ELIZA BRAUNSCHNEIDER

At the start of this semester Eliza Braunschneider packed up her be- longings and made the long trip to The Mountain School. The school is situated on a hilltop farm in Ver- shire, Vermont, and offers a semes- ter-long experience for high school juniors. Eliza has settled in amongst 49 classmates, substituting tradition- al electives for farming and hiking.

Although Eliza does use technolo- gy to communicate with friends and family back home, she doesn’t rely on it. Instead, she does much of her communicating via letter. It feels like a unique way to stay in touch, and it makes her communications with those back home feel more per- sonal and fun.

“When I get a letter it feels like a gift,” Braunschneider said. Braunschneider adores the letter writing workshops she attends, which are hosted by a staff member. She gets to pick out stationary, stick- ers, and envelopes. The opportunity makes writing home a lot more fun. Sheets of stickers she’s saving now cover her desk, just waiting for the letters she’ll use them on.

Sometimes she needs a more im- mediate form of communication, so she supplements her letters with calls from her parents most nights before she goes to bed. The calls al- low her to check in and wind down. More than that, hearing her parent’s voices helps her to feel a little more at home.

Braunschneider admits that com- munication with people back home can be hard. Her packed schedule leaves her with limited availability, but she makes sure to text from her computer when she gets a chance. Although it’s important to her to

stay in touch with her old friends, she has been prioritizing spending time with new friends. She’s excited for the opportunity to meet people with such different life experiences from her.

ABBI BACHMAN

Abbi Bachman and Kaelyn Brooker never would have met without their shared taste in music — in one band in particular. The two were intro- duced by a mutual friend, who knew that they were both interested in the same musical group. Their common interest spanned the several hun- dred mile distance between them, connecting Bachman in Michigan to Brooker in Kentucky.

Hours of online conversation about the band’s music turned into long winded discussion of other in- terests, experiences and aspirations. It turned out that they had more similarities than liking the same music.

“We ended up having a lot in common,” Bachman said. “It was one of those moments where you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m really comfortable with telling these people things.’” She recognizes that some of the ease she felt in sharing with Kaelyn was due to the distance between them — some things felt easier to reveal to someone completely disconnected from her day to day life.

Although Brooker was undeni- ably a real person, Bachman and her friend (who had confirmed each other’s existence) delighted in teas- ing her about it.

“We would tease Kaelyn and be like, ‘Are you actually real?’” Bach- man said. Brooker would joke back that she was actually an old man masquerading as a teenager. “We

would say, ‘Prove it,’ and they’d send a picture of themselves and eventually we were convinced that she was actually real.”

This past summer Brooker proved her corporeality once and for all when a trip with her grandparents to Michigan allowed her to spend the day with Bachman and their friend in Ann Arbor. Once she got used to seeing her online friend in the flesh, Bachman found that it wasn’t any different from hanging out with her IRL (in real life) friends.

The in-person visit came as some- what of a shock to Bachman, as the two hadn’t been in consistent con- tact for several months. Amidst the craziness of their schedules, neither of them were able to prioritize stay- ing in touch.

“You can’t see them on a day-to- day basis,” said Bachman, noting one of the hardest parts of having a friend who lives so far away. It takes conscious effort to interact with her — there are no shared classes or conversations in the hallway to keep them in touch.

“If you ever want a break from your phone, or from social media, then you’re also taking a break from that person,” Bachman said. “Even if you don’t mean to, it’s not like you can put your phone down to go hang out with them.”

There is also an issue of being able to relate to each other on certain lev- els — especially shallow ones. They don’t have many people in com- mon, like teachers or friends, which prevents the same kind of conversa- tion that Bachman has with her IRL friends.

Regardless of the challenges, Bach- man appreciates having Brooker for a friend and is grateful that they’re able to maintain that friendship de- spite living so far apart.

ZOE NIEMI

Kyrie Garwood and Zoe Niemi have been friends forever — or at least since kindergarten. Their re- lationship was put on hiatus when Niemi’s parents, geology profes- sors at the University of Michigan, took a sabbatical, forcing Niemi to complete second grade in Boulder, CO. When reunited, the two girls bounced back together as if there hadn’t been any time apart at all, but hoped that was the last time they heard anything about a sabbat- ical.

Things were looking good for that goal until last year, when Niemi’s parents broached the subject of their next sabbatical — discussing where they should head next. The news was not warmly received. Niemi did everything in her pow- er to stay in Ann Arbor with her friends, begging to stay with her grandparents, or anyone really, but her efforts were to no avail. She has found herself tagging along on their sabbatical anyway.

“I’m so bored here,” Niemi said, holed up in her bedroom in Rennes, France. “There’s nothing to do.” Staying in contact with friends back home has been one of Zoe’s biggest priorities since her one way flight from Detroit touched down in Paris on Aug. 30.

The change in time zone has posed a challenge, with Zoe six hours ahead of her friends back home. Kyrie and other friends take care to schedule phone calls imme- diately after school so they can catch Zoe before she goes to sleep.

“They don’t wake up until I’m eating lunch,” Niemi said. “So I have to go like half my day with like zero communication.” Facetime has

become their main form of commu- nication, as seeing the faces of her friends and family help Zoe feel as though she’s back home.

“You can like actually see people’s reactions to what’s going on and you can give reactions,” Niemi said.

Before her departure, Garwood and Niemi saw each other every day. With Kyrie diving for Pioneer and Zoe swimming, they got to check in, chat, and connect at the pool. Since hearing the news of the long-dread- ed sabbatical, Garwood had been brainstorming memorable ways to stay in touch. She eventually landed on writing letters — a practice that the two have history with.

Throughout elementary and mid- dle school, Niemi’s family sum- mered in Jackson Hole, WY. Too young to have phones, the girls would write letters back and forth all summer long. As a going away present, Kyrie designed personalized stationery for Zoe to keep the tradi- tion alive.

Although Rennes, France might not be where she intended to spend her junior year of high school, Niemi has figured out how to stay connect- ed with friends as they count down the days until she returns from op- posite sides of the Atlantic.