For the past year or so, after many failed relationships and crushed hopes, my friends and I have relied on the dream of sophomore summer. "Sophomore summer is when the magic all happens," or so I've been told countless times from upperclassmen recounting their idealistic memories of summer at Dartmouth. These '06's and '07's built up our hopes up with visions of a relationship-friendly environment where boys and girls frolic around campus holding hands and giggling, serenading one another in frat basements with heartfelt renditions of Backstreet Boys' "I want it that way," or simply rely on the classic, dinner and a movie -- as if anyone really wants that.
However, after several weeks of "Camp Dartmouth," it is becoming increasingly clear that this dream was nothing more than a delusion. What makes us think that the lack of 3,000 people on campus could actually promote healthy relationships? If anything, I feel it has and will merely further the already incestuous bubble that is Dartmouth "dating."
I say "dating" because Dartmouth's version of the classic is nothing more than what we had in middle school, minus the talking on the phone, holding hands and sitting together at lunch, and plus alcohol and drunken hookups. Where I come from, (the real world) dating involves going out to dinner, movies, talking...you know, sober things. Dartmouth has managed to create its own version, in which one is lucky to go to the Hop the next morning, that is, if the post-hookup awkwardness hasn't consumed your appetite. Yet since the Hop is now closed on weekends, this is no longer even an option.
I find Dartmouth girls to be some of the most amazing, loyal friends one could ever want, yet it is impossible for guys to see the great things about them (and vice versa) after a mere 10 minutes in a frat basement, where the music is too loud to really talk and the only way to communicate is through gyrating to "Promiscuous Girl" while still trying to retain an ounce of respect.
That said, my male friends here are just as loyal and amazing as my female friends--minus the girl talk. So what is it about the Dartmouth dynamic that does not allow these two fabulous gender groups to mix and interact as anything more than friends? I have absolutely no idea.
Now that we've established that I have no insight or life-altering advice, lets get back to the issue of whether any of this changes during sophomore summer.
Sophie Pauze '08 observes a general trend at Dartmouth that unavoidably exists during the summer as well: "Relationships at Dartmouth exist on the extreme ends of the spectrum. It's never possible to just date someone. Either you are intensely committed to someone, or just hook up." She adds, "I don't think that sophomore summer changes that necessarily, though there is a degree of comfort present that may precipitate relationships. In general however, I think no happy medium exists in relationships here, and that makes it harder to find them."
Some, like Julia Hecht '08, feel it's the smaller campus that limits dating options. "While I see all these people during the day time, somehow, when I am out at night its all the same people that I already know and am used to seeing," says Hecht.
Audrey Knutson '07, is one of few rising seniors here this summer, and feels the effects: "My options are kind of shot," says Knutson. "I mean, as an '07, I have to either go '08 or go home...options are depleted."
Maybe that should be the motto of 06X: "Go '08 or go home." I've already been home one weekend...anyone want to carpool for the next?
