Like most of you, the internet has made it possible for me to have friends all over the world. Since I am entirely too poor to arrange for regular intercontinental flights, I’ve found a few ways to keep in touch with people outside of the odd e-mail here and there. Here are my top three ideas to connect with friends near and far.
1. Watch a movie together.
Before last week, I’d never seen “Purple Rain.” When I mentioned it on Twitter, three friends boldly stepped forward and admitted that they’d never seen it either. Since it was available on Netflix Instant, we decided to watch it simultaneously last Friday night.
Thus the Friday Night Movie Club™ was born.
Pick a movie that’s available for download or something in your Netflix queue, arrange a time, and watch it together! You can tweet about it, email, etc. Just make sure you’re all in the same place at the same time watching the same thing. It goes a long way towards making you feel connected.
2. Arrange a Skype call.
It seems like a fairly simple idea, but I often realize that while I may hear my friends voices over the phone or email with them regularly, it’s very rare that I get to see their faces. Arrange a Skype meeting. Set it up like you would a business meeting so that you’re sure not to skip it. You can even invite other friends to join you – Skype allows multiuser calls.
3. Become penpals
This probably seems ridiculous, because you’re a grown-ass adult. But EVERYONE gets excited when they get mail from a friend. Buy a bunch of postcards the next time you’re at the store and start sending random, funny messages to people who live far away. Start a once-a-month mailing where a group of friends has to send 10 silly items under 50¢ each. Buy a blank journal and send it back and forth. Putting pen to paper is sometimes more intimate and revealing than a 10-second email.
What else do you do to easily connect with friends who live far away?
About DanielleH
I LOVE the penpal idea! So underrated in our world today, but it’s true, everyone LOVES getting mail! I remember having penpals with strangers in elementary school, I should look into that again.
Twitter Name: fluteitup
Love this, Danielle. I am a huge fan of snail mail. It’s just so much more personal than an email. I like finding ridiculous postcards from gas stations & bookstores & sending them off to friends for no reason. It’s why I’m so crazy in love with creating greeting cards that put smiles on people’s faces & a tingle in their pants area.
The skyping during a movie is brilliant. I gotta do that shit.
Twitter Name: robinplemmons
I had a friend in college who was much into the weed so she and her bff who went to another college across state used to call each other and do bong hits together over the phone. These days you wouldn’t even have to wait until after 9pm (that was the 90′s after all). I’m totally not encouraging any illegal behavior here, just repeating a story about a friend.
Twitter Name: HeatherSchiavo