I’ll admit it. I was one of those people who came to college after dating someone for a long time (two years plus) with the idea that somehow we’d make it work from across state lines and, five years down the road, still miraculously be together.

That lasted until October.

I had been continuously “dating” since before high school. However, now that I was hundreds of miles away and significantly older, “dating” began to take on a whole new meaning, but what that meaning was, I really didn’t know.

It was all so easy in high school. You met someone, probably through mutual friends, had them pass the person a note in study hall and you were set. You two could meet each other between classes, give one another Valentine’s Day gifts, measure anniversaries in months and occasionally make out in the back of your mom’s minivan en route to the Cineplex.

Dates in high school were governed by the school calendar: