I am not denigrating your affections by any means, but what feels like love when you're young can sometimes in fact be something else.
There were a few guys I mooned over when I was in high school and college. Looking back on them from now, I have two reactions:
a) What was I THINKING??!!
b) Hmmm, what WAS his last name?

In my parents' basement, I found a box of letters written to me from friends during our freshman year of college (pre email days, of course). Most of the letters were full of high romantic drama. For Christmas, instead of sending my friends one of those boring, here was our great year family missives, I sent each of them a xeroxed copy of the letters they had sent to me years ago. They all called me in tears of laughter over those "great romances" with guys that turned out to be eminently forgettable.
Enjoy your trip!

BTilke
What a cool Christmas missive to send out - sounds like a lot of fun!

Miranda
I agree, if it's meant to be it will be. If it's not then it will hurt for a while but you'll be OK.

BEST OF LUCK!

My year away is almost up, and then I'll be going home to my boyfriend who is still waiting for me. It's been tough and I've missed him, but I'm definetely glad I came. We keep in touch via regular email, and I've been working on building up a postcard collection for him. He's always been delighted to receive them, even when it's just from the next little village over, or some town he's never heard of, and I really enjoy writing them. I also got a cell phone, so he can call me whenever he gets it into his mind to. It's also helped to have something small from him, like a piece of jewelry, that I can fit in my purse, so I can always have it close if I want to feel like he's not quite so far off. Also, make friends! If you're alone all the time, you'll certainly miss him more than if you've others to hang out and enjoy yourself with. The only time missing him really interfered with my enjoying myself was when I was in Venice, travelling all by myself, and there was the overwhelming romantic atmosphere everywhere. I really wished I could share it with him, and felt left out of the magic of the city. But anyways, I can't think of anything else at the time.