Choosing to go to college 300 miles away from home and knowing not a single person going in was the best decision I could have ever made for myself. Not a single thing in the last two and a half years has made me feel otherwise… but, if there was one thing that I could change, it would be that I wasn't living two states, 300 miles away from my best friend.

Growing up just down the street, on opposite sides of the neighborhood, we could run to each other's houses in less than 2 minutes to hang out. We could call each other's landlines and set up a sleepover for that night. When we wanted to rollerblade around the block, we threw on our skates and went. Anything under the sun we could think of doing together, we did.

There was never a concern about distance.

Arianna Levenson

But now, a four-and-a-half-hour car ride away, I realize how lucky I was to have grown up down the street from my best friend. To see each other now, we have to look to see when our breaks are for when we will both be home. We must plan out a whole weekend to drive up to visit, which can be expensive. Also, living in the dorms my first two years, it was practically impossible to see my best friend because there was nowhere for them to stay and the beds are tiny.

When you spend half of your life being that close to someone, the distance is awful. We could no longer easily run to each other when we had some juicy gossip to talk about of be there for each other when things got hard. Our only way of staying in touch was through texts and social media.

Texting your best friend about boys and college is not even remotely the same to in person.

Recently, having my best friend come up and visit, made me nostalgic for the way things were. We're the kind of people who can pick things up right where they left off, so it made for one of the best weekends I had had in a while. But also, one of the hardest because it was only two days until we had to part ways again, knowing it probably wouldn't be anytime soon after that we'd see each other again.

Having a long distance best friend has taught me though that there are certain people worth keeping in your life, even if it's only a few times a year you get to see them. To be able to handle that situation and remain so close, you know that they will be sticking around for a while, no matter the distance.

Arianna Levenson