When you are thousand of miles away from your family and friends, social media become an ally. It easily connects you with anyone in the world as long as you have a device and internet.
Here is how the’ve helped me…
Story time:
When I traveled from Chile to the US, I had to make a stop in New York before getting to Charlotte. In there, I lost my first flight, the second was cancelled and the third was the next day in LaGuardia airport. I was in JFK (thank you Delta).
Me and my friend Valentina had to sleep on the airport because the airline wouldn’t give us a hotel room to stay in.
The only thing that I wanted in that moment was to go back to Chile and be with my mom. Of course that wasn’t going to happen because they spent a lot of money so I could study abroad.
At that moment I felt so grateful to be able to call her, because nothing reassures me more than her words of consolation, just listen to her say, “Everything will be fine, I love you.".
And as on that occasion, there are many things that happen in your day to day that you want to talk with your family and friends, like a new place you visited or an update on what’s going on in their lives.
I have to say I’m very lucky to only have one hour of difference with Chile. My friends from Spain have six hours, so being in contact is harder for them.
Of course facetiming with your family is not the same as seeing them in real life, but it makes you feel a little closer.