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www.dailygam Delivering USC V A PLAC€ IN TH€ SUN SALON "For the Complete You” SUDDENLY SUM 2301 B Bush River Road BODY WRAPS Columbia, SC 29210 UAcc*rc (803) 798-5954 COMPLETE MASSAGE SPRAY TAN _ TEMPORARY TATTOOS GREG KEILTY Join Air Force ROTC at the University of South Carolina GREAT CAREERS Pilot Nurse Engineer La wyer Navigator More GREAT benefits Travel Full Medical & Dental Care Build Leadership & Management Skills Starting Salary & Allowances: $35,000 30 Days Vacation with Pay Tuition Assistance for Graduate Degrees Job Security ... and you may be eligible for one of our scholarships! For more information, call 777-34-50 or visit the Air Force ROTC web site www.afrotc.com >, -V- • ' ’ ■■ ' JvV , r-r '• ’ •'; /•= USC students keep trucking on highway of long-distance romance BY HILARY SCHRAMM THE GAMECOCK "And the truth is, I miss you.” Those Coldplay lyrics describe how many college students will feel this Valentine’s Day as they celebrate far away from their signifi cant other. "In order for any long-distance rela tionship to work, you have to have com plete faith and trust in the other person, especially when you’re in college, because you may not know their friends,” third year English student Bethany Kessell said. Balance presents another challenge. Some students have a hard time building a life separate from their relationship and struggle to remember to be true to them selves. "I don’t think I had a problem balanc ing my life at college with my life with her. I was going to be who I wanted to be,” third-year mathematics student a Brooks Willet said. "Your long-dis- f tance relationship can take over all aspects of your life, but it doesn’t have to.” But even if someone leads a balanced life apart from his or herf significant other, it is still easy to become lonely at times, or even de pressed. “’Not getting to see him was the hardest part,” Kessell said. ”He was 18 hours away by car. Some people worry when they always just hang out with their boyfriend and never go on ‘real dates,’ but people in long-distance rela tionships don’t even get that.” Because these couples don’t get to spend time together, communication is key in making a long-distance relationship work. While distanced couples have the standard options of letter-writing and phone cadis, e-mail and instant messaging are the easi est way to stay in touch. "IM is nice because I could leave mes sages throughout his day,” said Kessell. "And away messages can help you feel that you know what’s going on in his life. Communication is very important.” While many relationships are main tained over the Internet, some begin there as well. And no, not through Match.com. "I met my last boyfriend through a mu tual friend online,” third-year student Jessica Kinard said. "Because of AIM we could talk to each other despite the dis tance, and we were able to not only get to know each other better online, but keep in touch after we had started dating.” Linked closely to relationship success is the H-word: honesty. Because so much uncertainty can be involved in a long-dis tance relationship, couples have to be hon est to keep the trust of their significant oth er. "The most important part of the rela tionship was being completely honest with what was going on and continually reaf firming how I felt about her,” Willet said. "It was important to show her that it was worth it to me to invest a lot of time and emotion.” Many long-distance rela tionships involve a home' town sweetheart the stu dent has known for several years. The dedication and closeness linked to their long history of ten seem to make the rela tionship easier to maintain. "Having a history was really important,” Willet said. "We’d developed our relation ship over a long period of time. I wouldn’t get into a long-distance relationship with out mucn ot a DacKgrouna — it taKes a lot of work if you want to do it justice.” A philosopher once said, ‘’The three pil lars of a relationship are communication, honesty and trust.” These three elements are especially important for a long-dis tance relationship. With them, this Valentine’s Day will bring a lot of success stories. Disclaimer: All long-distance relation ships featured in this article have now been terminated. Good luck. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockfeatures@gwm. sc. edu