hi everyone, this is my first post in this subreddit. as the title says, i am going to be leaving in about two weeks to study abroad for a semester in south korea. this has been a dream of mine for many years now, and i am so excited to finally see it come true.
my boyfriend & i met 10 months ago at college and have been dating for almost 9 months now. we are very serious about each other and are very much in love. we have had minor disagreements here and there, but we have always worked them out and never had any serious arguments at this point. throughout our time in school, we spent a lot of time together and have learned a lot about each other as people and partners.
my boyfriend graduated from our university this past spring, and his hometown is only a 5-6 hour train ride away from me, so we have spent our summer doing long distance while trying to visit each other every 2-3 weeks. the heartache has been terrible for me, i miss him so terribly while we are apart. we text throughout the day when we can and facetime every night. we have ran into some communication issues during this time, since he is not a big texter while i love texting, but regardless of that, we have been able to make it work.
we have thoroughly discussed my plans to go abroad, and he has been super supportive and is excited for me to go! as it will only be for four months or so, we have currently decided that we definitely want to stay together during this time. in fact, he is already planning a week-long trip to come visit me in late october for my birthday, so we are both looking forward to that.
however, i have had so much anxiety about the entire thing for basically the whole summer. for context, i am someone who is quite anxious (especially about the future & things that are out of my control), and i do feel that i have become a bit codependent on him and his attention towards me, which i know is only going to cause problems later on. i have been open with him about this and have been attending therapy to learn healthy coping mechanisms and work on these problems.
with us having a 13/14 hour time difference (depending on daylight savings in the US), i am very worried knowing that it will be difficult for us to talk often. we are currently planning on trying to text when we can and call/facetime at least once a day if not twice, when he is waking up & i am going to sleep, and vice-versa. because of this, i am also worried that we are going to drift apart from each other or lose feelings for each other. i have no intentions of breaking up with him and the thought of it shatters my heart. i have talked to him about these anxieties many times & he has always reassured me and told me that he won't leave me & that he will be right there for me when i get home. however, i can't help but think that unexpected things can happen and that scares me (i guess that's the nature of anxiety…). i just don’t want my experience to be ruined if i miss him a lot, but i also don’t want our relationship to be jeopardized due to the distance and different lives that we’ll be living during those few months.
has anyone been in a situation similar to this?? i am just looking for some advice or stories from those who have experienced this. i feel like i read so many negative comments & stories on reddit, which is making me feel less certain about things. if there is anything else we should consider for the relationship while we're abroad, tips to keep our communication healthy, or any strategies to battle the heartache (which is so real, even while we're only hours away), please feel free to provide insight!
tldr; going across the world for a semester of college very soon, need some advice on dealing with anxieties about my relationship leading up to my trip and keeping my relationship healthy & communicative while im abroad