Country Hopping
I call my story "Country Hopping" because my relationship involves not one, not two, but THREE different countries. I am an American who met my lover, a dirty Brit, while studying abroad at an international school in Japan. We very quickly became best friends, and we were so close it was apparently an unspoken thing that everyone "knew" we were dating. When bought up in conversation we would get really defensive and say things like, "That is just absurd! He/she is like a sister/brother to me." We just shrugged it off and didn't even question anything more than friendship. We were not attracted to each other but would share all of our secrets, have sleepovers where we squished together in the same futon, we would share drinks together, go shopping together, everything.
At the end of the semester to make sure that we could spend as much time together as possible, we spent a week together in Tokyo. Just me and him, alone in the city. Even then it didn't occur to us that there might be more than just friendship; all we knew is that we just wanted to spend this week together without anyone else and didn't want to leave each other.
At the end of the week I packed up my things and prepare to leave Japan. He was not leaving, but staying because he is studying for the full year. We will both never forget hugging each other before I boarded the train to the airport; we both kind quite literally said, "This doesn't feel like goodbye at all." And it didn't. I remember when I turned away from him there was no feeling of dread that "this would be the last time" but instead I grinned widely and laughed, thinking, "We aren't going to be able to get out of each other's lives, even if we wanted to."
In Japan they have three semesters, and during the Winter semester he got very antsy to get out of the country. He is infamous for throwing caution to the wind, and this was certainly no exception. He decided to spend all of his money (yes, even for food) on a plane ticket to America and asked if he could stay at my place. I was, of course, thrilled at the idea of my best friend from study abroad coming into my life back home. I am sure those of you who have been abroad understand how strange it is for the study abroad to become a thing in their "normal" lives.
It was during his month long visit in America that I started to feel differently toward him. As the days passed he started saying that he didn't want to leave and I started saying that I didn't want him too. However, neither of us really thought of "why", that perhaps it may have been because we loved each other and didn't want to leave each other. It was just a strong feeling of him not wanting to go, and I assume for him, not wanting to leave.
It culminated to one night while we were talking about him leaving at the end of the month. I told him I didn't want him to leave, but it wasn't just because I would miss him, but because I wanted to be a part of his life. We both agreed that we didn't want to be separated again... But, more importantly than that, that we wanted together "for a very long time". That's pretty much how we first told each other, "I love you".
After we told each other that he asked if that meant that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, and I told him that I "suppose it does". I will never forget how big of a smile he had on his face and how his eyes lit up. I had never seen him look so happy in all of the time I knew him. If I remember correctly, he kept asking me to call him "my boyfriend" and every time I did the smile got even bigger and brighter until he was giggling like a little boy. I was pretty surprised to see him act that way, and I got embarrassed and turned away from him, hiding under the covers and telling him to "just go to sleep!"
It was as if we truly had loved each other the whole time but since we knew we were from other countries the idea of getting together didn't cross our minds... Him coming to my home in America made that gap feel a lot smaller: "It can be possible."
I asked people to post their success stories because mine isn't quite a "success" yet. It has been four months since he came to America and we started dating... We were only together for two weeks before he had to return to finish his studies in Japan. He was not the dating type person, and I had, at that point, given up on finding relationships. The fact that we are in a relationship, more or less pushing ourselves in the horrors of a long distance relationship, only proves to me that "this is the one". I have never felt so compatible with anyone else in my life and I am often amazed with how much we click: I guess that's what they mean when they say to "marry your best friend".
We are 18 days away from his next visit month long visit to America, then, after another four months, I will (hopefully) be going to England. So far the only struggle in our relationship is the distance, and we will both be damned if we let that be what ends our otherwise happy relationship. It is not a success story yet, but we are going to fight tooth and nail to make it one. We will not let the distance defeat us.
At the end of the semester to make sure that we could spend as much time together as possible, we spent a week together in Tokyo. Just me and him, alone in the city. Even then it didn't occur to us that there might be more than just friendship; all we knew is that we just wanted to spend this week together without anyone else and didn't want to leave each other.
At the end of the week I packed up my things and prepare to leave Japan. He was not leaving, but staying because he is studying for the full year. We will both never forget hugging each other before I boarded the train to the airport; we both kind quite literally said, "This doesn't feel like goodbye at all." And it didn't. I remember when I turned away from him there was no feeling of dread that "this would be the last time" but instead I grinned widely and laughed, thinking, "We aren't going to be able to get out of each other's lives, even if we wanted to."
In Japan they have three semesters, and during the Winter semester he got very antsy to get out of the country. He is infamous for throwing caution to the wind, and this was certainly no exception. He decided to spend all of his money (yes, even for food) on a plane ticket to America and asked if he could stay at my place. I was, of course, thrilled at the idea of my best friend from study abroad coming into my life back home. I am sure those of you who have been abroad understand how strange it is for the study abroad to become a thing in their "normal" lives.
It was during his month long visit in America that I started to feel differently toward him. As the days passed he started saying that he didn't want to leave and I started saying that I didn't want him too. However, neither of us really thought of "why", that perhaps it may have been because we loved each other and didn't want to leave each other. It was just a strong feeling of him not wanting to go, and I assume for him, not wanting to leave.
It culminated to one night while we were talking about him leaving at the end of the month. I told him I didn't want him to leave, but it wasn't just because I would miss him, but because I wanted to be a part of his life. We both agreed that we didn't want to be separated again... But, more importantly than that, that we wanted together "for a very long time". That's pretty much how we first told each other, "I love you".
After we told each other that he asked if that meant that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, and I told him that I "suppose it does". I will never forget how big of a smile he had on his face and how his eyes lit up. I had never seen him look so happy in all of the time I knew him. If I remember correctly, he kept asking me to call him "my boyfriend" and every time I did the smile got even bigger and brighter until he was giggling like a little boy. I was pretty surprised to see him act that way, and I got embarrassed and turned away from him, hiding under the covers and telling him to "just go to sleep!"
It was as if we truly had loved each other the whole time but since we knew we were from other countries the idea of getting together didn't cross our minds... Him coming to my home in America made that gap feel a lot smaller: "It can be possible."
I asked people to post their success stories because mine isn't quite a "success" yet. It has been four months since he came to America and we started dating... We were only together for two weeks before he had to return to finish his studies in Japan. He was not the dating type person, and I had, at that point, given up on finding relationships. The fact that we are in a relationship, more or less pushing ourselves in the horrors of a long distance relationship, only proves to me that "this is the one". I have never felt so compatible with anyone else in my life and I am often amazed with how much we click: I guess that's what they mean when they say to "marry your best friend".
We are 18 days away from his next visit month long visit to America, then, after another four months, I will (hopefully) be going to England. So far the only struggle in our relationship is the distance, and we will both be damned if we let that be what ends our otherwise happy relationship. It is not a success story yet, but we are going to fight tooth and nail to make it one. We will not let the distance defeat us.