While the prospect of graduating is exciting, saying goodbye to your friends definitely is not. Odds are you’ve bonded with a few or several people over the years at school, and once that common ground of college is taken away, a lot of people will be headed in different directions. You might be lucky enough that you and your best friends are staying in the same area after graduation, but for many, this won’t be the case. Saying goodbye is never easy, especially during such a time of transition, so here are a few tips to help get you through it.
Have another hurrah
I’m not saying “last hurrah” here, because you shouldn’t be thinking of it as a “last” anything! True friendships will extend beyond college. If you want the friendship to continue, you can make it happen, and can then rest assured that you’ll spend time together in the future. But for now, have an awesome celebration with your college friends. After finals, round everyone up and have a day or weekend of fun together. Is there anything in the area you always wanted to check out, but never did? Make a trip out of it! Or visit your favorite haunts from the past few years, and reminisce about your days as bewildered freshmen. Before you go your separate ways after graduation, just be sure to have some sort of special time with all your friends, since it might be a while until you all can get together again.
Plan a Trip Plan
While you’re all together, talk about planning a reunion trip. You don’t have to lock down dates or anything, but start brainstorming for a small trip or vacation where your group of friends can get back together and catch up. If you end up in different cities, everyone could take turns travelling to one person’s city, or you could all meet up somewhere entirely new. Just talking about the idea of a down-the-road trip can be fun, and maybe six months or a year from now, you’ll be booking a plane ticket and planning an itinerary!
Stay in Touch
This can be easier said than done. Twenty-somethings are a busy bunch, especially when we’re trying to find jobs and figure out our life paths. Luckily, we live in the age of social media, which makes keeping in touch a whole lot easier. There are even smartphone apps available now that are specifically designed to make it easier for people to stay in touch! “Path,” for example, lets you share your thoughts, feelings, photos, announcements, videos, etc. with your friends. Here’s a good list of apps to reference. So download an app, email, Facetime, Skype, text, or even go the old-fashioned route and talk on the phone. Just make sure that you keep checking in with each other every once in a while, to remind each other that you still care, and to get filled in on the current happenings of their lives!
Parting from your friends is the saddest part about leaving college. But when all is said and done, remember that the goodbye doesn’t have to be for forever.
