Dating at college, as opposed to dating anywhere else, is so different it's like comparing somersaults on Earth and in space.
Here you have 1,400 people in the same age group living in close vicinity of each other 24/7, and this phenomenon where everyone congregates around music and alcohol on the weekend (called a party) is a regular occurrence.
But will you still like the girl Monday morning when you're sober and don't have the beer pong table and drunken friends to make her look better? More importantly, will she still like you?
Even with a 35 to 65% ratio of guys to girls, I sometimes feel like I'll never meet anyone new, and probably already ruined my chances with everyone else.
It was a lot easier to get dates when I had a girlfriend. Not only did I have someone of the opposite sex consenting to spending time with me, but also the sheer fact that I was unavailable was somehow attractive to girls.
The fact is however, that I have spent four sevenths of my college career quite single. And learned that dating is as dead as the dinosaurs.
Leave it up to the guy to decide what to do for the night and you'll probably be watching "The Little Mermaid" on his computer after a Cove run. Options in town are restricted to bowling, the possibility of a good movie at the Chester Five, and a shake at Downeys.
As a single senior this year, I'm discovering dating to be a lot like finding a job. You want to be a boyfriend so you send your resume out to everyone you come across.
The interview is this awkward time where nothing serious gets discussed and you find you spend the entire time bored out of your skull debating if you should fake your own death.
And then you may get the job and learn it's nothing like what you were led to believe. Quit, repeat.
Is it so hard to find someone interesting to talk to? Spend a sober evening on a couch enjoying a movie together?
Why do my parents insist that if I haven't found the girl I'm going to marry, I never will? Whatever happened to good things are worth waiting for? Does that mean you can't have fun waiting?
Dating is meeting people and stepping out of your comfort zone in order to take a risk, win or lose, and go home knowing a little more about yourself and what you want.
Before college I met my girlfriends in class, church groups, and homecoming games. Since then, they've been hitting on my roommate, drunk at Swampwater, interested in pirates, wanting to play beer pong, and in my class.
None of this means I'm a bad fraternity boy, but just another college guy with nothing to offer but interesting and genuinely fun conversation. Most girls aren't looking for that on a Friday night, and you don't get many chances afterwards.
This year, those who had boyfriends, didn't want boyfriends, and plain didn't know what they wanted.
And I'll tell you ladies, the ratio may be against you, but most of my friends here are single. As I like to say, there are a lot of great guys out there, but only a few of us aren't gay.
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