Sewanee’s notorious for its hookup culture and how hard it is to maintain a relationship here on campus. Though I do not know how to start a relationship on the mountain, I do know the work that goes into maintaining one. I have been lucky enough to share the past (almost) three years with my current boyfriend Will Godsey. He is a sophomore here at Sewanee and we met in High School. Though we were fortunate enough to have two years under our belts when I finally joined him on the mountain this past fall; we did have to readjust and figure out the best way for us to maintain our relationship now that we are together at Sewanee.
One thing I want to make extremely clear is that every couple is different. The tips I am going to share in this article is what Will and I have done as a couple to make sure that each of us are happy both in and out of our relationship here on campus.
Balancing YOU time and US time
Maintaining your life outside the relationship and the relationship with your significant other is always tricky, especially here at Sewanee. One way to do this is to make sure that at the very least you have one day or evening planned every week. This ensures that you see each other at least once that week. It could be a trip to Wal-Mart, a dinner date to Clurg, study together in DuPont, curling up and watching Netflix one evening, or attending a fraternity party together one night of the weekend.
Trust with a splash of alcohol
Drinking is an every weekend occurrence here on campus. You will not always be with your significant other every night of the weekend. This is especially true when it comes to you two belonging to different Greek organizations, or one of you partakes in a Greek organization but the other does not. That’s totally fine. But one thing you do need is to make sure you can trust your significant other not to do anything that could put your relationship in jeopardy while intoxicated. One way this is possible is to keep in touch with each other. If you leave one frat to go to another send a quick text. This also is a good way to check in on your significant other to make sure they are okay.
It HAS to be 50 – 50
One thing that Will and I have always agreed on is that we promise to put 50% into the relationship at all times. What that means is: to have a good relationship you have to have a balance in how much each of you is putting into it, and how much you both are committing to the other. If one of you is putting 75% while the other is only giving 25% one of you is obviously not as committed as the other. If you both aren’t all in, someone is going to get hurt.
SPEAK UP!
Communication is the most important part of any and every relationship. Your significant other cannot read your mind. Though you think your hint is perfectly clear I promise you that they will almost never pick up on what you’re hinting at. If something is bothering you or you want something from your significant other you need to be completely honest and up front with them.