With summer just around the corner, many romantic relationships will have to endure long distances. “What to do over the summer?” is the big question currently pressuring many relationships.

A single standard cannot be applied to long-distance relationships over the summer, said Jane Reid, a clinical social worker at the Campus Counseling Center.

“It’s difficult to make general predictions,” Reid said.

Typically, a number of factors influence the duration of a relationship.

“Factors such as how long you’ve been dating, how committed you are, will you be able to see each other, whether you’ll both be coming back to campus in the fall, your experience with serious relationships in the past and personality factors can all impact a relationship,” Reid said.

Spending time apart for the first time could be a major strain of the relationship, she said.

Nikki Gaebler, a senior in applied life studies, attributes distance to one of the main reasons why she broke up with her junior year boyfriend last summer.

“At school I was always with him and friends at the same time, and when I was just with my friends without him over the summer I didn’t think about him as much as I thought that I should,” she said.

Distance can also be a good thing for a relationship, Reid said.

“Some people need space and time to reflect and reach clarity about their investment in the relationship,” she said.

Though Gaebler’s relationship did not work out, she said she does not wish that she would have broken up with her boyfriend before summer.

“It’s hard to break up with someone that you see all the time, especially when you have mutual interests and friends,” Gaebler said. “He wasn’t someone that I could have really avoided.”

Gaebler said she will apply lessons she learned from her former relationship to her relationship with her current boyfriend, who lives in Chicago, this summer.

“Trust how you feel. From the beginning of the summer I was having uneasy feelings, and it took me awhile to actually end the relationship (with the first boyfriend),” she said.

However, Gaebler said she is glad that she at least tried to maintain a relationship in the summer.

“I always suggest to give something a try, then you won’t have to second-guess whether or not you should have given someone a chance,” she said.

Excuses can be made for why this is not the right time, Gaebler said.

“Just because you think it’s the wrong time it doesn’t mean that it actually is,” she said. “Sometimes when all the odds are against you, you have to put yourself out there and try even harder, and I think that’s why it works.”

For Erin Petron, a senior in LAS, long distance defines her current relationship that started at the end of her sophomore year.

“My boyfriend and I have been in the same town for one-and-a-half months out of two years,” Petron said.

Petron had to endure the graduation of her boyfriend from the University in May 2003, a summer relationship and finally a whole year of studying abroad in France.

Long-distance relationships require new levels of communication, Reid said.

“Though one of us was always up at a weird hour, we made it work and really got to know each other because all we had was a phone, e-mail and conversation,” Petron said.

Petron said she learned how to take advantage of the limited time that she had to talk with her boyfriend.

“Being in two different countries shows that your relationship has a lot of trust, and it actually was perfect timing,” Petron said. “We are now not dependent upon each other because we never could be.”

Both Gaebler and Petron, who are roommates, agree that long-distance relationships made them appreciate their boyfriends more.

“When you’re with a person all the time you don’t have to impress them as much,” Gaebler said. “We have learned how to not take a person for granted.”

However for those who are not experts in long-distance relationships like Gaebler and Petron, Reid suggests that you make a plan prior to the beginning of summer.

“If you do leave the relationship open-ended, agree to contact the other person and be as deliberate and forthright as possible should someone else come along,” Reid said.

Gaebler said that long-distance relationships depend on your ability to express your feelings.

“Be trustworthy, trusting and totally honest with each other,” Gaebler said. “What you put into it is what you will get out of it.”