Unfortunately for most college kids, long-distance relationships seem to be the norm. It's so rare to find a couple who both attend the same school and get to see each other every day.

They truly are the lucky ones. For most college couples, seeing each other on the weekends is as good as it gets. Whether it's driving an hour or two to see them, or the excitement of them making the drive to come and visit you, a few days together on the weekends becomes the "new normal" for most couples that I have met in college trying to make the whole distance thing work.

For me, however, I only get to see my boyfriend once every few months. Between him being an athlete and having games every weekend, to the fact that I don't have a car that could make it 7 hours one way to see him, we are forced to communicate solely over text and FaceTime. In fact, as I'm writing this right now, we've been apart for over 8 weeks (only one more to go through until I see him again!).

Although I spend most of the hours in each day thinking about when I get to see my significant other again and literally keeping a mental countdown of how many more days I have to go, I wouldn't have it any other way. Yes, I'm sure it's nice to be able to get home from class and hang out with your boyfriend all night. And I would love to be able to finally spend a birthday with him, or a Valentine's Day, or have matching couple costumes on Halloween, but I know that long distance is what's best while I'm in college.

It's no secret that college is insanely expensive. Personally, the main reason why I'm glad that my boyfriend lives so far away is that it gives me the chance to focus on school without getting distracted by trying to spend time with him. I know that if he went to the same school as me I would spend most of my time hanging out with him and going on dates.

And although that would be super fun and I wish that I could experience it, I'm grateful that because he's not here, I'm forced to spend the time that I would be spending with him, studying and working on homework instead. In the long run, I'm at college to learn and get my degree and I don't need the distraction of having a boyfriend who I see all of the time getting in the way of that.

And lastly, as cheesy as it sounds, us being apart only makes us stronger. Because we only see each other a few times throughout the school year, we get to constantly keep reliving the "honeymoon stage" of our relationship.

Each time that I see him after being apart, I get the same butterflies that I would get at the beginning of our relationship. I hate how cliché it is, but distance does make the heart grow fonder. I get to look forward to seeing him and have learned to better appreciate the time that we do get to spend together.

Although long-distance is hell, and even though I cry on FaceTime once a week about how badly I miss him and wish that he were here with me, I know that it's for the best and is only keeping me more motivated in school and is making our relationship stronger overall.