In honor of Valentine’s Day, I asked 3 of my friends some questions about how they got together with their significant other. Taking COVID into consideration, I was wondering how they were able to date in the first place? Does it require more work now, and is it similar to a long-distance relationship if they don’t get to see each other every day?  I find it hard to keep my relationships with my friends and my family and school afloat but adding a significant other? I want to know how they do it! Today I will be asking three couples, Becca and Tyler, Alyx and Nik, and Madison and Tori some questions in order to get both a male and female viewpoint without an outside influence. 

 Our first couple is  Alyx and Nik

1.¨How did you guys get together?¨  

 Alyx said that they were friends before they started dating. There were times that they would try to catch up and they would hang out in his car outside of her house because she wasn’t allowed to bring people inside the house due to COVID. Eventually, her mom gave her permission to bring him inside and they watched a movie together, shared their first kiss, and the rest was history. 

Nik said they were already really close and knew where their relationship was heading. In October, he went over to her house, kissed her, and asked her out.

2. ¨Did you find it hard to elevate the relationship from friendship to dating?¨

She said that they’ve been friends since Freshman year of High School, and it wasn’t a weird transition. It was natural as if it meant to be this way. They had feelings for each other during Freshman year and it didn’t work out, but they recently developed feelings again and it was smooth sailing from there.

 Nik said that he didn’t find it hard at all because they were already really close and they had already built a really good friendship and knew each other 

3.¨With quarantine do you find it hard to be together? ( What precautions do you take to make sure you can be together and not be a danger to each other?)¨ 

Alyx said that Nik is the only person she is allowed to see at the moment. She works, therefore, she already has to be cautious about hanging out with people. They both take precautions, so they don’t affect their families or each other.

Nik said that they still see each other daily and it’s not necessary to hang out with a big group of people.

4. ¨How important is communication especially right now with covid?¨

Alyx said that communication is really important whether it’s face to face or online because they can’t see each other every day with their schedule. Whether it’s shooting a text here and there and making sure they talk things through about each other feelings and situations 

Nik said it’s important because they need to know how they feel and how they doing mentally. It’s crucial to keeping the relationship alive and well.

5. “How long have you guys been together?¨

Alyx replied 4 months on February 26th.

Nik said they got together on October 26th so about three months.

6. “Do you feel you had a good foundation in the way you got together?¨

Alyx said “yes”. After all, they’ve been friends since freshman year, and then when they started talking it lasted two weeks because they both knew the path their relationship was heading and didn’t want to waste any time in being together. 

Nik said yes because they liked each other and it was natural.

7. “Have there been any arguments in the relationship, and if so how did you overcome it seeing as you can’t just go and see one another at the drop of a hat?”

She said they don’t argue because they both have been in toxic relationships so they take the lesson from those relationships and put it into their relationship to prevent any arguments. 

Nik said the only problem they have is that she can’t come to him and he is not allowed to drive her places but they don’t turn it into an argument, they talk about it when it is a minor issue. 

8. ¨Do you believe your relationship will last? and why (keeping in mind how we might be in quarantine for another year?) ¨

Alyx screamed  “Hell yes” she believes this relationship will last and she said she wouldn’t be with him if she didn’t see a future with him. Despite quarantine, you have to grow together and overcome obstacles and she believes she and Nik will be fine through it all

Nik said that he can see himself being with her for a really long time and that he doesn’t see himself being with anyone else but her and thinks they’ll be together forever. 

Next, I interviewed Becca and Tyler 

1. ¨How did you guys get together?¨ (were you, friends, before?)

Becca states “we got together through friends of ours who were dating at the time.  We weren’t friends before, we spent a lot of time together and talked every day and in time decided we wanted to be with each other.”

Tyler responded, “we got introduced to each other by our best friends who were dating at the time. we weren’t friends before, but I knew right away we would end up dating so after we got to know each other more I asked her out it was an easy decision.”

