East Tennessean

Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: The Scene

Maniac With a Pen

Long-distance relationship - not the two months of accumulated trash mutating in the corner, not the dust bunnies under the bed the size of gerbils and not even the thought of stepping into the showers with bare feet weigh on a college student's mind as much as those words.
Yet, so many college students are in a long-distance relationship, and despite the sacrifices and problems, they support them.
Such as, for example, meeting a significant other somewhere neither of you have been, simply because it is in the middle, and even then each enduring an eight-hour bus ride on a Greyhound to get there. But is it really worth it, eight hours sitting next to a guy who does not speak English and likes to ask questions? I'd say it is, having done it, and having asked others opinions on it as well.
It seems like long-distance relationships can be found everywhere. The ever-popular Facebook Web site even has a group titled "college long distance relationships" with upwards of 2000 members. Kevin Slom is going to college at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and his girlfriend, Julie Kent, is a state away at Bryant, in Rhode Island. Slom said that he might be transferring to Bryant next year. He thinks a long-distance relationship is based on trust.
"I think that long-distance relationships can succeed, and in order for them to work the girl needs to trust the guy and, in my case, the guy needs to pray nothing happens to the girl," Slom said. "I personally feel that if you have a long distance relationship, you have to trust that they won't cheat on you and know that it is simply a waste of time for the other to do that.
"I've told Julie many times that if she plans to cheat on me, not to waste my time and that there is no point trying to fake a relationship like that."
Kay Sulham, a freshman at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., has a boyfriend, Robby, back in her hometown a few hours away, and she has a similar point of view. "I think long-distance relationships are really difficult," Sulham said. "Anyone in them needs to definitely have faith and trust in one another. Communication is key to making it last.
"My personal advice is if you don't think you want to spend the rest of your life with that person, don't waste you're time. Up until entering college, a long-distance relationship, for me at least, is one of the hardest things I have had to go though but I know that it's worth it."
Although Chris Anthony graduated last year from Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., he is also among those in a long-distance relationship, this time, with a girl in Europe.
"The down side is I don't get to see or talk to her much, but the upside is I'm going to see Madrid, Paris, Scotland, Amsterdam and most of Europe with her," Anthony said. "Adventures like that are totally worth it."
I am in such a relationship as well, with a girl going to school at New York University. And undeniably it is a major challenge, yet I agree that it is totally worth it.
If one can get through the four years and busy schedules, and the only seeing each other every two months, then one can get through most anything.
So for all those in such a predicament, hang in there, and know that it is worth it, and that you aren't alone. The heart knows no distance too far.

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