Long Distance Relationships Part 1
I told you this blog isn’t just going to be about medicine. Maybe later on after I start med school I’ll write more about long distance relationships in med school. For now I will write about not only what it’s like being in a long distance relationship but also what it’s like dating an investment banker.
First some background. Elaine and I started off long-distance. Well we met in high school, then went our separate ways, and then reconnected again and started dating senior year in college. I was in Boston and she was in New York. We were 4 hours apart and had the luxury of taking the Chinatown bus to see each other every weekend.
After we graduated we were in New York together for about a month and a half and then I left for Taiwan while she stayed in New York to work as an i-banker at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. Those were some tough 4 months because we were super long distance. Also with the 12 hour time difference we talked at 8am her time and 8pm my time everyday, meaning that she had to get up early every morning and I couldn’t make plans at night (which might’ve been a good thing for the relationship =P). Here’s what a typical webcam chat looked like.
But as we’ve felt the entire way, our relationship was blessed with good fortune when I found a job in New York at The Coalition. For the next half of the year, we were living in the same city, but we might as well have been long distance. For those of you who don’t know, being an i-banker essentially means you have no life outside of work. As a result, we either saw each other early in the morning before work at 8am or very late at night like at 2am (sometimes even 5am). Nonetheless those visits were worth it and, I have to say, better than being super long distance. Plus we did have some days on the weekends to go out and have some fun.
We’ve been long distance again for most of this summer and now we will be long distance again this next year while I’m in Boston and she’s in New York. Luckily the two places aren’t too far and we’ve made a commitment to see each other at least once a month.
I think being long distance has really helped our relationship by honing our communication, trust, and individual growth, in ways that wouldn’t have happened if we were in the same city the entire time. In my next post, I will list some things that Elaine and I have found useful in being long distance, as well as advice that people have given us.
Oh, and happy 17 =)
Elusions 