My best friend is 2,899 miles away at Oregon State University while I’m here at NYU. Despite the distance, our friendship is as strong as ever — although I miss her tremendously. Here are four creative ways we’ve maintained our friendship to make 2,899 miles feel like nothing.

FaceTime forever

Whenever I walk for more than fifteen minutes in the city, I phone my friend. Of course, I text ahead to see if she’s in class, but, at this point, I know her schedule better than I know my own. Definitely try to plan ahead — especially if you and your friend are in different time zones — so that you can take advantage of the fleeting minutes before you go to class and they get up for the day. Sometimes I walk too fast and just go a couple blocks past my destination so that I can stay on the phone. A quick or not-so-quick call or FaceTime isn’t the same as seeing someone every day. Nevertheless, we take what we can get so that I can still be one of her future bridesmaids and get all the juicy details about her life when I can’t be with her to witness it.

Spotify sidekicks

Music says a lot about a person’s mood, and making a collaborative playlist can be an easy way to keep up with both your friend’s feelings and favorite tunes. If your friend is listening to songs perfect for parties, you can vibe together. If they are listening to gut-wrenching ballads, check up on them and make sure their campus crush didn’t reject them. Even if your music tastes are a bit incompatible, this is still a great way to keep your rhythm and not miss a beat when it comes to your friends’ latest music habits. Give the playlist some ridiculous name with an embarrassing photo of one of you as the cover photo. Who knows, maybe you will be listening to the same song as your long-distance friends.

Binge buddies

Despite the distance between us, my best friend and I still obsess about the same shows and have long lists of movies we haven’t seen yet like “La La Land” and “Dune”. When it comes out, we plan on watching season 3 of “Squid Game” and season 4 of “Bridgerton” from our respective dorm rooms via Scener. The site lets you sync what you watch while video-calling, so that even though we may not be watching Netflix on the same couch, we can still enjoy “The Nun” or “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” together. We both get busy, but once in a while, all I need is to watch something with my best friend. So grab your laptop and some popcorn and settle in for a night with your friends over something you both have been waiting to watch.

Staying social

This isn’t the Stone Age. We have dozens of apps on our phones that connect us to our friends. Whether I’m sitting in class taking a random snap of the Silver Center ceiling, or am bored in my dorm sending stupid TikToks, I make my friend laugh from miles away. Though we don’t do it, you could also get BeReal just for you and your long-distance friends so that you can keep up with each other’s lives without the need for a three-hour debrief of how things are going. Take advantage of the digital age we live in and communicate on every social media platform. Spam your friends’ direct messages with answers to what historical age they’d be based on their zodiac sign or TV show edits until they are sick of you.

Pen pals

Nothing shows how committed you are to your friend more than a handwritten, heartfelt letter. Although sending handwritten letters may seem outdated or old-fashioned, it’s a fun way to keep in touch that also makes you feel a little Victorian. It does not have to be every day or even every week — just when you feel like pouring your heart and soul onto a sheet of paper. My friend and I are only just starting to get into it ourselves, but it seems worth it if I get to chat with the person who got me through my senior year of high school. The only real downside is that you have to buy stamps and envelopes and take them to a mailbox, which may be a little much for a generation that barely knows how to address an envelope — another skill needed to keep up correspondence with your pen pal.

Contact Alessa Alluin at [email protected].