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"I know lots of people meet their future spouses in college, but it&amp;#x27;s always kind of a blur how they got together, right? Dating as I know it now--formal plans, fancy cocktails--wasn&amp;#x27;t really a thing back in my day. Is it now?This scenario is also not a real thing anyone would do in college. Last night I had dinner with Smitten editor Lindsey, and we were cracking up about how you guys spotted an obvious answer&amp;amp;#8212;Facebook!&amp;amp;#8212;to our recent college reader&amp;amp;#8217;s dilemma about how to ask a guy out that didn&amp;amp;#8217;t even occur to me, your trusty old (key word, old) advice giver. So back when I was in college (2000-2004, for the record), Facebook didn&amp;amp;#8217;t exist. We used AIM as our preferred method for posting passive-aggressive or ambiguously sad statuses, but they were called &amp;amp;#8220;away messages&amp;amp;#8221;, but you couldn&amp;amp;#8217;t communicate without anyone unless you knew their screen name. But aside from the monumental invention that is Facebook, I wonder if the world of college dating has changed that much in the eight years since I left it. My guess is no, but let&amp;amp;#8217;s discuss. In college, I had one boyfriend for two years, several crushes, and embarrassing number of guys I made out with, and ONE actual &amp;amp;#8220;date&amp;amp;#8221;. As in, one guy from class asked me to go out, showed up with flowers, took me to a nice restaurant for dinner and paid the check. I found the whole process to be incredibly awkward and never went out with him again. God, I was stupid and unappreciative when I was 20. Little did I know that ten years later I&amp;amp;#8217;d kill for a guy to be that thoughtful. The other kind of &amp;amp;#8220;dates&amp;amp;#8221; my friends or I went on were this: Have too many beers from the keg at a house party; make out with guy in back yard. Feel mortified when I recognized him at the dining hall two weeks later. &amp;quot;Come over to watch a movie.&amp;quot; This is not a real date at any age, and it always means the same thing. Run into crush at bar with friends. Try to strike up charming conversation but run into awkward silence after discussing this quarter&amp;amp;#8217;s class schedule. Slink away and watch him hit on sorority girl. Still insist to myself that we really connected, and feel devastated when he eventually gets a girlfriend. SO romantic, huh? To be fair, once I was in a relationship we did go on occasional real dates to dinners and movies. But we didn&amp;amp;#8217;t start our relationship that way; we started by living next door to each other and eventually we just somehow morphed into boyfriend and girlfriend. I barely remember how that even happened! I know that those involved in Greek life probably had dates to formals and such. But actual &amp;quot;dating&amp;quot; as a way to get to know someone and start a relationship just wasn&amp;#x27;t done in my circle of friends. Is this still how the kids today &amp;quot;date&amp;quot; in college? Has it gotten any more formal, or is it still one big (probably tipsy) blurry mess? Tell us, college Smitteners! You crazy kids today!: *The 10 Colleges With The Hottest Guys! Are You Headed To One Of Them In The Fall? *Single In Your Mid-Twenties? At Least You&amp;#x27;re Not in High School Anymore *College Girls, We Need to Have a Talk About Condoms (Don&amp;#x27;t You Roll Your Eyes at Me, Young Lady) Photo: Thinkstock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/smitten/2012/08/the-3-types-of-fake-dates-in-c>