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The Long Distance Relationship Society Advice Centre Mark II

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Hi!

The answer to your question is an absolute and definite YES. Me and my boyfriend did it for a year while he was at uni (he's now a second year and I'll be a fresher at his uni this year) last year, and we managed. It was really hard adjusting though, and it takes a lot of trust, openness and hard work from both people. I live in Sheffield, he's at uni in Bristol, and up until recently had a very well paid full time job, so I could afford to go see him every single weekend most of the time (at least once a fortnight apart from during exams), so that made things easier. If I hadn't have had as much spare cash to see him so regularly I don't know how things would have turned out. In all honesty, I think we would have managed, but it would have been considerably harder.

We're still together now and have been for almost two years, but while he was at uni and I was still at home it wasn't easy. The reason we got through it was because we made time for each other and stuck to it... There were never nights when he would have promised to call me and then decide he couldn't be bothered. If we said we were gonna talk that night, we would usually make sure to talk to each other, and we also made sure that every moment together was savoured.

Basically - both people need to be totally committed to the relationship. They need to also be trusting, open, willing to accept that it will be hard, but put their everything into keeping your relationship alive. If you both do that, I don't see any reason why you can't work out.

Best of luck!
Hello,
I've been with my boyfriend for over 2 years and I am going to uni in September and he isn't. It's only 45 minutes away and I had every belief it was going to work, but the other day I bought up my accommodation and it turned into a huge argument. He was being completely irrational and arguing things like: why did I choose a uni far away when there are nearer ones, why did I choose a double bed in accommodation, what if i have to live with boys in my flat, hes already pre-determined the kind of friends I'll make, saying I'll be out every night bla bla.
I tried to reassure him but he is so stubborn! I don't want him to be constantly worrying about me and want to make sure he isn't miserable, but I also don't want him to hold me back and ruin the university experience. I have never cheated on him so I haven't given him reasons to be so paranoid.
I just don't really know what to do and it's stressing me out the nearer to results day because I don't know how he will react about it from one day to the next :frown:
Original post by Anonymous
Hello,
I've been with my boyfriend for over 2 years and I am going to uni in September and he isn't. It's only 45 minutes away and I had every belief it was going to work, but the other day I bought up my accommodation and it turned into a huge argument. He was being completely irrational and arguing things like: why did I choose a uni far away when there are nearer ones, why did I choose a double bed in accommodation, what if i have to live with boys in my flat, hes already pre-determined the kind of friends I'll make, saying I'll be out every night bla bla.
I tried to reassure him but he is so stubborn! I don't want him to be constantly worrying about me and want to make sure he isn't miserable, but I also don't want him to hold me back and ruin the university experience. I have never cheated on him so I haven't given him reasons to be so paranoid.
I just don't really know what to do and it's stressing me out the nearer to results day because I don't know how he will react about it from one day to the next :frown:


Let him cool off and then sit down with him and chat it through properly. Did you give him an idea that you would be closer to him then he thought?

If not hes reacting rather unfairly. Talk to him and reassure him that it will be okay.
After two years of long-distance I will only be living 45 minutes away from my beloved boyfriend rather than 5-7 hours depending on traffic in less than 2 months now!
If you work at these relationships, they can last! Although it's been difficult at times, I've loved every moment of my LDR, and believe it has made us stronger as a couple!
Good luck everybody! :smile:
Said goodbye to my boyfriend yesterday at the airport. He has flown to Australia for his placement year and I'm still in the UK. It was so horrible and I still don't think I've realised that I won't see him for so long. I think he's finally arrived now but I haven't heard from him yet so trying to stay calm and positive. I'm planning on going out there to visit over Christmas so I won't see him again now until December, I genuinely can't believe it :frown:
If anyone has any advice please let me know, I seem to be ok one minute and very teary the next.. Thank you


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Original post by gw1992
I know this was a long time ago, but did anyone ever respond to this? I am in a very similar situation


Respond to what?
Reply 1386
Original post by Holby_fanatic
Respond to what?

oh my bad... Never done this before and Ive lost the post I was talking about now haha
Original post by gw1992
oh my bad... Never done this before and Ive lost the post I was talking about now haha


