How to Survive Moving Away From Your Best Friend

Learn how 5,000 Miles has nothing on you and your bestie, and how Facetime will become your favorite form of connecting across the country.

Imagine this: 

You met this girl when you were 7 years old in your elementary school class and it turns out, she lives in the same neighborhood as you! From then on, you instantly become best friends and grow closer and closer each year. 

Now, you guys are both 18 years old and basically like a sister to each other. However, you guys do not have the same interests when it comes to college. In fact, the only college she’s interested in is all the way in Hawaii and the only one you are interested in is in the great city of Philadelphia.

Flash forward to April, the day before college decision day, and both of you don’t want to face the fact that you’re going to be away from each other for the first time in over a decade. But, after all the tears and hugs, you both accept it and know this will somehow only make your bond grow stronger.

Now, it’s the spring semester of college and we’re still in touch more than ever, even when seeing each other has gone from every day to every few months.

How do you cope?

Well, there’s not an easy answer for that. 

You try to cope by accepting the fact that change is necessary for growth, and that sometimes change is good even when it feels like the world and everything you know in it is ending. 

I think after my best friend moved to Hawaii and after I left my actual sister and family behind to come to Philly, Facetime became my most used app on my phone.

Knowing that everyone I love, no matter how far away, is just a call away and that I’m even able to see their face makes college a lot better for me.

To look at it from a positive perspective, you know what values you love in your best friend so use them as a template to find those values in new college friends. 

Distance doesn’t mean the end of a friendship or a relationship. Make time for each other, and stay connected. Transitioning into a new lifestyle can be tricky, but knowing you guys are there for each other despite location and in my case, the time difference, can strengthen the bond you have for one another.

Also, having a friend in Hawaii makes for some very fun college visits!