palabra45

tl;dr I'd accept the offer.
I was in a similar situation last year. I applied at a top program because, for years, I kept saying I would. I got in and, after discussing it with my partner, we decided it was better for me to go ("It's been your dream since forever" and stuff like that). Very emotional things happened, but we both want to have a long-term relationship. The first year (which I'm currently in) is indeed brutal. The American system, for me, differs from the European one because you're caught in a near psychotic environment made of stress and coffee for three months - no time for a real relationship, as far as I'm concerned - then you are in a void. That's when you go back and spend a very good time with your partner. You can also meet once during the semester, making the wait shorter. Plus, if you're both committed, the long distance might be a good test for your relationship. It sucks, it really does, but when my partner and I talk on the phone or see each other we're back at the beginning of our relationship, on the verge of cheesiness sometimes.

Native Italian. My university offers language courses; I haven't taken any, but I know some teachers. I'll ask them if they can recommend specific books.
I'm just wondering, but for Romance languages I have the feeling that if you know your Latin, sometimes studying phonological changes is strikingly more helpful than memorising declensions (for basic linguistic competence, of course, we all know phonological changes are not perfect). This is especially true for Italian: since the language was not "spoken" until some 60 years ago, there are but a few changes from Latin to Italian (especially compared to French). I should have a list of the most common ones. In case you want the doc, pm me.

I had to answer these questions more than once:
"Why would you study [foreign language] in [place where it's not main language]?"
"Can't you already speak [random language]?"