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The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Tampa chapter.

For me, being in college has been a great place to make friends and connect with people that I would never have met otherwise. Seriously, this place has given me the chance to become best friends with people who I now cannot imagine my life without. However, I lived a whole different life before getting here, and the people who are a part of that life have been with me much longer; they’re more like family. For that, I’ve been feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt for not keeping in touch as much as I would like. Each week seems to be busier than the last, and each week, something worth sharing happens, but the weeks go on, and I fail to give an update on my life or check in on theirs. My friends and I have mentioned that we suck at communication and understand that we’re all living on different clocks. So, although we haven’t perfected staying present in each other’s lives, we have tried several ways to fix this. A big help has been figuring out a day and time at least every other week where we can all Facetime. Between the four of us, our calls usually last at least an hour as each has something to update on, complain about, or attempt to plan visits to one another soon. Before leaving home this semester, we all downloaded the Locket app, which was a fun way to share what we were up to at any given time. We haven’t used it as much recently, but it was nice the first few as we adjusted again from being apart. These are the people I spend basically every day with when I’m home, other than my parents. Not knowing what’s happening in their lives or them not knowing about mine easily makes me feel lonely even though I’m around thousands of other people. At times, I feel like a bad friend for being distant, and luckily, there is a very simple solution. My goal moving forward is to just reach out. Keep it the simple text “hi” or “call me when you can,” “miss you” or “hope you’re having a good day,” send a TikTok or a memory from your camera roll, anything just so my friends and family that I’m separated from for months while at school know that I’m still here to talk and we don’t have to wait until the next break to have a real conversation. As much as I get caught up in my life at college, it’s always good to go back to the people who ground me and remind me of that whole other life.

I am currently a sophomore at the University of Tampa and plan on graduating in the spring of 2026. I'm majoring in graphic design with a minor in advertising. I am originally from Philly. I enjoy drawing, watching movies, and going to the beach as well as travel. I hope to study abroad during my time at Tampa so that I can explore new places and meet new people.