Being across the country from my family and high school friends isn’t always easy. Fortunately, living in the 21st century means we can pretty much always be in contact with each other. This doesn’t mean I call home every day or skype once a week—there’s plenty of other fun ways to update my friends and family about my life here at USC. Below are some of my favorites:

 

  1. GroupMe. Not everyone in my family has an iPhone, so groupme is the pefect way for all of us to group text. It’s great for random updates or to plan our next vacation.
  2. Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.10.12 PMViber. So many of my friends are abroad right now, and texting can be really expensive! Viber is completely free and works on iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. You can use it with 3G or Wifi, so I can pretty much always get in touch with my friends even though they’re across the globe!
  3. Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.10.55 PMSnapchat. My favorite invention ever right now. You can take videos or just pictures and send them instantly to any one of your contacts who also has snapchat. This has become so popular recently and is a great way to see what my friends are up to
  4. Screen Shot 2013-02-28 at 10.11.37 PM
    Vine. Vine is like Snapchat 2.0. You can simply take a video, or be creative and make a video montage and share it instantly on your vine page. Followers can see your updates and comment. Below is my favorite recent vine, from my sister at home:

So don’t let going to school across the country freak you out. You won’t feel far away at all with these apps!