2. ¨With quarantine do you find it hard to be together? ( What precautions do you take to make sure you can be together and not be a danger to each other?)¨ 

Becca replied, “quarantine has made it much more difficult but we’ve tried our hardest to make it work. At the beginning of lockdown right after we started dating, we didn’t see each other for over a month!”

Tyler said, “we have never found seeing each other hard. We talked about limiting the people we see to protect each other and our families. “

3. ¨How important is communication especially right now with covid?¨

Becca said, “communication is the key to a relationship in general, but being under restrictions, it’s needed now more than ever.”

Tyler said “I think communication is very important because we can’t see each other all the time so things can be misinterpreted over text. It’s just easier when you’re face to face.” 

4.¨How long have you guys been together?¨

Becca said, “we’ve been together for 11 months, so almost a year.”

Tyler replied, “we’ve been together 11 months and we started dating right as quarantine started.”

5. ¨Do you feel you had a good foundation in the way you got together?¨

 Becca responded, “yes, we had a lot of thought going into it before we started dating.” 

Tyler said, “I feel like we had a good foundation.”

6. “Have there been any arguments in the relationship, and if so how did you overcome it seeing as you can’t just go and see one another at the drop of a hat?”

Becca responded, “yes, arguments have come up but rather than pushing each other away, we continue talking and apologize so things are worked out.”

Tyler said, “yes, there have been arguments but nothing serious. We’ve overcome them by communicating and giving each other a little time to calm down.”

7. Finally, I asked ¨Do you believe your relationship will last? and why (keeping in mind that we might be in quarantine for another year) ¨

Becca said, “yes, I think it will last, we’ve both been through a lot in the last year since we met, and regardless of what has happened, we’ve grown into loving each other more and more even when we don’t think it’s possible.”

Tyler replied, “yes I do believe it will last. We understand each other and what we want and we talk things out instead of taking them out on each other. And we love each other.”

Finally, I interviewed Madison and Tori 

1.How did you guys get together?

Tori said that she saw her at school and then after quarantine started she was with her friends and she saw a picture of her, thought that she was good looking and asked her friend to give her their number. They hung out and have been together ever since. 

Madison said they met through mutual friends that gave her her number so she texts her first. 

2. “Were you already friends? If not how did you decide you would start dating and did you find it hard to do so?”

Tori said, “no, we weren’t friends when we started dating and it was super easy to start the relationship and they constantly kept communicating.”

Madison replied, “it was hard in the beginning because tori had just come out and she hadn’t come out at the time so they had to decide if they wanted to keep it a secret or not but it ended up working fine.”

3. “How important is communication especially right now during COVID?”

Tori said she’s always thought communication was super important and now with covid, she thinks it’s even more important because they can’t see each other as much as they want to. 

Madison said, “it’s just as important as if we were in quarantine but feels it’s easier because they have more time to talk and see each other .”

4.¨How long have you guys been together. ¨

Tori responded, “almost 9 months.”

Madison replied, “9 months and 9 days.”

5. ¨Do you feel you had a good foundation in the way you got together?¨

Tori said “yes” because they didn’t really go through the talking stage they started dating three days after they met.

Madison said that since they didn’t really start off as friends they’re relationship wasn’t like a friendship but a relationship and they didn’t go through the talking state so they got to know each other through the relationship. 

6. “Have there been any arguments in the relationship, and if so how did you overcome it seeing as you can’t just go and see one another at the drop of a hat?”

Tori said, “Yes there’s been a small little argument but they just communicated with each other to figure out a solution.”

Madison said that “there have been arguments but they aren’t important enough to remember.”

7. Finally, I asked ¨Do you believe your relationship will last? and why (keeping in mind that we might be in quarantine for another year) ¨

Tori said, “I think it will last and they’ve gone through almost 9 months together and even though it’s not physical they still talk constantly.” She said they really trust each other and that it’s the best relationship she’s ever had. 

Madison said “yes, she does feel that it will last because with quarantine being really hard she feels like she can do another year and even more because of how much they’ve been through this past year. “