My first semester of college I was in a pretty serious relationship with my high school boyfriend, so I did not interact very much with the boys at Holy Cross. However, during the end of my first semester, I started to acquire male attention. For someone who hadn’t really interacted with many males besides my guy friends and my now ex-boyfriend, this was a new feeling for me. At the end of what was a tempting semester, I made the ultimate decision to breakup with my boyfriend of nearly two years and dive right into the catastrophe that is the messy and intricate world of hooking-up. Join me as I describe all of my heinous encounters throughout the years.
Freshman year:
I guess I had the wrong impression of the college hook-up scene prior to coming to Holy Cross because I thought that girls only hooked-up with boys who they had a real, deep connection with. Wrong. My friends and I would have a heart attack as soon as any decent looking male would make eyes at us. One of my first college hook-ups was with this junior boy who wooed me with his good looks and musical talent. I couldn’t BELIEVE that a junior boy liked me. I would be lying if I said that he wasn’t the reason that I broke up with my high school boyfriend. I spent my days constantly stalking him on social media and waiting for a “U up?” text every Friday night. I assumed that we were only hooking-up, when one day he asked me to get coffee at Cool Beans, the social hub of Holy Cross. From that point on, I was convinced that we were going to get married. Fast forward to a week later, I spent the majority of the coffee date rambling on and on while he gave me worried and concerned looks. I shouldn’t have been surprised when he ghosted me a few weeks later, but of course, I was. Looking back on it, he was an average looking guy with zero social skills, but I was devastated. It was a brutal first hook-up experience, but it really prepared me for what was coming during my sophomore year…or maybe not.
Sophomore year:
I wish I could tell you that my Sophomore year hook-up experiences were better than my first year on the hill, but this was certainly not the case. I went back and forth between two older athletes, one on the swim team and the other on the soccer team. Both of which were super rude and not that appealing now that I think about it. The swimmer was the nicer out of the two, but I would definitely say he lacked major personal hygiene skills. He only texted me when it was convenient for him, but I would still run to his room the minute I received a text from him. One weekend he asked me to come over and watch movies with him. Everything seemed to be going really well, but by the end of the night he didn’t even lay a finger on me. I was so confused because that’s not how our interactions usually went. When I confronted him about it weeks later, he told me that I was “just an experiment to see if he could control himself around women.” Oh, wow. Every girl wants to hear that!
The first encounter that I had with the soccer player included me leaving his room abruptly (because he kicked me out after he got what he wanted) and me accidently opening the fire escape door and setting off the fire alarm very early in the morning. He then proceeded to tell me that out of all of the girls that he’s hooked-up with, I was the only b**ch dumb enough to set off his fire alarm. I know what you’re thinking––I have such great taste in men…such great taste that I decided to move to a different country for the duration of my junior year!
Junior year:
At the end of my Sophomore year, I had fallen for a nerdy computer science major in my acting class. He was the total opposite of my type. He was sweet, genuine, smart and funny. So, like I said, not my type. But as the semester progressed, I became interested in him. My friends were shocked. “Wait, you like HIM?” “Haha, are you kidding me?” Trust me, I was shocked myself but I decided that my hooking-up career at Holy Cross couldn’t be any worse so I decided to give it a shot. What seemed like a very risky choice actually ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve made to date. I was just about to go abroad for an entire year and I wasn’t even entirely sure that I liked this kid in the first place, but two years later, we’re doing better than ever. I know, it’s the classic ending that everyone expects, and I genuinely think that my college hook-up experiences could be made into a movie, but you never know what to expect!
Senior year:
I know what you’re thinking––“what more does she have to say now that she’s in a happy relationship?” Well, spending my year abroad in France without seeing my boyfriend for months at a time made me appreciate being alone and independent. I don’t want you to read this and think that you need a guy to make you happy. In fact, I was so miserable for the first few years at Holy Cross because I thought I needed a guy to make me happy. If I wasn’t ending my night in a guy’s bed, then I did something wrong. Well the point of this article is to show you that you don’t. You do not need to be in a relationship or casually hooking-up with someone to make you happy. Find yourself before you find someone else. As cliché as it may sound, you must fall in love with yourself before anyone else can.