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Friendships are so beautiful, and I’m glad that my friends and I are trying to not let social distancing get in the way of them. Sure, we might not be able to get together and meet in person to hang out, especially since we’re all back home in different states and countries; but thanks to technology, we’re still able to hang out and have fun virtually. Here’s a few creative ways we’ve used to have fun together through the internet.

Watch a movie together

Pop that popcorn, turn on the screen share, and have a movie night! If you haven’t already, you can use your UMich email to get sixty free days of Amazon Prime, which will give you access to many shows and movies on Amazon Prime Video. If you’re struggling to find something to watch, my friends and I would like to suggest the comedy-mystery Knives Out, which has an impressive 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

skribbl.io (aka Pictionary)

This game is such a huge hit with my friends. The website gives you three words to choose from, and you take turns picking a word and drawing it until the others guess the word correctly. You don’t have to be an artist, and since it’s all online, you don’t need a whole lot of fancy materials either. During one game, I found it kind of hard to draw Bill Gates. Guesses on this drawing included “nice breeze” and “post office.”

Kahoot

If you’re looking for an easy, minimal set-up game to play with friends, I think Kahoot is the perfect platform. Recently, I was joined by my friends from my internship last year at Union Pacific Railroad for a game of Kahoot about trains. But don’t worry if trains don't sound like a lot of fun to you! There’s a whole library of other Kahoot games that are free and available to the public. You can do one about car brands, 2018 Music, or even Stranger Things!

BlueJeans

There’s no shortage of video platforms these days, and my friends and I have taken full advantage of those services to chat and play games together. We’ve found that sending each other meeting links to our Google Calendars works well. Friendly reminder – if you’re using Zoom through your UMich account, make sure you’re updated to the latest version by the end of May.

Just Dance

Did you know that Just Dance has an online version? Just download the app to your phone to use it as your controller. They have an option to create room codes so that you can invite your friends to compete against each other. It’s a great way to have fun and get in a little bit of physical activity, too. My hope is that we all find fun ways to stay connected to our communities, even if we can’t physically be together. And as always, I hope that everyone continues to have a happy and healthy summer.