Boyfriend [M/24] and I [F/21] just began long distance, it’s a lot more of a challenge than I thought.

So my boyfriend and I have an interesting backstory. We met while studying abroad in Italy last August and began dating in October. We are both from California, I am from Northern California and he is from Southern California. We had the most incredible year together; we’ve gotten the opportunity to live 5 minutes away from each other, travel to amazing places together (we’ve been to Greece, Egypt, and all over Italy!) and just gotten to know each other so well. We always have something interesting to talk about and we get along great, I truly love him a lot. Our program ended in June and we spent the last month traveling and spending all the time we could with each other. He came to England with me to meet up with my parents, who were visiting and going to travel with me for a few weeks. This was where we had our last goodbye; I couldn’t stop crying, he didn’t cry at all but that’s just how he is. After this, he went to Ireland and spent some days there before returning home. We talked occasionally, usually me initiating things. I was pretty sad about the entire thing, especially since traveling with my parents is a huge drag which made my mental state worse. He left for home and I didn’t hear anything from him for several days. Four days after, I texted him asking to FaceTime. We did and I told him I was a little upset about not hearing anything from him after he landed or even anything at all. I expressed that I would like to hear something from him daily since we aren’t seeing each other regularly anymore. He didn’t seem to have a problem with this and I did get one text from him the next day without me having to initiate something. Now it’s been almost a week since we’ve had this conversation and I’ve barely heard anything. He started back working at his office yesterday, I texted him morning his time wishing him a good day and saying he should tell me about it later, and I just got a “thanks, I will”. I thought he would’ve missed me more than this, I literally cannot stop thinking about him. I’m here in Italy for another week before I return to California, and then maybe being in the same time zone will fix things? I don’t want to be too annoying or invasive, but I thought I’d hear from him more. When we were in Italy, it was normal for us not to text or call as often since we saw each other all the time, but I did have issues with his communication which I expressed then. His nature is pretty unemotional and introverted, while I’m a fairly emotional person; not too much, but when it calls for it. I also get that there’s an adjustment period after this year that we’ve spent but like I said, I didn’t think I would be this upset. We are planning to visit each other. There is a five hour drive between us, I believe he will visit me first in July and I will visit him in August. Exact dates haven’t been confirmed yet, so I do have some things to look forward to I suppose. But if things continue like this I don’t know how I can do it. We both have a year left of college and we’ve spoken about a future together but he has a good job down south and I’m a bit younger, my future is a little more uncertain. We also both love the places we live and I would have a very difficult time relocating. I’m sorry about the rambling, I cannot talk about this with people I know since they wouldn’t understand. Part of it is that it’s very difficult leaving such an incredible year behind and though I know it has to end and I need to get back to a regular life, my heart still can’t understand that. And part of it is anxiety over my future in terms of careers while my partner has a lot planned out for him. I’m basically in a transition from a year without problems and issues to a lot of problems all at once and it’s getting difficult to deal with when your partner can’t even reply to your texts.