It’s funny how life works. One day I am watching the crappy movie “Going the Distance,” thinking to myself how long-distance relationships never work and how I’ll never ever be in one. Six months later I now live in Brazil and my boyfriend is 9,972 kilometers away.

Before I left, I told myself it was only for four months and he was the only person it could actually work with, so I gave it a go, flew halfway across the world and accepted the fact there would be no “hanky-panky” for a while.

Aside from the fact that the physical relationship is non-existent, the cyber-relationship starts getting creepy. Basically, it’s me awing, smiling or making stupid jokes at my computer most of the nights while my roommate across the room is plotting the best way to jump out of the window, but then she comes back to her senses and decides it’s a better idea to tease me instead.

Not being there for the small things in his life sucks. I wasn’t there for his first legal beer, I wasn’t able to listen to his first radio show because of the time difference and what really hurts is that we won’t be able to wear idiotic costumes together for Halloween.

But out of the four months we’ve been apart, we are halfway through. Despite the frequent jealousy attacks I get every now and then when I see a picture of him with a girl I’ve never met and the constant dirty looks I receive from people in Brazil (the capital of samba and sex) when I say I have a boyfriend, I am still holding on.

You may think I’m an idiot for being in one, but I am happy and it works for us. And besides, there’s news for all you college students who swear you’ll never be in one: There was a major study claiming that at least 75 percent of you will engage in a long-distance relationship at some point. So ha!

— Ana Ceballos is a journalism
senior.