This is really funny because the same thing happened to me. Except I'm the foreigner in the story. I'll tell you my story do that you see what's possible. But first I'll tell you what it takes. It takes patience and daring and willingness to navigate the unknown. It takes communication - cultural gaps and differences can be a really tangible thing. And it takes a real compatibility and connection. What I'd advise for you guys is to stay in touch. And don't forget many things are possible. She could visit you. You could visit her. Nothing is definitive or set in stone right now.

In my case it went this way. Met this guy fours months before I'd be leaving but started seeing each other out of our weekly work shift together about three weeks or a month before I had to leave. After I left, he and I stayed in touch. Basically emailed back and forth almost daily, writing at length. We felt the way you're describing - and both cried like idiots when I had to leave. But we felt we could try and stay in touch. We had no real hope or reasoning other than this feeling of, this could be great, this could be love. I knew I had a job back home that I could do, and my family is there. I really figured this was all over. Really really did. Was willing to let go. But. We got to know each other better through all those emails. Our connection became a truer one. Months went by. And it started being harder and harder to let go - this is the danger there, mind you. There is a risk playing this game - if nothing comes out of it, the sadness and pain at losing such a great chance will burn for long. Anyways. We wrote to each other. And when he started seeing another girl, I knew I felt something for him, because it made me really sad. Two months later, and he was single again - he and her really didn't work and not much of anything happened - and I decide that I have to go back and figure out if he and I could be a thing, because I could tell I felt things for him and he felt for me too. So, almost a year after we've last seen each other, I come back to the states for a month long vacation with him. Of course it turned into dates, sex, love declarations and a relationship. Once that was a fact, nothing stopped me - I'm a rather daring person - so I got into a new study program in the US, six months later (so was long distance for six months). My program is over very soon but I'm not afraid, I know I'll find a way to stay with me, or he could come home with me. We've been together 3 years now. I had NO idea how things would go. I neve believed it would go this way. Today, I have NO idea how the future will be. This is what happens when you get in those foreigner relationships. It's a sacrifice to make. But sometimes it's worth it.