Hahahaha! Well let us know if/when you find it. :tongue:
Original post by Twigleheight
Said goodbye to my boyfriend yesterday at the airport. He has flown to Australia for his placement year and I'm still in the UK. It was so horrible and I still don't think I've realised that I won't see him for so long. I think he's finally arrived now but I haven't heard from him yet so trying to stay calm and positive. I'm planning on going out there to visit over Christmas so I won't see him again now until December, I genuinely can't believe it :frown:
If anyone has any advice please let me know, I seem to be ok one minute and very teary the next.. Thank you


Posted from TSR Mobile


All I can really advise you, is to give it time. For me, the very beginning of becoming LDR was the hardest, but after a while it gets easier. Like, I still miss him all the time, but I just don't feel as teary eyed about it anymore like I did at the start. Just make sure that, as well as keeping up regular communication with your partner, you also keep yourself well occupied with other things in your life, so that you're not constantly thinking too much about how much you're missing your partner.
Reply 1389
Original post by AB25
So glad this thread has returned! Wondered if anyone could help me out- my boyfriend and I have been long distance for about a year, but right now i'm home for summer so can see him every day :smile: which is great. The bad thing is, its now the middle of summer, which means going back to long-distance is on the horizon. I'm dreading it, really really dreading it. Almost to the point where I don't know if I can put myself through another 2/3 years of long distance. I cried all the time last year at uni because long distance is so hard- do not want this year to be the same. Yet I love my boyfriend and don't want to end the relationship. :confused: what do I do? Anyone else feel like this?


I go to Uni in September and I think I'm going to feel exactly like you. The thing is no matter how much people say it's hard and LDRs don't work, they do! There are lots of people who have them and it works. You love your boyfriend and he loves you so just wait it out, instead of thinking about the time apart think about how your heart grows fonder while you're away and when you'll see him next. Chin up, love :smile:

This website's done by a couple in a LDR and they have loads of great advice and things to keep it interesting. Have a gander.
http://www.lovingfromadistance.com/index.html
Original post by Twigleheight
Said goodbye to my boyfriend yesterday at the airport. He has flown to Australia for his placement year and I'm still in the UK. It was so horrible and I still don't think I've realised that I won't see him for so long. I think he's finally arrived now but I haven't heard from him yet so trying to stay calm and positive. I'm planning on going out there to visit over Christmas so I won't see him again now until December, I genuinely can't believe it :frown:
If anyone has any advice please let me know, I seem to be ok one minute and very teary the next.. Thank you


Posted from TSR Mobile



Went through exactly what you just went through about over 5 weeks ago when I had to leave. The beginning is so, so hard, maybe it's best you just let it all out, have a good cry. I'll be honest, while skyping and being able to text with him is great, sometimes you just end up feeling even worse after knowing that you can't physically be with them. Try and get yourself as busy and distracted as possible, find a summer job, courses, anything to keep you so busy you won't be thinking so much about missing your bf. Maybe you could have a countdown till Christmas too. I found it particularly helpful during the odd days I'm absolutely emotional, to talk to a close friend. Honestly, it will never get better, you'll miss him more each day but you'll learn to cope with it after awhile. I was emotional wreck for the first 2 weeks, practically crying my eyes out every time we skyped but after 5 weeks, things are so much better. You'll still have the missing feeling there but at least it's under control. Just try and Skype and communicate with him as much as possible but don't sit around doing nothing waiting for that Skype call (particularly with the time difference!) but rather if you keep yourself busy and forget about time, when he calls unexpectedly, you'll be so happy each time to hear from him :smile:

Hope that helped!
Who has experience with having a boyfriend in high school & staying together for uni? We would both study in the UK but not close to eachother at all (me in Glasgow, he in London). He definitely wants to stay together and me too, but I am scared. I have read quite a lot of posts stating it is a bad idea to stay together with your high school boyfriend. Also we spend almost every weekend together, every holiday, and see eachother everyday at school, so the change of seeing eachother every 2 weeks (and that's best case scenario) will be really really big. I really love him and I am hoping there is someone who went through the same that could give me some advice??
PS. we got together when we were only 15, we are 17 now and even though we have both changed a lot and had our ups & downs we are still happy together (y)
hi guys, so glad i found this.
basically, i was in an ldr with someone for almost 2 years in my first years of uni, went into it literally 2 weeks after we started seeing eachother properly - in hindsight it didnt work out because our relationship was pretty crap in general, and shouldnt have lasted as long as it did. i was pretty happy at the time though, enjoying the fact that i have a lot of time for schoolwork and that we get an intense week together every 5-6 weeks, so i had time for everything.

