How To Stay Connected With University Friends Over Summer
After spending the last year together, going your separate ways from your university friends for the summer can feel quite strange, especially if you’ve begun to feel even closer to your new acquaintances than some of your friends from your home town.
With summer break at university typically lasting anywhere from 10-12 weeks, staying in contact with your new friends takes a fair bit of effort. However, with some tips and tricks, you can stay just as close over these next few months as you did while you were letting your hair down after your end-of-year exams!
We’ve come up with a big list of ways to stay connected to your university friends over the summer, including how to stay in contact online, how you can start planning for the next academic year together, and even ways you can make tons of fun summer plans.
How do you maintain friendships in uni?
University is a particularly busy time of life. Not only do you need to study and get your head down to complete your degree, but you also need to balance friendships and social life to maintain that all-important work-life balance. And that’s even before we mention exercise and eating well!
While maintaining friendships at university might seem overwhelming at times, there are a few ways you can make sure you’re scheduling time to see friends into your calendar:
- Join a society together
- Invite them to big group parties
- Plan a fortnightly coffee date
- Attend the gym together
Is it normal to lose friends after uni?
One of the great things about university is that it feels like everyone is living in their very own student bubble. But when this bubble breaks and everyone starts on their next stage of adult life, it can feel like some people are leaving you behind. As such, busy schedules and long distances can sometimes end friendships made at university.
However, the majority of the time, this isn’t anything to do with you and just to do with the situation and what you’ve both chosen to do next. While it takes a lot to keep a friendship going after university, it’s still very possible to have your uni friends in your life for many years to come.
How do I keep in touch with my friends over the summer?
Making the effort to reach out to your university pals over the university summer holidays puts you on the right foot to continue your friendship when the next year begins. Below are a few ways you can make sure you all stay connected and remain just as close:
Move to the virtual world
When everyone goes back home for the summer, catching up in person can be a little tricky – particularly if you’re going back to separate ends of the country! By moving things over to the virtual world, you can resume your usual levels of conversation with your university pals. Chances are you’ll already have each other on most social media platforms, but it’s a good idea to check before you all break up for summer. Creating a big group chat can also help keep everyone involved and in the loop.
Talk about things other than university work
It might seem like an easy subject and one that everyone will definitely have their thoughts about, but limiting the conversation to just university work can sometimes work against you. Sure, joking about procrastination and how you’re trying your hardest (but failing!) to get yourself ready for university over the summer can be fun, but delving into each other’s summer plans and what’s actually happening over the break will keep the conversation flowing a lot more. After all, if you want your university friends to last after uni, you should be able to find much more to chat about!
Start planning for your next student house
By the time summer rolls around, you will have hopefully got your student house for next year all sorted. And if you haven’t, keep in mind these tips for viewing student homes! With contracts all signed and a group chat that largely consists of everyone asking just who has enough cutlery for everyone, you can reach out to your friends and future housemates over the summer to start planning your next student digs.
Things to discuss might be:
- How you’re going to decorate your student bedroom
- What crockery and furniture everyone already owns
- How you’re going to split the bills
- Who is going to have each room (top tip: drawing names out of a hat works wonders if you all fancy the biggest one!)
- If you’re going to plan a big pre-drinks for Freshers’s Week
Host an online games night
You might have already done a games night together during term time, so why not take it online? There are tons of fun online games to play with friends either on the internet or just through your phone! For quizzing, why not test everyone’s knowledge with a good game of Kahoot? Better still, make up an individual quiz round on PowerPoint and share your screen… like how we all did in lockdown. You could even include multiple choice questions and photos that relate to the past year together studying.
Go on a trip together
If you really can’t bear to spend all those weeks away from each other, why not organise a trip to meet up in person? Going on a trip with university friends can give you something to look forward to over the summer, as well as give you the chance to explore somewhere you’ve all wanted to go!
Below are 5 summer trip ideas you can do with your university friends:
- Visit each other’s hometowns
You’ve likely heard a lot about where everyone comes from, and summer is the perfect chance to check it out for yourself. Take a train or coach and visit your university friends in their old stomping grounds. Check out which Spoons they always used to frequent, which cafe they used to work in when they were younger, and maybe even meet their hometown pals.
- Go camping
After the stresses of summer exams and living back home again with your parents, a camping trip is a great way to get away from it all. There are tons of cheap campsites across the UK perfect for pitching with your mates that suit a whole range of budgets and vibes. All you need is a tent and a few other camping essentials and you’re ready to go!
- Make it a weekend with a city break
Not a big fan of the outdoors? A UK or European city break is another great holiday idea for you to go on with your university mates. From the right airport, it’s relatively cheap to fly somewhere in Europe. There are also plenty of summer train deals for you to get your group up and down the country to explore some new terrain. If any of the group has a birthday over the summer, this plan can be especially fun – what better way to turn 21 than with a group of your uni friends on holiday!
- Go interrailing
If you do quite fancy the idea of a European getaway, interrailing across Europe means you can see more than just Rome. Seeing the continent by train is one of the most exciting things you can do with university pals over the summer, and has been a travel tradition for decades! You can meet other travellers by staying in hostels, and visit new places relatively cheaper with just the rucksack on your back…
- Hit the festival circuit
Nothing says summer like a festival! Making your way through the UK festival calendar with your university friends will help you make lasting memories with your new favourite people. There are plenty of amazing festivals up and down the country, so you’re sure to find something to suit the group’s taste and budget. Away from the larger music festivals, you can also find a range of free live music festivals, food festivals and even Pride events in most towns and cities.
But remember, absence makes the heart grow fonder!
Keeping a friendship doesn’t mean constantly bombarding them with messages and invitations. The strongest friendships (and those built to last) will survive just one short summer! However, even though absence will most definitely make the reunion even sweeter, checking in with your university friends over the holidays can help you remain connected and strengthen your bond further.
After all, how can you let go of friends who have all those videos of you from that night out? You simply couldn’t let them get away!
