With about a month left in the semester, the idea that you won’t be seeing your college friends every day becomes more real. In a way, the idea is even startling. Who will you run to at midnight to talk about a new Jonas Brothers song? How will you be able to eat lunch without seeing the same faces? Why will it be so hard to say goodbye for a few months?
Existing in the Notre Dame bubble includes acclimating to the close proximity of social relationships. Compared to high school friendships, we take for granted how easy it is to make spontaneous plans to hang out in LaFun or invite friends over to watch movies. With everyone on campus being a max 15 minute walk away from each other, hundreds of miles can feel infinite. Working now to maintain relationships is a great way to keep the summer open for fun and communication.
Plan to do the same things together. On campus, my friends and I would watch The Bachelor together every week, commenting on who we thought would win and how scripted some scenes were. Over the summer, we plan to do this virtually. Snapchatting different scenes, texting opinions after watching, or FaceTiming during the show are great ways to manage the distance while still bonding over things we love.
Visit, if possible. Some friends may be as close as ten minutes away at home, some friends may be a few hours. Meeting up over the summer in a central location or staying at a friend’s house (if invited) are great ways to maintain relationships while doing something new! Over Spring Break, I used my free time to explore different states and visit my friend’s hometown, meeting family and putting names to places I had heard so many stories about. With much more time in the summer to plan, I hope more of my friends and I can travel to new places together.
Use time away to work on relationships with people from home. With summer breaks lining up for every school as opposed to planning around Fall and Spring Break, friends from high school are also home! Catching up with old friends that you haven’t seen since Christmas is a great way to spend time this summer. Sharing memories from the school year while creating new ones is a great way to enjoy the warm weather, as well as a fun method to have stories to bring back to campus in the fall.
Update each other! While group chats are convenient and beneficial to keeping everyone up to date on how sunburned you are, one-on-one communication takes that a step further. Keeping time-zone differences in mind, plan to call or FaceTime friends to check in. It may be difficult for you or your friends to adjust to life back home for longer than a week. Making time to say hello or share something that reminded you of college shows your friends that you’re still thinking of them, despite the distance.
But until summer rolls around in South Bend, make sure you don’t take the time you have on campus with your fellow Domers for granted.
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