More people are going to university than ever before. More mature students are also attending than ever before. While most people will meet a long-term or life partner at university, many are moving across the country already in a long-term relationship. Distance can put a considerable strain on a relationship and many couples eventually break up due to the simple inability to see each other regularly. It doesn’t have to be that way; it’s easier today to maintain a long-distance relationship thanks to technology.
Turn Video Chats into Dates
Skype, Snapchat, Hangouts and other video messaging services are your lifeline, but rather than treating them as a phone call with video, treat them as a date. Get something different in for breakfast (croissants, pain au chocolate), find a nice place where you can talk in private and have a lazy morning talking to your love while you eat breakfast together but apart. You can even have a Netflix evening together apart by synchronising your viewing.
Plan When to Meet Up
If you always have a plan about when you are going to meet up next, it builds the anticipation. Encourage them to visit you and build visits home into your own routine. Weeks fly by at university. Before you know it, you’ll be halfway through the term. That’s the perfect time to see your partner. You can save money on travel by investing in a Young Person’s Railcard, giving you 1/3 off the cost of rail travel. If travelling home is cost-prohibitive, then explore new places halfway between the two of you.
Enjoy Your Own Company and New Friends
This is the one thing that modern relationships tend to forget or ignore as we spend time with our partners. You are still your own person; alone time is vital for you to recharge and you’ll find your relationship is strong for not being together 24/7. You also do not want to neglect your new friends so ensure you go out to the student bar and the other things that new friends tend to do together. If you don’t do the student thing because of your relationship, you might regret it.
Focus on the Time You Spend Together
Too many students and their partners worry about what their partner is doing while one is away at university. If you focus on enjoying the time you do have together instead of worrying about being apart, the relationship can survive. Plan dates, do some of your favourite things and buy each other small but meaningful gifts. The small gestures matter and it’s important that neither of you takes the other for granted.