Picture a girl boarding a flight bound 2,600 miles away from home. She is excited about what is to come. The friends, the classes, the dorm life, the island life, the potential relationships. That was me. Everything was fine except one small problem, my birthday is in late October making me a 17 year old in college for the first 10 weeks of college. “No big deal, it will be fine!” I thought to myself. Then the realization came “I’m not even an adult!!”. Then came the subtle flirtatious comments from people in my classes, specifically spanish: ¿Cual es tu numero de telefono? ¿Cuál es tu actividad favorita? ¿Cual es tu restaurante favorito? I answered politely and ultimately broke the news that I was 17… Underage. Everyone I knew was already 18 and did not have this problem meaning I was the baby and had no one to turn to. But think of me as your big sister!
Here’s some of the ways that I dealt with this dilemma:
- Be polite: people are naturally going to assume that you are older, even younger than you really are. When this happened to me I exercised the best and most polite
- Be understanding: understand that some people are looking for relationships and may not realize your true age
- Be aware of how you look to other people: In my experience I have been offered a cocktail menu even though I’m well under the drinking age. Be aware that you may look older than you actually are.
I hope that my experience can help others when it comes to relationships and dating in college.