Partner at UEA: blessing or one to avoid?

While recovering from a hangover that accompanied the day after my 21st birthday, the conversation with a few of my equally hungover friends turned to our opinions on being in a relationship while at UEA.

Most of my friends, boys and girls alike, seemed to hold very negative views of being in that situation, and this led me to wondering why this is.

Most of the reasons cited are the idea of being free while at university, being completely independent, having no commitments after graduation and of course the fun side of being *ahem* able to meet as many new people as possible.

I’ve experienced both being single at university and being in a relationship, admittedly with my time being more weighted toward being in a relationship. I can see the benefits of both lifestyles, but being in a relationship has certainly been more appealing to me.

For every reason from the stability it offers to not waking up the next morning after a night out at Carnival next to somebody that makes you shudder a little inside. I’m sure these are reasons most people can relate to.

The negative connotations of being in a relationship that both boys and girls at UEA seem to hold confuses me slightly. I know a couple of people at university who are in a relationship in that they are pretty much exclusive, spend a lot of time as a couple and obviously have the physical side of things. But they won’t admit to being in a relationship!

Why is this? It baffles me, but it must be something to do with hating the perceived idea of being stable and steady. This is not a bad thing in my opinion.

But I suppose at the end of the day it comes down to finding the right person. Doing so is obviously essential as you only get one undergraduate experience, and it’s not worth wasting it with somebody you are not really into.

Many of my friends with such negative outlooks on relationships I’m sure would not turn down a relationship if they really liked somebody. Maybe for them it’s just that they haven’t found the right person.

As for the people mentioned above who just don’t want to be tagged as in a relationship, perhaps they need to be less bothered about what other people think, and just go for it. But who knows.

At the end of the day, there are many other things in the university experience, but forging relationships with people – whether for one night or for two years, is par for the course.

Whatever path you choose, I hope you have a fantastic life at UEA, and on the day of your graduation you can look back, like me, and say that you don’t regret a single moment.