The ups and downs of a long distance relationship in college

There are some things that we bring with us to college, and some things we leave at home. Some things we have to think long and hard about, and some we just know, right off the bat, whether we’ll bring them on our journey to college or not.

No, I’m not talking about articles of clothing or throw pillows, but I’m talking about my best friend and boyfriend, Erik. I barely gave a thought to this “dilemma”, and I sure gave it less thought than I did when I had to decide how many pairs of shoes to bring. (If you were wondering, I didn’t bring enough.)

Being said, college relationships are most definitely not for everyone. Nevertheless, I dove into it because I knew, deep down, that it was going to be well worth whatever came my way. We will do simply anything for the people we love.

Let’s just take a moment to look at the height difference.

Transitioning from living five minutes away to six hours away was certainly an adjustment. Long phone calls replaced those short  car rides and “Skype dates” replaced going out to dinner or seeing a movie. However, going to college and suddenly transitioning into a long distance relationship really makes you realize what you took for granted before, and therefore makes you cherish what you have now.

I have to admit, Erik’s first visit up to ‘Cuse was pretty quick; he came up just a week and two days after move-in. (I know, we suck). But, I was happier than ever. We had been apart for longer than that in the past, but there was something about being in college that made it different. To be in such a new and exciting place, everything was different, and while he wasn’t here with me, every bone in my body wanted him to be here so I could share it all.

We took on the first Cuse football game at the Dome vs. Colgate!

Having trust in a long distance college relationship is easily the most important. Without it, you will undoubtedly worry yourself into a frenzy that may not end so well. We would rather avoid that and do so by simply having faith in each other.

However, recently the means of our relationship recently had to change again. Erik set off for Coast Guard boot camp in mid October, meaning that we had to drop any sort of contact until mid December. I’m now realizing how much I really value even our simple conversations over text or brief phone calls. I value the “how was your day’s?”or the seemingly absent minded “miss you”s that didn’t seem to matter so much. Boy, was I wrong, because they matter as much as anything else.

Erik’s first swear in to the Coast Guard!

The bigger thing that keeps me going is the thought of seeing him again, just like how his visits got me through the weeks in the beginning of the semester. With all of the stress from classes and anything else college related, having something to look forward to in terms of the relationship can make or break you. 

All smiles as usual.

Staying with your significant other through college can be frustrating, inconvenient, and everything in between, but there’s a reason why we do it. I can’t imagine it any other way with Erik. Though there are times I wonder why we would put ourselves through this, there are more times I recognize how happy I am that my best friend is still by my side.

So for the time being we’ll have to trade Olive Garden dates for Easy-Mac-over-skype dates, but when it’s with him, I’ll take Easy Mac any day.