Staying Connected Thousands of Miles Away

One of the hardest things about studying abroad is leaving your friends and family behind.  I knew it was going to be difficult to stay in contact and that I would be missing out on some pretty important things.  When I first arrived to Norway I was only staying in contact with my family through wifi. The dorms didn't have it but the study room near the dining hall did.  The room was jam-packed with people downloading new apps to stay connected to family back home.  What I didn't realize was how well social media and apps were actually going to benefit me.


Some of my life-savers were:

Snapchat: There were so many different events that I wanted to share with my friends back home. Norway is so close to the Northern Hemisphere that during the Summer the country goes through something called the Midnight Sun.  In the middle of the season, it is daylight for 24 hours and then it slowly starts to get darker as the days go on.  There were multiple nights when I was walking outside around 11 o'clock and it still looked like it could be lunch time.  I just couldn't believe it and it felt like summer could last forever.

Facebook:  I knew I had to share with my family and friends all of the exciting adventures I was going on.  It also helped to ease Mom's mind on the fact that I was alive and breathing still.  When we started meeting people in our classes and around campus the best way to connect with them was through Facebook.  Now my Facebook newsfeed is full of languages I have never seen or heard before but, it is so neat because I started a friendship that will hopefully last a lifetime with people all over the world.

Facetime:  During the Summer, my best friend was planning her wedding.  She had multiple showers and dress fittings throughout the entire time I was in Norway.  When she went in for last fitting, my mom facetimed me and I was able to finally see what her dress looked like.  She look absolutely gorgeous and I started balling of course.  I am so thankful for apps like Facetime that allowed me to be there from thousands of miles away during one of the most important moments of my best friends life.

iMessage: This is probably one of the best things that Apple created.  If you are in wifi then, you can text another iPhone user and iMessage each other without using data.  The data plans were too expensive and I knew that I would at least have Facebook to stay connected if I really needed to. With iMessage I was able to regularly update my family and send pictures to my friends from back home.  I was still included in all of our group messages and it was fun to know how everyone's summer was going.

Tinder: I didn't realize tinder was in Europe... It is actually HUGE there.  All of the American guys were downloading it to see what the Norwegian girls were like and so I thought, "hey why not".  It was interesting to see how the guys communicated with women.  Tinder made it easy to see what the dating world in Nordic states was like.  In person the men are more preserved while on tinder they were not afraid to speak their mind!  Some of my friends were not afraid to meet up with people they had met on the app and they started friendships that maybe would have never happened in the first place.


While social media kept me close to my loved ones for the entire six weeks that I was gone; it was liberating to not be so connected to everything all of the time.  Taking a step back and distancing yourself from the internet helps you to just be.  I have come back now and know that my phone is not so vital.  Being away from it all helped me to strengthen my communication skills with people one on one.  If I am alone, I don't need to be constantly looking down at my phone.  Looking up and seeing the world around you is so gratifying.