Relationships & Support Systems Abroad Hat
Growing Apart from Friends Back Home
Time zones can quietly eat away at even the sturdiest friendships. A quick question by text gets lost in a week-long radio silence, and the outfits you wore to last month’s concert start to feel like stories from someone else’s life. Guilt over “I should’ve called” collides with the ache of missing birthdays, breakups, and everything else you promised to not miss.
How to deal: Set up bite-sized video calls every month. They don’t have to be epic. A half hour over lunch on a Sunday feels way more realistic than planning the “perfect holiday catch-up.” Keep the group Snapchat alive with silly grocery finds or the sunset from your window. A ten-second voice memo saying “miss you” works, too. Finally, some friendships will shrink or switch podcasts, and that’s OK. Pour your energy into the ones rolling with you and let the others drift—no hard feelings.
Family’s Unvoiced Pressure
When your family works extra hours to cover tuition and plane tickets, the unspoken expectation can feel like a rock in your backpack. They don’t have to say it. You still feel like you’ve got to pay them back with epic grade reports and LinkedIn achievements, even on weeks when the language feels extra tricky.
How to deal: Share the hard bits without burdening everyone on the group chat—like, “I’m homesick” not “I’m falling apart.” They’ll worry less if they see you celebrating getting the coffee order right in your new language or making a new lunch buddy at school. And remind yourself that your value isn’t attached to your GPA or the money you’ll earn a few years from now—it’s in your kindness, weird hobby skill, and the way you still FaceTime your dog.
Far-Away Relationships & Making New Friends
Keeping a romance alive when your partner’s a flight away isn’t easy. Time zones, how you feel some days, and ever-moving visa dates can twist your plans. Meanwhile, meeting new friends in a new country feels scary if you don’t know who’s safe to hang with.
For the long-distance love, lock in some regular call dates—voice notes first thing, a video night every Friday. For the yet-to-be-close-iPhone wallpaper crew, step into the same circles: join clubs, dive into study rooms, and hit those cultural nights. Trust grows with the playlist you make together. Look, your crew can be a mash-up of your lifelong buddies and the ones you just met. Both types of support matter a ton.
