Our frigid, daily treks are quickly being replaced with sunshine and the splendid scent of spring flowers here in beautiful Ithaca. People are emerging from winter dens and a vitamin D-fueled campus is suddenly happy and cheery-eyed. Like every great romance novel or chick-flick has taught us, spring is the season of love. Shed your winter ways of singledom and leave them with your Uggs and North Faces. Sit back, smell the roses (figuratively and literally) and prepare for puppy love.
But wait, you might be thinking, “Where’s the love? I’m not seeing it.” The blissful allegory of the season doesn’t always seem to ring true in the college scene. It seems our generation’s idea of a romantic night out is receiving the “hey” text, being asked to pre-game in your crushes suite or apartment, and then just watching him and his bros “own” each other in beer-pong. Maybe he’ll ask you if you want a drink…or not. Either way, you’ll still be secretly drooling over him. You’ll then proceed to a hopefully romantic night, which apparently just means grinding on you followed by a beverage-induced sloppy make-out.
We’re young. Not every guy is Noah from the notebook. In fact, if he’s not like Noah that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you or a good guy. But, Babs Ingersoll, my grandmother, loves to reminisce how back in the 50s she was the queen of dates. She never paid for a meal and had every boy on campus swooning after her. I’m sure she and her beaus had some sloppy make-outs, but at least it started with dinner. So, what’s up with the dating standards for today’s college-going gals?
Food for thought: wouldn’t it be nice to be asked out to dinner (sober) instead of sharing a 2 a.m. slice of Sammy’s with a rando? It seems as though this was the norm in past generations so, my question is, why did it stop? Who’s to blame? Is it the girls or the boys?
As much as I like to pretend, we can’t change men. So instead, ladies, let’s lead by example. As we embark on this seasonal change, I pose the challenge of trying to bring a little romance onto campus life. I think it’s time to set the record straight. I want romance, we all want romance. Romance doesn’t make us high maintenance, it just puts us a step higher than the 2 a.m. booty call. Anything worth having is worth a little bit of romantic effort.