<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"I do much of my writing in the library, New York University&amp;amp;#8217;s Bobst library, to be specific. It&amp;amp;#8217;s about a five-minute walk from my house, has excellent seating, light, views, and well, college girls. A few weeks ago the ranks of the latter thinned as the school year ended and the thousands of sweatpant-clad study-bunnies went home, or, if they were unlucky, graduated. For this last group, here&amp;amp;#8217;s my guide to the real world of post-college dating. 1. Good News: Boys Pay College boys have a distinct advantage in that: 1. They are often outnumbered by the opposite sex and 2. Everyone is so poor and busy in college they don&amp;amp;#8217;t really need to pay for anything. &amp;amp;#8220;Come hang out&amp;amp;#8221; and &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;ll make you a sandwich&amp;amp;#8221; qualify as acceptable dates. After college, when we start making money and actually need to impress you with things other than our abilities at beer pong, the wallet starts coming out. Personal note: The fact that I think boys only need to start paying for things post-graduation could help explain why I had sex all of one time between freshman and senior year. 2. Bad News: We Expect Things I&amp;amp;#8217;m not talking about expectations in a sexual, flowers-plus-lobster-equals-oral manner. I mean it in the sense that in the graduated dating world, we expect to engage in adult relationships, where you can&amp;amp;#8217;t just &amp;amp;#8220;go on tour with Phish&amp;amp;#8221; for a few weeks, or decide to engage in the post-grad equivalent of changing your major&amp;amp;#8212;quitting your job&amp;amp;#8212;without some advance warning or discussion. 3. Keeping Fit Is Not Longer Just For Fun I mean, it can be, but now it&amp;amp;#8217;s less of a matter of chill games of ultimate Frisbee and running to get your mind off of that psychology test than staying healthy and fit and great-looking. And yes, you should expect the same of him. Beer was a fun way to spend time in college; now it is a less fun way for him to grow a pot belly. 4. Yes, You Are A Grownup&amp;amp;#8212;No, Time Is Not Running Out I find it so amusing when my girlfriends think that time is running short every time they break up with someone, or get dumped. They felt like that at 23, 25, 27, and on and on (I&amp;amp;#8217;m 29 now, for the record). There&amp;amp;#8217;s no right age to find someone. Don&amp;amp;#8217;t kid yourself. 5. High Five: Sex Is Better So. Much. Better. Boys get more experienced but more importantly, women&amp;amp;#8217;s sex education tends to keep going after graduation&amp;amp;#8212;they learn more and more about what they like, how they like it, and gain the confidence to actually ask for and demand those things. And boys tend to raise their own bar to meet those expectations. Fact is, all of us single-ish folks have some learning to do. Every relationship teaches me something new&amp;amp;#8212;every date in fact. When it comes to dating and romance, I think that can be a key: not to trick ourselves into thinking we&amp;amp;#8217;ve actually ever graduated from anything. So that we can go forward with open ears, eyes, minds and hearts. When did you graduate into the real world of dating? What were the signs for you? More on Relationships at Glamour.com Hey, Guys: What&amp;amp;#8217;s Your Weirdest Turn-on? Let&amp;#x27;s Talk About Porn 3 Bedroom Tricks That Take Zero Effort More Ways to Get Glamour Visit Shopglamour.com for cute stuff starting at just $10! Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! Follow us on Twitter! Add us to your iGoogle homepage. Photo: Thinkstock "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/single-ish/2010/06/happy-graduation-welcome-to-th>