University life is chaos. Between juggling deadlines, classes, earning money and trying to keep the house/halls in a state where you can actually see the carpet; it’s amazing a social life can exist at all.
Considering student loans appear in the bank account one day and out the next, dating as students can be difficult if your budget seems only to amount to a Big Mac and Orange Wednesday.
One of the most likely places to meet a guy or a girl is on a night out, but equally it is one of the most difficult places to actually have a conversation.
The most you’re likely to find out about the person is that they can shout really loudly over music and whether they can work out how to enter their phone number in your iPhone.
Considering the limits of a student budget and difficulties of meeting someone, the question arises:
Can the spark be relit for student dating?
Just because money is tight does not mean the candle has to be blown out on romance.
A guy can just as easily sweep a girl off her feet without the need for grand gestures.
However pleasant a two for £5 meal may be at The Cav, a couple of drinks on Devonshire Street or Division Street followed by an evening stroll around the Crooks Valley Park’s lake would cost the same and be much more memorable.
If guys are thinking that’s too corny for their taste, a silent disco is the perfect way to have fun and a dance with someone, yet still be able to hold a conversation and get to know each other.
The first date kiss of death is the cinema, turning a glimmer of hope into ashes.
However cheap yet enjoyable it may be, it is the ultimate no-no for getting to know someone.
Unless maybe started with drinks, the cinema consists of idle chit-chat for ten minutes before the film, silence for two and a half hours followed by half an hour of futile and dreary conversation about whether the film was any good.
Yes, this sort of date may seem perfect for the shy among us, yet what really would you learn about each other apart from whether you share the same movie tastes?
Despite limitations dimming student dating, there is no reason for romance to be extinguished from the thrill of seeing a new person.
Issues of money shouldn’t blow out the delicate embers of a kindling relationship; if anything, the simplicity of each others company should ignite them.
Sarah Darby