By Haley Duvor
Summer is over and fall is officially here which this means many couples attending different colleges have to go long-distance. Seeing all the fun autumn activities that you won’t be able to experience with your significant other is certainly hard, but don’t fear! There are plenty of long-distance dates to try out in the spirit of romance in the coming holiday seasons.
Set up a movie night
Whether it be a spooky movie, rom-com or thriller, there are tons of options on each streaming service. Both you and your partner could pick one out together, or create a list of must-see movies and use a randomizer to pick one for you. We all know that no movie experience is complete without snacks, so try something fun: choose your partner’s goodies and they can choose yours. You could do this once or make it a weekly thing. With services like Zoom and Discord, having a make-shift movie night is easier than ever.
Get crafty
Since the holidays are right around the corner, your local craft stores are bound to have some festive items. For Halloween, carve pumpkins or even create unique monsters with pipe cleaners, card stock, pencils & pens– really anything you have lying around. For Thanksgiving, make hand turkeys and hot cocoa. For Christmas, decorate a tree, make ornaments and obviously, construct gingerbread houses!
Star in your own cooking show
Have a cook-off. Pick a recipe online and compete against your significant other to see who can create the most enticing dish. Lucky for you, you can’t taste via video chat, so presentation is everything. Who cares if your lasagna ends up tasting a little funny? The less your partner knows the better. Confidence is key in convincing them you are a five-star chef. If that doesn’t sound too fun, try to bake something without following a recipe and see who can get closest to an edible dish.
For those of you cooped up in dorm rooms without kitchens at your disposal, no problem! See which one of you can create the tastiest meal or snack with what you’ve got around you. Microwaves and hot plates are the backbone of so many creative college meals.
Storytime
Yes, you heard me right, storytime. It likely isn’t something you’ve done since you were little kids, but who doesn’t love being read a story? There are two ways to approach this: pick a prompt and give yourselves a certain amount of time to write out a story and read them aloud to one another. Or you can find a book that sounds interesting to the both of you and take turns reading chapters to one another. This is a great way to demonstrate your creativity or even improve your reading skills without knowing it.
Gaming
You don’t need a fancy keyboard or expensive headset to play online games with your partner. If you have those readily available to you, that’s great! But don’t feel discouraged if all you have is your laptop. Using Discord or Zoom, one of you can share your screen and you can both pick a game to invest a little time in. There are tons of options out there, you can even take a trip down memory lane and play computer games from your childhood.