Communication is Key

So my time in America is slowly coming to end!!! (Insert crying)

I have loved every second of being out here and I have found out so many new and different things, that no one will understand if they have never study abroad (which I all recommend you do, England isn't so bad). Anyway this isn't a post about everything I have done here because I would never be able to stop, but it is about new media and how things such as FaceTime, Skype, Viber , WhatsApp that have allowed me to even stay connected with home.

At first there I didn't think I was going to be to bad, as I don't really get home sick. But sometimes when you needed some home comforts it was so easy to be able to ring someone around the world. Being able to just click on an app and connect to someone's else phone is amazing and I am so thank full for the app. As much as it isn't the same as being able to actually speak to them in person, it was the closest thing we had. In fact I prefer to FaceTime than ring them because I got to actually see them. Granted some days there was poor connection, but I remember and know there was time when nothing like this existed. Without this simple idea I would have no connection with my family.

Since being out here I have relied on this a lot and never realise how simple and handy it is. Communication is key and Whats app allow me to connect anyone instantaneously. Even though it is hard to contact home as they are 6 hours ahead, sometime I would forget that.

This is an important factor that has helped my along the way though, that literally I have never needed so much is WIFI. In every place I walk into I think 'Is there free wifi?' so yes wifi is the big key, since I have a tempoary American sim card, I only had the basic phone package which does not include 4G. I have to make sure I am connected to wifi in order to be able to use any of these apps. Yes I can receive text messages but most people use iMessage (which works with wifi). So even contacting people here in America is difficult unless I have wifi. So without this simple connection all will be lost, literally.

To those of you reading, think about me contacting home and having to either plan or think about the time that it is out there. Without Wifi and these apps, my year out in America would have been very different. It may have made me realise not to rely on my phone as much, maybe it would have been liberating! But it would have been very hard to not even speak to my family or friends back home.