It’s getting to be late afternoon. You don’t really feel like showering and layering on makeup to go out with your girl friends to an overcrowded dorm party where you’ll unquestionably be hit on by sweaty boys with overinflated egos. Even though you’re not keen on going to a crowded social event, you also don’t want to be lame and stay in by yourself, rewatching Season 1 of New Girl (helloooo FOMO). Cue: guy friends.
Guy friends are the happy medium to just about any social dilemma. They can always be counted on for a good laugh when you’re feeling down, a sometimes necessary reality check when you storm into their room and start whining about your latest “problem,” an excellent companion for your needlessly deflating self-esteem as you finish off that last piece of pizza, or a good shoulder to cry on when you feel overwhelmed and overworked.
And on that Friday night when you’d rather have a casual night in while your guy friends play Super Smash Bros or FIFA for what seems like an interminable amount of time, they provide a perfect environment for you to feel social yet at the same time completely at ease.
I’ve been surprised during my short amount of time as a student at ND at the lack of genuine male-female relationships other than brief acknowledgement in the dining hall or superficial conversations on weekend nights. Speaking from the perspective of a girl who has five brothers and grew up surrounded by not only them but their friends as well, interacting with boys feels very natural to me and I can authoritatively speak to the beauty that is a well-formed relationship with a member of the opposite gender.
Now, that being said, getting past their often-crude humor and seeming incapability to launder their clothing correctly can be a challenge.
Once you do get past what I call the “gender boundary,” i.e., the glaring differences between guys and girls that may or may not serve as the inspiration for the line from that famous childhood rhyme, “Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider,” male companionship at the platonic level is one of the most valuable things a college environment can offer.
Yes, there are certain conversations that you have with your roommates and other female friends that you can never have on the same level with a guy, but the inverse is also true. Boys offer a much simpler perspective on just about everything life throws at them than we do, and conversing with them about these things is incredibly refreshing and eye opening.
When you come across a boy in class or anywhere the opportunity presents itself, try to look past their exterior and inexplicable obsession with video games and get to know them because they could end up being your very own honorary best man at your wedding one day.
So, to all of the guy friends I’ve made at ND so far and to the ones I’ve had since much earlier than last semester, I want to sincerely thank you for your friendship. You’ve each taught me invaluable things about not only life and relationships but myself as well, and for that I am incredibly grateful. Without your terrible “that’s what she said” jokes and endearing determination to get swole, life on this campus and beyond would be a much less interesting experience for all of us girls.
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Images: 1 (provided by author), 2, 3 (provided by author), 4 (provided by author), 5 (provided by author)