In a generation where snail mail has been replaced by texting, Snapchat and email, it is important to remember things that don’t require internet for communication.

When the touch of a button can send a message, people lose interest in hand-writing letters and sending them in the mail. A stamp costs about 55 cents. Despite this cheap cost to send a sentimental letter, most people turn to technology for communication. It may be old-fashioned but walking to my mailbox and seeing that someone took the time to send me a handwritten letter.

I started writing to my friends and family when I came to SDSU. It started off with my grandma, and my sister and then I asked my high school friends if they wanted to write too. I started writing because of homesickness and my struggle to make strong connections with my peers.

I check my mailbox often in hopes that I have received a letter from one of my pen pals from other universities, in other states. After I read them, I hang them on my wall because I will forever treasure the memories they contain.

There are so many ways to write an address on a envelope and that’s one of my favorite parts of letters. I like to make them stand out so the mail person can get enjoy them too.

When I look back on letters I have received during my time so far in college I remember what I may have been feeling at the time, and the encouragement I received. I know that whatever I write it will be on paper forever, so the memory will never be lost.

I can picture myself 20 years from now when I am out of college, opening old mail from friends and remembering how their writing made me feel so close to home when I was so far away.

My advice to you, is to get an envelope, pull out a piece of paper and start writing.

Tell your parents how much you appreciate them, let your high school best friends know that you miss them.

Get some cool stickers and markers to decorate the front of it. Put a stamp on it. Mail it.

Never lose the art of letter writing.

Josie Nelson is the Page Designer at The Collegian and can be reached at [email protected].