From halls to group chats: stay connected after Queen Mary

After the best part of many years together, it can be tough to realise that you won't see your uni friends every day. But this doesn't mean that you can't maintain a friendship with them. Here are a few things you can do to stay connected to each other:

The Little Connections Matter 📱

You don't need a 3-hour phone call every other night to stay close to each other. Small, daily check-ins keep you in each other's lives just as much as those long phone calls.

• Low-pressure voice notes: Send quick updates to each other whilst you're having your breakfast, or walking around your hometown.
• Share content:  Send TikToks, Instagram reels or other things to each other. Something that can make you both laugh when you're missing each other.
• Share playlists:  Create a Spotify playlist together of songs that remind you of each other, or maybe specific songs you share with them from specific memories.

Make Traditions 🍿

If your hometowns are quite far apart, you could try to make digital traditions.

• Watch parties:  This is a good one if you have always watched movies together in halls/at university, you can keep this going. You could stream the same show together on a set weeknight.
• Virtual dinner/cooking: Cook the same recipe together over FaceTime and have a catch-up and eat together. You could even have the same playlist in the background to make it feel like you're actually with them.
• Gaming nights:  Start a Discord together and play your favourite games together, or even try some new ones and laugh at how bad one of you is at it!
• 'Body-double' each other:  If one of you would always walk into the other room and sit on their bed while they're cleaning, then FaceTime each other when you're doing some tasks around the house. You'll feel more motivated to do chores, and you can have a catch-up at the same time.

Little Reminders of Living Together 🖼️

While you might not see them every day when you move home, you could do little things that remind you of them and do things to keep the memory of your student house alive!

• Your signature recipes:  Cook the same meals you used to share, even the ones that went wrong. You can send a picture of it to them and say, "Remember this?" You could even make a recipe book of your iconic student meals on a budget.
• Display photos:  Collect your favourite photos of you and your uni friends and make a collage on your wall, or get some fairy lights and pin them up with the photos. You might feel closer to them when you look at them, and if you have guests over, you can go through each silly photo.

It's important to understand that not everyone will be brilliant at staying in touch too, especially if you've got mates with a busy 9-5 or juggling multiple jobs. And that's okay, but remember, you don't need to spam their phone, they'll get back to you when they're free.

End of Year Party and Photobooth: Keep the memories with you! 🎉

The best way to keep memories with you is to make them count! Don't let the final few weeks slip away. Get your housemates together for the ResLife End of Year Party. It's a chance for everyone to celebrate everything you've experienced in your student lives together. 

Head straight to the photobooth with your favourite people and capture the night - don't forget to take the physical copies with you too! You can stick them on your fridge or pin them on your walls as a reminder of your London family.

Book your tickets and secure those final memories before the summer transition begins ☀️