpkins, or host a friendsgiving every year make plans to do so over Zoom! If you love shopping with your friends, screenshare and virtually shop together, or call them to show them the new outfits you bought.
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Try out some video games!
From skribblio to Among Us, playing some kind of game seems to help you feel as if it was just a normal hang out session that might have happened even if you were in the same room together.
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Send each other photos of little things from your day
Long-distance friendships with very close friends end up being a bit similar to long-distance relationships in my experience! I love receiving a picture of my friend’s cat, a meme they enjoyed, some gecko they saw on the sidewalk, or the cute outfits they were looking at online.
Hopefully we can be back with our friends and significant others soon enough, but until then we will have to exercise our creativity!