What happens when you and your high school sweetheart pick different colleges to attend? You can do too things. The first group usually ends the relationship on good terms before parting ways and promises to stay friends. Then, there’s the few and faithful that believe that distance makes the heart grow stronger and decide that they can make the relationship work despite the miles.

Having miles between two lovers can work. Here are some tools to make being apart a little bit easier.

• Phone calls – This may seem relatively obvious, but it truly works wonders. Hearing your significant other’s voice say that they love you almost always will cheer you up and make you feel less lonely. This can be costly though – Look for phone plans that have cheaper evening and weekend rates to save a little bit of money.
• Windows NetMeeting (by Microsoft) – This product is available for free download from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/. It incorporates real time audio, real time video, and instant messages into one convenient program. With the use of a microphone (which is available at most computer stores for under twenty dollars), you can talk back and forth to each other without the expense of long distance charges. All you need to get started is a connection to the Internet.
• AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger – These three products are all available for free download on the net. They provide real time messaging between either two people or a whole group of people. You lack the intimacy that you get from hearing the other person’s voice, but it is still a good way to communicate.
• Email – Email has become one of the most widely used methods of communication in recent years. You can achieve free email accounts from a number of places, needing only access to the Internet. This is a great way to send your lover a note in the middle of the day saying merely that you’re thinking about them and that you love them – That’s enough to brighten almost anyone’s day.
• Priceline airline tickets – When the distance becomes just too great and you need to see each other, Priceline can help to save you a little bit of money as long as you’re somewhat flexible. You go to the Priceline website (www.priceline.com) and enter the price that you wish to pay for airline tickets. Priceline then contacts all of the major airlines to see if anyone is willing to sell you a seat for the price that you offered. If an airline has a flight that is only partially full, they are often willing to take anything for a seat just to fill it. A good rule of thumb with Priceline is to find out how much the full fare ticket is and then offer 30% less. You will know within an hour if you have tickets or not. The only problem is that you have no control over what airline you fly or what time of the day you leave and return. If you need to leave after a particular time and want to rake up frequent flyer miles on a particular airline, this may not be the way to go.
• Student discounts on bus fares, train fares, etc. – Sometimes air travel is either too expensive or just simply not practical. In this case, a bus or a train might be your best option. Several bus companies realize that students don’t always have large budgets and offer them discounted weekend trips. The company that I ride with most often offers a student weekend package where you leave on a Friday and return the following Sunday for a discounted fare. This can definitely save you a few dollars and might make travel more of a possibility.

Other than that, here are a few tips to keep everyone’s sanity:

• Make sure that your roommate doesn’t mind your significant other staying over. More than one couple has had problems where their roommate was uncomfortable.
• Make sure that your dorm allows overnight guests of the opposite sex. Sometimes it’s not allowed, especially if you go to a religious school or live in a single sex dorm.
• Make sure to communicate with each other. If you simply never talk, eventually you’ll begin to drift apart.
• Be honest with one another. If the way things are going just isn’t working for you, let the other person know. Maybe you need to see more of each other or maybe you need to realize that the relationship isn’t working and it’s time to move on.

Contributed by Ravi Patel

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