Boys and girls, if you hadn’t noticed, this isn’t high school.No friends, this is college, and along with changes like wearingflip flops to the shower, the thought and process of a relationshipchanges too.

While in high school, a relationship can be a variety of things,most often it is taken much more seriously than a college hook-up.Boy asks girl to go to a movie, girl accepts, is giddy and tellsall her friends. Boy and girl go on the date, have a good time,they have plans for another date. Boy and girl are now dating, wordspreads and smiles are on their faces.

This continues and over time, the two have developed a fairlyserious relationship. College comes along and, in many cases,divides the two. What to do, what to do?

The boy, overcome with a new love for beer and video games,seems rather indifferent to the situation, answering dutifully toher phone calls and visiting occasionally. The girl, whileimproving her social life by the hour, finds herself in the companyof more and more men, including those oh-so-temping upperclassmen.To the girl, these boys are totally different from what is offeredback home. Oh the possibilities.

However, what either the boy or girl expects from a newrelationship is different than what they will get out of it.”Hooking up” as it is so commonly called in college, can be justabout anything from a random make out session to an all nightshack. The results of these actions will also vary, from a quickglance in passing to another shack fest.

It is an unspoken rule and a code of conduct that all freshmanmust pass through. Little do they realize that college dating is awhole new ball game, and it will forever change the way they lookat the opposite sex.

Ladies and gentlemen, beware. Rarely are bar ‘relationships’anything to pursue. Just think about it. With alcohol, everythingappears better, funnier, and more appealing than it actually is.Now, when that guy/girl you’ve been crushing on suddenly startstalking to you and is sidling up on the dance floor, you may wantto think twice about their real intent.

Of course, there are times when the hook up leads to more thanjust a one night stand. Congratulations to all those happy couples.Those of you who have faced the harsh realties of college dating,better luck next time.