I regret breaking up with my boyfriend for college.

Georgia O'T., 19

Me and my boyfriend broke up for college.

We made a pact to break up before college when we first got together, and we broke up at the end of summer after dating for about a year and a half by the time we split up. We both really wanted to go into college single (I was truly into this entire "party girl" mindset back then), so it was always a condition of our relationship. Additionally, I didn't have many expectations for my fist relationship - it was, in truth, and experience for me. But we brought out the best in one another, and it was truly difficult to stop being exclusive.

Both of us felt the same, and despite our prior agreement, we sat down and talked it out. I’ve seen people say that you shouldn’t break up just because you’re going to different colleges, but neither one of us wanted to do long distance.

It was a recipe for emotional disaster, but we pushed through.

And while we had talked about still being friends or being together without the label, it didn't work out when we returned for winter break last year. There was this unspoken awkwardness of being in the same room of someone who has known you inside out and now - just doesn't.

My first year of college, the "experimentation" didn't feel good at all. It was tiring, and most of all, I truly just missed my ex-boyfriend. We had blocked one another to avoid contact, but there would be times where I would ask my friends to forward his number or even consider making another Instagram account and caving.

It was all just so strange and confusing, and still is today. This summer break, I'm interning back at my hometown, and often do run into him. He's gotten a new girlfriend, and I really do think about what would've happened if we had stayed together. So, I might be an outlier, but in truth, test it out. If there's a lesson to learn from this, its that you don't need to leave your entire life behind to explore the new.