when we broke up, i was alone for about 2 years - all until this year when i met the best guy ever. we scouted eachother out in the first two weeks of my new uni and had been inseparable ever since, we basically lived together for the 10 months we had together. he is from a different continent, and tried to find a job here, but having failed, he took up a position back home and is starting soon. he was very adamant he did not want an ldr, not for anyone ever, and although he said i was perfect for him and hed probably never meet anyone he was as compatible with as me, he said he couldnt do it because wed end up living two separate lives and all the closeness that made our relationship so special in the first place would be gone. when i went over to see him in his native country, met all his friends and family, he ended up changing his mind, telling me how special i am, how hes so glad i convinced him and how we should give it a go and see where it takes us.

the catch is im going into a professional quaification and then a job, in which in total i need to spend the next 4 years (there is no backing out - im being sponsored by a company and would have to repay 50k should i quit at any time!). i know he wants to live in his native country in the long run, but is being very confusing about whether he would ever consider moving here in the interim (perhaps he doesnt even know himself yet, as he hasnt really started his job yet!). because he was so reluctant to go into the ldr in the first place, im so apprehensive he will change his mind - we wont be seeing eachother for 3 months now, and then i will visit every 1.5-2 months for roughly 2-3 weeks at a time (plus the summer) as im more flexible studying. im so scared he will conclude that all his reservations were founded, and dont want to scare him away with my neediness by talking to him about whether he would even consider moving to the uk before the 4 year mark (when i can move there). he could do that in 2 years (during which time im still at school and can fly over regularly - after that i start work and things will get trickier), provided he gets a job and after hes paid back all his tuition loans. all is going well i think - we skype every other day and seem to get on just fine without eachother in the interim, but knowing how reluctant he always is to talk about the future, and how he only 'converted' to wanting the ldr recently, im really scared of scaring him away with Big Questions. that said, he also said he sees the time apart as a good test of whether wed want to be with eachother 'forever' thereafter. even though i was advocating the ldr all this time, and even though i honestly think he might be The One, im just worried its too long - and would be completely destroyed if he ever came to that conclusion.

any help in dealing with this sort of early day anxiety?
advice from anyone with a transatlantic ldr (or at least spanning maaaany airmiles) would be greatly appreciated to get my head in order!
Reply 1393
I'm heading to uni next month and I've been with my partner for two years, he has lived in my family home for the past year (he moved in to help out when my mum got ill). He's going to be staying with my mum when I go away and we both see our relationship as a permanent thing (which surprises us both, we were massive cynics before we met each other). Just wondering about any tips on keeping close even though we are apart? We're not toooo far apart but still after living together its going to be a big shift. I'm also worried about him feeling I've 'left him behind' as I'm going to be super busy and doing lots of amazing things, whereas he is currently as little 'stuck' in his career. Any tips?
Reply 1394
Original post by Anonymous
Hello,
I was reading through the old thread and I guess my post is going to sound pretty much the same as lots of the others on there but I'd still like to hear any advice anyway.
I met my boyfriend last September in the first few weeks of uni and we've now been together for 8 months. At uni he used to live above me in halls so I would get to see him everyday (basically whenever we wanted) which was great! :smile: At Christmas he came to visit me after 2 weeks and at the time I wasn't too bad (emotional wise), I still missed him loads but I could handle it. However by the time it got to Easter I was an emotional wreck! I was miserable and hated myself for it because I knew I'd be seeing him soon and there are so many people in worse situations than me. During exam season he went home for a few weekends to play sport and even then I was so sad, I didn't know what to do to make me feel better and stop worrying (revising constantly didn't help). Anyway, now it's the summer and we've been on holiday together and I've seen him two more times but in between the times I get to see him I'm still thinking about him constantly and texting him lots, I feel like I'm such an annoying person but he insists that he likes to hear from me. He has a job just now which means he's practically working 24/7 and we don't get to speak very often which again, makes me feel down in the dumps. I really wish I would stop feeling like this because I'm seeing him soon (just for 1 day) and like I said there are so many people in worse situations than I'm in! I just don't know how to stop feeling so rubbish all the time and really need to get a grip of myself.
Any advice is welcome as the sooner I stop feeling like this the better!
Thanks :smile:



