Is finding love on campus possible? For us students, with our hectic schedules and with the online dating epidemic, it might seem out of the question. But, I think Trinity has a campus which is very easy to romanticise. Was it not here that numerous romantic films and shows were shot? Most recently, Normal People. So, if we do have to be here every day, idealising every moment that we spend here, why wouldn’t it be possible for the fairy tale to come true?
The stories of people finding love on campus are more common than one would think. I met my boyfriend in the dining hall by complete accident. I was eating lunch with a guy I had met a few days prior. Later I found out they were flatmates, and that he had been told about me. He was chattering on and on, moving from one topic to another within seconds and I just stared at him until he asked what kind of music I liked. I replied that it was mostly ’70s rock. So, he started naming various bands, most of whom I hadn’t heard of, leaving me feeling stupid. Until it was my turn to speak. I like T. Rex, I said. He had not heard of them, which pleased me. I offered him my chips. However much I was annoyed, I didn’t want my food to go to waste. I guess it’s true what they say that a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but he explained to me later that it was not that.
As I usually do, I went for a smoke after lunch. He smoked as well, which was nice. He said he liked the way I looked when I smoked. Something about my gestures caught his eye. Still, it wasn’t until much later that we actually started dating.
“He was slowly becoming one of my best friends, as he was always there, it seemed, where I wanted him to be”
Before then, when I began seeing more of him, he seemed annoying to me. His eighties jumper, short hair, and squeaky shoes drove me crazy. But, there he was, every day in the dining hall at the same time as me. Every day we went out for a smoke, and then we would go to the library. Slowly, as time went on, we would see each other before lectures, and in between I would text him to ask whether he was on campus. He was slowly becoming one of my best friends, as he was always there, it seemed, where I wanted him to be.
However, romantic love is not the only type that exists on campus. My friends deserve a piece in this article as well. I met all of my friends through my boyfriend, which is why his story came first.
Technically, we met outside campus, at Doyle’s, but I don’t think it matters. My boyfriend told me he was hanging out with two of his flatmates and that I should come and join them. I brought my own friend with me, and we sat there talking over drinks. She immediately seemed different to me, though I guess I did not show it. But, there was something about her. I guess it was the universe bringing together two people who were supposed to meet each other. Again, it wasn’t until a few weeks after our first meet-up that we started hanging out.
We went on a night out and simply clicked, and since then I have seen her every day. One story I want to tell is from one of my worst days since the beginning of uni when I was feeling truly shit. She woke up early, and went out in the pouring rain to a store to get me a cake to make me feel better.
Through her, I met many other friends, and I’m very happy to have a friend group of people who truly get along with me, and whom I love so much.
So, as Valentine’s Day comes closer and people find themselves more concerned with the subject of relationships and love, do I think it is possible to find those on campus? Yes, I think it is. Not only romantic love, but platonic too.
