When Maja Middleton decided she would attend UW-Madison, she had only been dating her boyfriend Adrian for a few months. It was the middle of her senior year of high school and, with her mind on the future, the fact that Adrian would be studying at UW-Whitewater, about 40 minutes away, didn't seem like a concern.
But the relationship progressed throughout senior year to the point that, even after spending their second summer working together as lifeguards, they knew that college couldn't separate them.
\The week before I left I really didn't want to go and I think a lot of it had to do with leaving him,"" Middleton said. ""I cried a lot.""
Yet halfway through her first semester at college, tears have given way to a renewed sense of optimism about her relationship. She and Adrian talk on the phone daily and see each other every weekend. Still, there are disadvantages to no longer living a 15-minute car ride away'10 if she drives.
""Knowing that I could go over there any time I wanted is different than this,"" she said.
Yet in some ways, being at two different colleges seems to make Middleton appreciate a different aspect of the relationship.
""We can have mushy conversations like 'Oh I love you. I miss you' or it can just be stupid conversations ... or it can be about any controversial issue or contemporary issue,"" she said. ""It's such a huge thing.""
While Middleton is enjoying life as a UW-Madison freshman, having to keep in contact with part of her past that is becoming an increasingly more important part of her future may be challenging, but she does not seem too worried.
""I know I have the rest of my life ahead of me so if something happens it's not the end of the world,"" she said. ""But I like it the way that it is.""
Last week, another freshman came face to face with her past when she took a five and a half-hour drive home to Mankato, Minn. for homecoming.
Jackie Bateman spent her first weekend home since coming to college everywhere but home.
""My family? Yeah I didn't really see them,"" she laughed. ""There were just so many things I needed to do and so many people I needed to see.""
Friday included attending homecoming coronation, lunch for 15 at a local restaurant, cheering at the football game where she got to play clarinet with her former band members, coffee at the Fillin' Station, a party at a friend's apartment and falling asleep watching movies.
Saturday consisted of attending her brother's soccer game, a potluck dinner with the team and their families, and frantically designing the perfect outfit for the toga party being held later that night in honor of her friend Leslie's birthday.
Even though it was in her hometown, the toga party was reminiscent of her social activities in Madison, since it was planned by college students, although these attend Mankato State.
""It was big for Mankato State' there were like 200 people there,"" she said.
At about 2 a.m., drunk students began passing out on the dance floor and Bateman took her cue and stepped outside for some fresh air. Only having a few drinks all night, she nominated herself the designated driver.
But her car was at a friend's apartment, and Bateman and her friends couldn't seem to find a taxi.
""They don't have SAFEride or anything like that in Mankato because they're an alcohol-free campus,"" she said, quite amused by the irony.
The friends who threw the party used money they made from alcohol and called a limousine for the mile drive.
