For students who leave home to go to college, it can be hard to have friends and family so far away. For international students, this transition can be especially difficult given the change in location, culture, and often language. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports that as of April 2008, there were over 670,000 active international and exchange students just in the states. So wherever your education takes you, here are a few tips to help you beat the back to school blues and stay in touch with your loved ones when you're far from home.
Phone Home. There's nothing like a friendly voice on the other end of the phone. There are a variety of phone services, phone plans, and calling cards. Consider signing up for jaxtr's phone service to save money on international calls—it's an easy, low-cost service available for your mobile phone. (You can also send SMS messages for free too!)
Blog. Blogger, WordPress, and other free blogs allow you to express your feelings online. You can invite your friends and family to comment on your postings to help stay in touch.
Twitter. Maybe you don't want to sit down, write a blog, and wait for responses. This form of micro-blogging lets you stay in touch with many friends in real time. You and your friends both have to be registered.
Instant Messenger. AIM (Aol instant messenger) and MSN's chat are two popular instant messenger programs that allow one-to-one real-time chats. This is great when you just want to talk with short messages to one individual and not send a message out to everyone like in Twitter.
Email. You may not get to talk with someone at the present moment, but it's a good way to stay in touch with multiple people. Don't let the "To" bar get too filled up with addresses. Mass emails tend to get less response than direct emails to individuals. Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and others are popular choices.
Snail Mail. There's something wonderful about actually getting a letter in the mail that isn't another credit card offer. Take some time on weekends to write things out and send letters off. You may be surprised at who picks up the pen to write you back.
Enjoy all your opportunities for learning and fun and remember to stay in touch.
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