Where is the love?
Bethany Hart
Issue date: 11/16/06 Section: Columns
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Most girls seem to have a sort of fairytale fantasy about the way love and relationships should work. It usually includes a ball gown, a glass slipper, love at first sight across a crowded room, followed by marriage. But there seems to be a step missing in between the chance meeting and marriage.
"The only date I've been on is to the bar," confesses Wittenberg University junior Erica McGough. "We live in Springfield; it seems like there is nothing to do but drink!" McGough says she hasn't been on a date or had a relationship on campus her entire time here. Has dating become a lost cause? Where is the romance, the flowers, the candy?
At least on the Wittenberg campus, the general consensus seems to be that dating is virtually nonexistent.
Jon Umbel, a senior at Wittenberg, provides some insight into why dating and relationships just don't seem to work at Wittenberg.
"Wittenberg is just too close of an environment," Umbel explains. "It's not real world dating!"
Real world dating? Tricia Grebenstein, a senior, elaborates on this idea by laughing. She calls the university "Wittenberg High School."
McGough concurs. "Wittenberg is like a huge high school; once you start dating someone, everyone knows."
Dating on campus is like starting a huge game of Telephone. A story begins with the truth, an innocent dinner and a movie, but eight hours later the story has mutated into the couple having gone on five dates and planning to get married. That might be an exaggeration, but the same concept still applies to this campus. Nothing ever seems to be between just two people; instead it is between the dating couple and roughly 2,000 people.
"No one on this campus can keep their mouth shut," says Catriona Hay, a senior, "and it really puts a lot of pressure on relationships."
Grebenstein agrees. "When people talk, things are blown out of proportion."
So does anyone have serious relationships anymore? "Relationships are just a waste of time," McGough says. "What are the chances that you will both feel the same way at the same time?"
Umbel disagrees. "College relationships help you learn more about yourself and relationships. It will come in handy when you begin dating in the real world."
Has life in the "Wittenberg bubble" numbed the campus to dating life? Wittenberg dating seems to be in a league all its own, many students say. They say fewer and fewer students on campus find dating is an unnecessary step when it comes to serious relationships. If anything the atmosphere of campus discourages the dating step.
It seems as though this is the case. Couples leap over steps, going from chance meeting to boyfriend and girlfriend in a New York minute.
The students on this campus are starved for the romance that comes with dating. Wittenberg, where is the love?
"The only date I've been on is to the bar," confesses Wittenberg University junior Erica McGough. "We live in Springfield; it seems like there is nothing to do but drink!" McGough says she hasn't been on a date or had a relationship on campus her entire time here. Has dating become a lost cause? Where is the romance, the flowers, the candy?
At least on the Wittenberg campus, the general consensus seems to be that dating is virtually nonexistent.
Jon Umbel, a senior at Wittenberg, provides some insight into why dating and relationships just don't seem to work at Wittenberg.
"Wittenberg is just too close of an environment," Umbel explains. "It's not real world dating!"
Real world dating? Tricia Grebenstein, a senior, elaborates on this idea by laughing. She calls the university "Wittenberg High School."
McGough concurs. "Wittenberg is like a huge high school; once you start dating someone, everyone knows."
Dating on campus is like starting a huge game of Telephone. A story begins with the truth, an innocent dinner and a movie, but eight hours later the story has mutated into the couple having gone on five dates and planning to get married. That might be an exaggeration, but the same concept still applies to this campus. Nothing ever seems to be between just two people; instead it is between the dating couple and roughly 2,000 people.
"No one on this campus can keep their mouth shut," says Catriona Hay, a senior, "and it really puts a lot of pressure on relationships."
Grebenstein agrees. "When people talk, things are blown out of proportion."
So does anyone have serious relationships anymore? "Relationships are just a waste of time," McGough says. "What are the chances that you will both feel the same way at the same time?"
Umbel disagrees. "College relationships help you learn more about yourself and relationships. It will come in handy when you begin dating in the real world."
Has life in the "Wittenberg bubble" numbed the campus to dating life? Wittenberg dating seems to be in a league all its own, many students say. They say fewer and fewer students on campus find dating is an unnecessary step when it comes to serious relationships. If anything the atmosphere of campus discourages the dating step.
It seems as though this is the case. Couples leap over steps, going from chance meeting to boyfriend and girlfriend in a New York minute.
The students on this campus are starved for the romance that comes with dating. Wittenberg, where is the love?
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