An all too typical college experience which isn't worth all the gaud and glitter, I hate to say, is falling in love. And of course I mean this for the ladies, since we all know boys in this situation have it made. Though the girls may think life is a bowl of cherries too, they won't realize what they gave up until it's way, way too late. Maybe it's biologically ingrained, like our clocks tick-tocking off the minutes until pregnancy, that we must seek out love, but for whatever reason people of the female persuasion seem all too ready, trained even, to find, establish, and maintain love. Little girls are taught to wait for a knight in shining armor to sweep them off their feet, and then they are told that that love will be beautiful and good and will mean everything to them.

Girls are taught that love should and does mean everything, once you find it. And so, unfortunately, all too many girls search for love and dive right in with not-so-shiny knights decked out in fraternity letters, a football uniform, a nice car, or even jeans and a t-shirt. The problem here isn't love, because that's always good, but it is the prioritization of love; girls should spend more time concentrating on themselves, and not get sidetracked and consumed by the love that society tells them will change their lives forever.

College is a time to come into yourself, to spend time alone, unsupervised, for once in your life and meet new friends, make your own decisions, and begin to find the person you want to be. For most women, though, a serious relationship can mean the end to this new found self-discovery. Sure, it doesn't have to be the end, and I bet most girls reading this think it wouldn't be (not for them, at least), but it happens.

It happens all too easily for girls who have been imagining love for almost twenty years and are enraptured when it finally happens. It's not like you intend this to happen, it's just that many women seem inclined to fall off the edge when it comes to love. Let's face it, he'll be perfect, he'll make you happy, and excuse my French, you'll be in love; and that's hard to resist. It's easy to be blinded by love and before you realize what's really happening, you'll be spending 24 hours a day, 7 days a week together, living in each others apartments, living each other's lives, even. I don't mean to be anti-love here, this part is beautiful, I know, but it's what you've given up to get it that rains on the happiness parade. After you play wifey for long enough, you'll realize what you missed out on. Sure you were happily "whipped," "on lock down," etc., but after a year, or less, or possibly more, you'll get a feeling, an unsettling feeling that something's missing.

First you'll look to your partner, but later you'll see that it's you. What you're missing is life, your life to be exact: hanging out with your friends, living with them even, your complete independence, making yourself your first priority. Only after you realize that you're too young to be a housewife, to "play married," only then will you miss the life you gave up. Girls struggle so hard to be women, when we should really take it slow. Love will always be there, so why not live your life and let love find you, instead of living your life catering to love.

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