Keeping in Touch

Recently I have felt like I am struggling to stay in touch with friends and family in the States. I wake up to the feeling of panic, wanting to jump on my computer at 5am and respond to emails. After almost living here for a year and realizing that this is life, I am trying to get a little better at squeezing in any minute to say hi to my American friends back home. Here are my favorite and easiest ways to do it...

1. Facetime - I'm a huge fan! For most of my friends who have some form of an iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc. I love using FaceTime to say hi to my friends! We usually schedule Facetime chats with my parents weekly. There is something about seeing a persons face in person that makes the distance feel much shorter.....and it is FREE! {I've even scheduled some happy hour facetime chats like Desiree posted here} 

2. Skype - I was using Viber a lot but having found a lot of my friends do not have an account, I signed up for Skype and LOVE the app on my phone. I can call people whenever I want like it is a regular US cell. I use it instead of adding up long distance calls when I want to make business calls back to the States. 

3. Snail Mail - Yes, this is still one of my favorite forms of keeping in touch. Yes, it is exactly that, snail mail. BY the time someone receives my letter, they have probably seen me post about it on Facebook, Twitter or somewhere else, however the thought of a handwritten letter goes so much further!!!! 

4. my iPhone - thank goodness for my phone! I do not get cell service in my office, so THANK GOODNESS for my iphone which allows me to ichat back and forth with friends who have an iPhone. And again...it is free! I have the facetime app, skype app, viber app, all of them. Thinking back to when I was studying abroad here in 2002, wow, I felt WAY more disconnected. Thank you Apple for creating this little pocket computer;) 

How do you stay in touch the best? I am always looking for new apps and new ways to make it easy to say HELLO! 

xoxo - Becca