Megan Musilli, Managing Editor
The best part about moving from high school to college, I believe, is the opportunity to meet an endless amount of different people - new acquaintances, new friendships and, inevitably, new relationships.
Upon entering college, you are immediately exposed to a vast variety of individuals, and because of this, it's likely you'll find someone you are compatible with. After escaping the stigmas of high school - the forbidden cliques and worrisome reputations - it's easier to find that "perfect someone" among the plethora of students at Geneseo.
We're more mature now - at least, most of us are - and because of this, our relationships are more mature as well. Without dealing with the drama of high school hormones, it's simple to focus on what makes you happy and what's working (or not working) in a relationship.
You're also free from parent supervision, which is usually a good thing. True, there's no more excitement in sneaking out of your house to see your partner at 2 a.m. (who does that?), but the opportunity to spend the day and night with your loved one really builds upon the connection in a way you simply can't when you're younger.
The size of college compared to high school also does justice to relationships at this point in our lives. While you have the opportunity to spend literally all of your time together, you also have the means to participate in separate organizations, separate groups of friends and separate classes - which allows you to create an identity for yourself outside of your relationship. The breathing room permitted by a college atmosphere is key in any relationship - something you can't necessarily achieve from the confinement of a close-knit high school.
On the other hand, your post-college life isn't ideal for relationships either. After the excitement of new opportunities wears away, you're forced to grow up and focus on yourself - your job, your finances … your life. By also concerning yourself with someone else, especially if you're in the early stages of a relationship, can be irresponsible.
College provides a model atmosphere for developing relationships - and I encourage any lonely Geneseo students to get out there and spark their own.
Aaron Davis, Opinion Editor
Oh dear, sweet relationships; the scourge of mankind.
Seriously, think about how much better off the world would be without monogamous relationships: the Trojan War would never have started … and that's the only example that readily springs to mind. It's a good example, though!
The fact is, in college at least, relationships seem to have an inordinately high mortality rate. Of course, the question is then begged: What goes wrong?
Well, nothing, really. It's just that people change pretty drastically in college. Think about who you were senior year in high school. Now think about yourself now. These two people probably bear only passing resemblance to each other. The college you probably has a beer can in hand. But I digress.
Then taking into account the awful fact that most college relationships are also long-distance relationships, you're in for a mass of trouble. Considering the number of "Dear John," letters written every day to soldiers who were called away to serve in combat in another country through no fault of their own, one wonders why we even bother with the comparatively tame long-distance college relationship.
Besides, even though it may feel like an eternity (and God, does it ever feel like an eternity sometimes) until graduation, it's really only four years before you will more than likely go your separate ways. There's something almost fatalistic about beating the odds for four long, perilous years and then, after everything, realizing that you're bound for different things.
And finally, there's the guilt. There's a lot of guilt associated with college relationships, for good reason. First you might be out carousing with other people. Then your significant other might not be out carousing and get jealous.
Perhaps your new friends of the opposite gender are also grounds for jealousy or guilt. Actually, everything you do in college is grounds for guilt, in the irrational mind of the jealous lover. So, hypothetically, two people spend what is supposed to be the best four years of their lives alternately guilty and jealous. Not good, not good at all.
Stay single, Geneseo.