I'm the kind of girl when posed with the question, "what do you dream about?", I instantly think, "about the love of my life." I am a romantic in all sense of the word. I love the idea of love and hope one day my life will make a little more sense when I meet "the one." Unfortunately, I've come to realize I'm going to have to wait a while.
When I went off on my gap year to Paris, France, I dreamed of meeting a cute European man while sipping my café au lait and reading F. Scott Fitzgerald. Let me tell you, that never ended up happening. It's normal to romanticize life and love but sometimes it leads to disappointment. I blame my unrealistic expectations of love on the combination of my parent's fairytale love story and the multitude of romantic movies I watched growing up.
People always say, "love comes to you when you aren't looking," and since I have been obsessed with the idea of love since my first relationship, I've finally accepted to stop looking in hopes it does find me. When my two-year high school relationship ended, I was shocked that "love" could disappear so quickly. Given my young age, that was the closest thing to love I have ever gotten and I am anxious to know what real, long-lasting love feels like.
Coming to college, I made the mistake of assuming everyone here is looking for the same thing I am but I have come to realize, college is the place where people, especially guys, are testing the waters and living it up before life and love hits them. For a hopeless romantic, this is quite hard because all I want is someone who is as obsessed with me as I am about them. College hook-ups are not appealing to those who want something substantial. I hope, one day, I will spontaneously meet someone who will sweep me off my feet.
But until then, I have decided to let go of expectations and go with the flow. Expectations only lead to disappointment and it is important to enjoy your college years before they pass you by.
Although college is all about being social and free, it is not the place for high expectations of love. And if you're one of the lucky ones that have found someone who is loyal and makes you happy, keep them because love is rare and definitely makes the world go round.
