Love Vs Education

Love Vs Education 

His arms wrapped around your waist while you feel his torso pressed against your body, you are connected in every way; your arms wrapped around his neck and your head buried into his warm comfy shoulder. Have you ever been in that kind of situation where forever seems so possible, where you don’t want to let go and you just want to close your eyes and not have to worry about tomorrow.

Love is all around us, it doesn’t have to be love between a boyfriend/girlfriend but it can be with family, friends or even yourself. It is something we all experience and go through in our lives, it can be the best thing we’ve ever experienced or it can be something that tears are apart. It can wound us to the point where we become afraid to love again or we get traumatized and avoid the situation.

There are many reasons why we all wish to experience the love between a special someone, we want to feel the love; we want to have those sweet romantic moments. Movies show us happy endings, they show us that love can be the happiest moments in our lives. Where you go on cute romantic dates in the park, or where you kiss in the rain, or where you just lie down with that particular person and your whole world stops and all you have are each other.

What does this have to do with college? What does it have to do with students?

Having a relationship is part of growing up. In college some have already experienced being in a relationship or some have carried on from high or some have never experienced it before. But as we grow up relationships start to have a different meaning, it starts to become more serious, it becomes different in a way that high school and college is a whole new jump and adapting to college can already be a challenge, what more if you are in a relationship.

Back in High School usually relationships would be referred to as puppy love, Urban Dictionary describes it as “The love between a young couple within a few weeks of getting together. Not really true love, more blind affection - immature, young love.”

High school is the stage of puberty where you start to develop feelings for someone; you try to impress the other gender in different ways. You start to go on dates and maybe even have your first kiss. But what is it like now? What is the difference?

Four students were interviewed sharing their relationship stories that they are currently in. They were asked what their best and worse experiences are, if it gets in their way of their studies and to compare their relationships encountered in high school and now in college.

An eighteen-year-old student told us that “high school is a smaller world than college” and that “in high school you can focus on the relationships more.” She tells us that the best part of being in a relationship is that when they both accept and support each other. However the downside to her relationship is that they fight and get angry over unnecessarily things. Another student also said the same thing, she complained that she would get distracted whenever she would have an argument with her boyfriend and to top it off she would have restrictions ordered by her boyfriend, which makes it her worse part of being in a relationship. But the best part for her is that she feels secure and she always has someone there for her.

Another two students compared their relationships with high school and college based from their experience. A twenty-year-old student said that “being in college involves having bigger responsibilities and priorities. In high school it was like playing but in college you have to be serious, and when you’re in a relationship while in college you have to get serious.”

The other student told us that “it is way different to [having] a relationship in college than in high school. When you were in high school you think of petty things you just want to have fun or you would tend to cling too much. But once you enter college you envision things in a more mature way, of course you are preparing yourself for the future.”

An issue that was discussed with these students is if it got in the way of their studies, two answered no and the other two were indefinite answers. One mentioned that it was only sometimes it would get in the way as long as they knew their priorities and could separate their love life and school then it wouldn’t always get in the way. The two that said no said that she would text her boyfriend whenever she would have time while the other one said that “if the person loves you and you love him you’ll learn how to balance your time with him and school. He wouldn’t’ demand so much from you that it comes to a point where it harms your studies.” The last student interviewed told us that she would schedule dates during her free time and that she would finish her school works before meeting up with her boyfriend.

For these students who are in a relationship it can add flavor but at the same time add commotion to 

their lives. What about those who have never been in a relationship or who chose not be in one?

Three students were interviewed all who have never experienced being in a relationship before, all who do not wish to be in a relationship either. One enjoys her freedom and does not wish to be controlled, she refuses to have someone restrict her from the things she wants to do and she would rather focus on her career, being in her 5^th year of accountancy she is about to graduate and she mentions how she has no time to have a boyfriend.

Another student says how it is nice to have a companionship however it is not that importance and for her she would rather not rush it saying that the “strongest relationship is from friends because you have something to build on.” She too would also like to focus on her studies.

An eighteen-year-old student was raised in a conservative family and did not discuss with family; she had a culture shock coming from high school to college where many students had a boyfriend or a girlfriend and she suddenly became curious. Although she did have a “crush” she would say to her self that she doesn’t like people being with her all the time and that she would get tired of people easily. She experienced having a crush but she never ended up with him, it has affected the way that she sees relationships especially as she doesn’t really imagine being with anyone at the moment. She mentions how people have different perspectives about each other and that people will look at things differently as they mature because of experiences. Another thing that she mentions was that she says it might be hard for her to get into a relationship now as she has never experienced one and she feels like she would need instructions to be in.

There are different views of being in a relationship while still being a student, some don’t wish to experience it some are finding ways to balance their time with their partners. Everyone has different ways in dealing with this particular stage in their lives. The main thing here is what students want the most, whether or not they just want to focus on their careers and studies or whether they want to experience love and sparks while studying, maybe for a bit of inspiration. It is up to them how they wish to spend their college life,some can balance their time others cannot. Going through this struggle is just another step in a students’ life where they experience struggles and hardships, but as they enter the stage of adulthood they grow and mature. Students learn from their mistakes or become emotionally stronger whenever any difficulties face them, they realize that this is a part of life and that college is just another stepping stone and it is never easy but it helps to shape everyone as a person.