Keeping Up with Long Distance Friendships in Law School

One thing that I noticed this time last year was how much effort it can be to be a good friend while you're in law school. Going from living a few minutes away from your friends and seeing them all the time to graduating and moving apart is a big change. Even though I was really busy my first semester at law school, I really missed my friends and talked to them all the time. But as it got closer to the second semester, I noticed that me and my friends would talk less and less and I felt like we were slowly drifting apart. So I decided to put forth just a little extra effort so that law school wouldn't isolate me from all of my college friends. If you feel like you're starting to have that problem, here's a few things that I tried and worked.

Schedule time

It sounds overdramatic to "pencil in" a conversation with your friends, but sometimes it can really help. For example, my sister had a lunch break at the same time that I did last year so we got in the habit of just calling each other on our way home. This worked out perfect for me because I had someone to talk to while I ran home for lunch but it was only like a 10 minute drive so it never ended up being this long conversation. I know a lot of people in our generation hate talking on the phone but a quick daily chat was a good way for me and my sister to keep in touch. 

Do something together

One day me and my friend were both talking about how we wanted to get in better shape, so we decided to do a workout plan together. This turned out great because I had someone to keep me accountable/complain about this to. It wasn't the same as going to the gym with a friend but it was nice to have someone doing this workout plan with me and gave us a reason to talk every day to make sure the other was sticking to it.

Snap streaks

This is the easiest/most frustrating thing I've done. With a few of my friends we've really gotten in to having snap streaks. Because you have to snap someone every day, you end up sharing even the boring parts of your day because what else do you have to snap. It sucks when you get busy for just one day and have to start all over, but it forces you to remember to say hey to your friends every day. And usually we end up having a whole conversation about our days so it makes the long-distance thing easier.

Netflix & text

Lol yeah not Netflix and chill. Me and one of my friends both really like movies, so usually about once a week one of us will pick a movie (we swap turns) and then we'll call each other and do a countdown so we start the movie at the same time. Then we end up just texting the entire movie about it. I've grown to love this tradition because watching movies alone sometimes makes me feel like a loser all by myself so it's nice to kinda have someone watching it with you. But you definitely have to find someone who isn't bothered by talking during a movie or they'll probably hate you for this. 

Related: Perfect Movies for Law Students, Favorite Law TV Shows

Plan trips

Last year, basically all of my college friends were still at our college either working on a masters degree or finishing up undergrad. This was super convenient for me because I could plan a road trip once a semester to go back and see all of them in one weekend. If your friends are scattered out, you might try making a plan to meet up with one in the middle of where you to are. Another thing you could do is have her come visit you the first semester and then you go to her the next. This way you at least get to see each other twice a year (it sounds low, but this can be hard with 2 busy schedules) and you only have to pay for one trip. Having a getaway weekend is great during the stressful months because you have something to look forward to and then you can get a full weekend off. Just make sure that you plan in advance to study more that week so that you can have a stress free weekend and don't let these trips overdo your budget.

Get a show

This is kinda like the Netflix concept. A friend and I both got really in to Scandal in college so now its our show. I always make sure to get my reading done early that day so that when its Scandal time I can sit down with a glass of wine and live text OMG to my friend for the next hour. Another spin on this is that me and my guy friend are both Cowboys fans so we'll always try to watch the game together. Little things like this give you a reminder/reason to text them at least weekly and then also gives you something to talk about more than just "how was your day" kinda stuff.

FaceTime

This is another one of my favorites because it helps me forget that my friends are so far away now. Me and my friend will FaceTime the other every other week or so just to talk about our day and catch up. I like this better than talking on the phone because if I'm not looking directly at someone, it can be hard for me to not get distracted. 

Final thoughts

Just remember that if your friend doesn't go to law school/has no interest in the law, watch yourself so you don't bore them to death. Idk why, but it seems like all law students can talk about are cases, classes, and professors. Use your non-law friends as a way to keep yourself normal and talk about anything else. These are more suggestions just to get the ball rolling and keep it rolling if you've been finding yourself neglecting your friendships and need a way to make yourself be a better friend.