“It’s not always easy, but I’m so glad that I chose Winchester as my university. I got accepted into Canterbury - the same as my boyfriend. I knew that maintaining a long-distance relationship would be hard with us being in two different places, but I wanted to experience Uni for myself, make new friends, immerse myself into my course, experience living away from home and discover more about who I was. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like had I accepted the place at Canterbury, but I still don’t regret it. It is hard though - most of the time I feel like I’m in a relationship with my phone which, for me, is something I really hate. I’ve never been that into texting or social media, I’m more of an old soul; someone who likes the simple ways of communicating. But our phones are all we have when we’re apart so it's something I just accept. I think with us both living away from home for the first time and figuring ourselves out, it adds that as distance too. It’s like, we’re going through it together, but apart. Most of the time it’s fine though and we’re great, it’s just sometimes I overthink things... am I more invested in this? Am I making more effort than he is? Which is silly and not me, but when you’re communicating with a screen it’s hard not to think that way, and I’ve always found it so hard to let things go! It creates silly arguments that are made even worse because we’re not talking face to face. I know that if we were, it would be solved in less than half the time, but when you’re talking down a phone, everything’s always emphasised somehow. I do want to make it work though, as I know that’s ultimately what we both want - Uni can easily separate couples - it’s happened to quite a few of my friends. But my boyfriend and I aren’t like that, we’ve been together since school and it’s always just felt so right. I know I’m young, but sometimes you just know...and I always have with him. Despite it being difficult and some days feeling too much, I’m still so glad we went to separate universities. I love Winchester and have met the best people here as well as evolving so much. And I’m glad that I’ve grown by myself, and he by himself - I think that’s the way it needs to be and ultimately, it will only make us stronger people. And at the end, when I’m holding my degree outside the cathedral, it will feel that much more worth it.”
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