A lifetime away from love...

"And ever has it been that loves knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." - Kahlil Gibran

In my own opinion, I can honestly say that I couldn't agree more with Mr Gibran! Having traveled hundreds of miles down the country away from home I was naive in thinking it would be an easy ride; the perfect opportunity to move away whilst knowing I can go back whenever I wanted. When I chose my six university options I was a single girl and absolutely loving it! I was soo (emphasis on the so!) excited to move away and meet new people (mainly new hotties) and create a new place to call home. Weeell needless to say (100% typical of my luck) things changed pretty quickly after I accepted an offer from UCCA university in Surrey.

To cut a long story short the whole singleton life came crashing down around me one random Sunday afternoon. I was working at Superdrug, pretending to look busy by testing all the perfumes! So in strolls this boy who instantly grabbed my attention. I carried on "working" and noticed he was talking to my supervisor so I casually walked over and joined in! Shy girls get nothing as they say!! I realise that i'm not really cutting the long story short here so anyway...in the end we ended up swapping numbers and six months on I am indeed still with him and couldn't be happier.

Those six months before I moved here were fantastic, I knew I was moving away in September but both of us refused to talk about it and I just wanted to put it to the back of my head and enjoy the time we had left together. Little did I know that September would come a lot quicker than I had expected! We were both still pretty optimistic about the whole situation; I told him to think of it as me just being on holiday and not think of the move as permanent. For the first two weeks that worked perfectly well but slowly things began to change - not really for the better either.

Having decided to give this place a chance and stay positive about the whole situation I began thinking. I know that I chose to come here because at the time I thought it was what I needed to do. I was so focused on my career ambitions and was so unprepared for love to come along and completely obscure my vision. Nevertheless I am really proud of myself for moving away from such a tight-knit family and a close circle of friends. I've put myself in a position which is completely out of my comfort zone and I know i'm gaining crucial life experience with every step I take.

That thought alone, however, doesn't shorten the distance between me and what my heart desires. 'The best thing to hold onto in life is eachother." - well I didn't did I?! I upped and moved when I know full well I could have been doing the same course a few short hours away from home. Well that was my decision; a decision which, at least for this year, I have to live with!

A long distance realtionship is ever never going to be easy, it's just one more hurdle to over come and just adds that extra bit of difficulty to the relationship! And is it just me or are boys completely immune to any kind of emotion?! Here's me on the phone pouring my heart out and he's giving it 'yeah, i miss you a bit!' Well thanks for that, that really reassures me!! Men, i dunno!!

Regardless of this it would seem that nowadays long distance relationships are becoming more and more popular. The technology of today makes it so much more easy. Web cams allows you to see each other at your own convenience and with the Web 2.0 quickly advancing sites like facebook and bebo allow you to contact each other constantly. Alongside traditional methods of communication such as email, text and telephone you can be with your partner without actually being with them!! It great!

If there is one thing i've realised since I moved away it's that relationships certainly come in many different forms. I regularly speak to my friends who literally could not live without their boyfriends and would actually need a survival guide! This doesn't mean that they are any more in love than those who can make a long distance relationship work.

There are relationships which open you up to something news and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that ring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started and those that bring you back. However, the most exciting, amazing and significant relationship is the one that you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you that you love....well that's just fabulous!!! And if you have found this someone, all i can say is make sure you hold on tight!