The beginning of the fall semester is a nostalgic time for most; seniors reminisce on their first move-in day as they unpack their cars and roll out their comforters onto a twin XL for the last time.

Juniors scramble to fit the last required courses into their schedules so they can breeze through their senior year.

Sophomores rekindle their thoughts about their first year spent at college and vow to make this year even better.

That leaves the freshmen: the young hopefuls starting out a “new” life with a fresh start. They are envied by the upperclassmen because they will experience college for the first time and still have four years, at least, to decide what to do with their lives once they leave Pace University.

Most of these freshmen run up the stairs to their brand new dorms in Alumni, ironically, and take selfies with their roommates that they stalked on Instagram all summer.

Yet some of them will feel the fading heat of September and look back on the summer that they spent with their high school sweethearts and count down the days until they can reunite during Thanksgiving break.

Well, I have some advice for you young lovers-don’t waste your time.
I am not a cynic or pessimist, I am a realist. Therefore, when I tell you that you should break up with your high school sweetheart, it is to bring you back to reality.

I do not doubt that he or she loves you with every beat of their heart, or that you do not feel the same about them. I do not doubt that you have never felt this way in all of your life, all 18 years of it. I am simply saying that even if you or your sweetheart manages to be faithful in the relationship while in the first year of college, you will probably regret staying together at some point.

For starters, distance has proven to be an issue over time. Long distance relationships are truly a long ride through hell. You will miss each other so deeply that it crushes you to spend weeks apart after spending every day together during the summer. Also, you are constantly surrounded by the opposite sex (or the same if that is your niche). Mixing temptation, loneliness, and alcohol is one sure way to ruin a good thing, so why not take time to explore other options instead of being selfish and trying to hold onto what once was?

Secondly, you’re going to be busier than you ever thought possible. Maybe you’ll join a sport, rush a fraternity or sorority, or just decide to major in nursing and be slammed with homework and pop quizzes in organic chemistry. It is not easy to maintain a relationship when you are being thrown into the real world all on your own for the first time.

Next and most importantly, it is inevitable that you will change. Being a young adult in college is all about personal growth. It is the time to create yourself and think about what you truly want for your future, which is hard to do when you have someone fogging up your focus.

You can’t plan your life around someone else’s needs; you must make decisions and go where your own life takes you, and sometimes that is not where your partner’s life will lead them.

Do yourselves a favor and take time apart from your past. Use these years to experience new things, learn, and grow into the person that you want to be. In the end, if that is still someone that your high school sweetheart loves and the timing is right, the rest will fall into place.