This Saturday I was hesitant to attend a “real talk” about love and relationships as we all know this can be a strange topic. At the end of the talk I had gained a lot of good insight and I think everyone felt a little more comfortable talking about something that we all think about but don’t want to voice.

In an environment like Cornell composed of busy and driven people a relationship of whatever nature often seems like a burden or an impossible commitment. I know personally that my days are all planned to the hour and being in a relationship on campus would be another thing to balance in my day-to-day routine. We also reflected on the different relationship and hookup cultures on different college campuses. Having a lot of transfers at the talk we mentioned that here at Cornell there is definitely a hookup culture but there seems to be very few people who commit to relationships. The sometimes overlooked fact that relationships are work, and a lot of it, is probably what prevents many of the students at Cornell from seeking love.

Another important part of our discussion was in a world of technology, how do you pursue someone and how do you know when someone is interested? We often trade in-person interaction for over-the-phone texting and snap chatting. It can be hard to know if your texts are wanted or a burden or if a person is not an adamant texter or they are not interested in talking to you? At the end of the conversation we came to the conclusion that it is very hard to interpret on-line communication and it will usually be easier to interact and interpret interactions with people in person.

Relationships are hard in any setting but especially in such a high pressure, busy environment like Cornell University. While phones and obligations make it hard to navigate the world of love, craving companionship is natural and relationships are rewarding.