Our college correspondent, Rachel, is studying abroad this semester. But, as her experience demonstrates, it’s not hard to bridge the miles given all of the technology choices today. She shares a few of them here—and also provides further insight into the communications needs and habits of the “echo boomer” generation. [More about the echo boomers here.]

I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to study in Barcelona, Spain for the semester. While I knew beforehand that this is the opportunity of a lifetime, I expected to encounter certain barriers in communicating with my friends and family at home. Now I’m halfway through my stay here, and I’ve found that I can stay closely in touch—as long as I can get an Internet connection.

The Internet provides many ways to connect with other people. Two of the most popular among my peers are Facebook and Skype.

Facebook and other sites like it allow high school and college students to create a basic profile for themselves. A standard profile includes basic data like birthday, hometown, a photo, and major. People also generally choose to list their favorite music, movies, books, their class schedules, and their Spring Break plans. Students can create and join groups based on similar interests, circumstances, or anything. Two of my groups: “The Peach State” and one “For anyone who has a long and/or unusual last name that is pronounced wrong all the time.” Each profile also has a “wall” where friends can leave notes. Facebook’s newest feature allows users to upload entire albums of pictures. I love this feature because now I can see what everyone is doing in South Carolina, Belgium, or wherever they are!

A similar site, MySpace, provides basically the same services but anyone can use it. MySpace can be more customized with colors and music, but only allows users to upload about 12 pictures. One thing that MySpace offers that Facebook doesn’t is a blog. There are obviously many places online to blog, but I like that it’s incorporated into a profile and context on MySpace. I probably wouldn’t go looking up all my friends’ blogs, but I do browse them on MySpace because I look at their profiles to see what’s happening in their lives.

Another popular way for students abroad to keep in touch with friends and family at home is through services like Skype. You can download it for free, and once downloaded, it allows you to talk to other Skype users for free through your computer. All you need is a microphone and speakers or a headset. It’s a lot like instant messenger, but users are actually speaking to the other person, not typing to them. My friend who introduced me to Skype has a webcam, so I can see her while I’m talking to her. It almost feels like I’m in her apartment even though she’s thousands of miles away! Skype users can also call cell phones fairly inexpensively. Many other companies, such as Google, are introducing similar voice over IP services. I use Google Talk to speak with my parents at least once a week. Other companies such as AOL have offered a voice chat service for a while, but personally I prefer Google Talk and Skype.

So, this semester, my friends and family have many ways to keep track of me. While I may be several thousand miles away from home, I’m never out of touch.