Not to be harsh or anything. I really feel for you it must be rough but you sound awfully clingy tbh. Like to miss him to the point of almost being depressed reflects more about you than it does about the LDR aspect of it. Also I would expect only couples that have been together decades to feel the sort of anxiety that you're describing. Just relax have a life being in love doesn't mean he has to consume your every breathe. You can have a life. You seem like a loner. Go meet people have hobbies enjoy your self you need distractions and it'll be easier I promise. Obv you'll be depressed if all you ever do is live and breathe your bf. That's just unhealthy.
(edited 9 years ago)
Hey guys, I've just discovered this thread. I'm kind of in an LDR too, well we live in different countries but we go to the same uni so we're only apart during the holdays like summer, xmas and easter but like we're not usually apart that much during then either like we'll try and fly over when we can but obviously being students it's hard as we don't have the money.

Everything's going great really, we text each other like all the time so it's almost like we're never apart either.

However, there's one issue. How do you manage to keep sexting interesting? we're a very sexual couple so that is a part that we both struggle with a lot so the only way we can get around it is by sexting and sending pictures but like after a while we just sort of say the same stuff :/ so what are your tips for keeping it interesting?

Also, one thing that annoys me is that I always have to ask for a picture she'll never randomly send one but I will, just wish she'd return the favor sometimes :frown:

thanks.
Original post by Anonymous
Hey guys, I've just discovered this thread. I'm kind of in an LDR too, well we live in different countries but we go to the same uni so we're only apart during the holdays like summer, xmas and easter but like we're not usually apart that much during then either like we'll try and fly over when we can but obviously being students it's hard as we don't have the money.

Everything's going great really, we text each other like all the time so it's almost like we're never apart either.

However, there's one issue. How do you manage to keep sexting interesting? we're a very sexual couple so that is a part that we both struggle with a lot so the only way we can get around it is by sexting and sending pictures but like after a while we just sort of say the same stuff :/ so what are your tips for keeping it interesting?

Also, one thing that annoys me is that I always have to ask for a picture she'll never randomly send one but I will, just wish she'd return the favor sometimes :frown:

thanks.


I don't usually post anon but I will for this. :colondollar:

My boyfriend and I write stories for one another, often incorporating our fantasies into them. It's just something different for us and sometimes it's like a break from the 'usual' sexting we do. Maybe you could try that? Also, we do stuff on Skype, if you know what I mean...

Also, if she never sends one randomly, maybe you're just more sexual than her... Or she may just be shy. There are loads of reasons as to why she doesn't do it. She may just be less spontaneous than you?

That's all I can think of off the top of my head - Skype dates and writing stories. Gosh, I sound like a loser.
Original post by Anonymous
I don't usually post anon but I will for this. :colondollar:

My boyfriend and I write stories for one another, often incorporating our fantasies into them. It's just something different for us and sometimes it's like a break from the 'usual' sexting we do. Maybe you could try that? Also, we do stuff on Skype, if you know what I mean...

Also, if she never sends one randomly, maybe you're just more sexual than her... Or she may just be shy. There are loads of reasons as to why she doesn't do it. She may just be less spontaneous than you?

That's all I can think of off the top of my head - Skype dates and writing stories. Gosh, I sound like a loser.


yeah I think maybe trying out skype could be an idea but like I still think it'd be the same thing, saying the same stuff to eachother, basically I just wanna get better at dirty talk :P

Also, I really doubt I'm more sexual than her hahaha but yeah maybe it could just be a confidence issue, which I really hope it isn't cos I want her to be confident you know? but I guess maybe it could be due to living at home with parents and stuff and she's a bit more classy than just a quick flash type thing.
Reply 1398
Hi, my boyfriend and I have been together for a year 8 months! I'm going to Uni in September and he's staying home. It's an approximately 2hour 30minute train journey. I really want us to work and I'm sure we will but I'm just worried.

Have any of you gone through this and could you give me any tips, if possible x
(edited 9 years ago)
Hi guys I'm in a LDR with my GF in America we've never met but Skype regularily and talk all the time. I know she's coming over here next year but I'm wondering about temptations at uni I'm still a virgin and with the rumours I've heard it could be a potential minefield

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