Oh, I have definitely loved and lost. I won't lie, I did kind of expect to meet a girl in college, but of course, it's always a gamble.
Trust me. If there's a time where you're likely to meet someone, it's college. You'll be surprised at how much more you connect with your friends/relationships at college than in high school, because there are (typically) so many more people to "choose" from. In my experience, at least, I thought of some people as my friends and as potential love interests because I spent so much time with them on a daily basis, and so it was really familiarity over everything. But now that I'm almost entirely in control of who I spend my time with, I realize how immature or incompatible a lot of the people I used to spend time with are. It's much less of a "gamble" than in high school, because a lot more people are looking, and there aren't all those pubescent hormones and underdeveloped frontal lobes (or whatever) getting in the way.
The thing is, Fierce, that while I had my little moment last summer where I made out with a total stranger, I can't date someone without the honest intention of wanting to see it go further. That's what dating is for me; I'm not saying I intend to marry the girl(s) I date, but instead to get an idea of what I want from a relationship.
No yeah, I totally understand you. I'm the same way. I was just saying to be honest about your intentions, whatever they are. You'd be surprised at how satisfying (and no I don't mean
that kind of satisfying) a relationship can be even if you know it has to end soon. There was this girl at the camp I went to this summer who I only met during my second week of our two-week stay, but we may as well have been "dating". It's not like I only enjoyed it for the physical aspect of the relationship, I truly enjoyed spending that time with her, even though after camp she went back to
Brazil, and I may never see her again (though she
might be going to college in my area next year, but I didn't know that at the time, haha). The point is, it can still be an emotionally fulfilling experience.
I definitely wouldn't recommend starting anything with somebody if they'd want a long distance relationship throughout the year, because I have honestly yet to see such a relationship not die out (in a blaze of hurt feelings) within the first year. But, if you're truly interested in them, I see nothing wrong with an arrangement like "If we get back over break and neither of us is still seeing somebody, pick it back up", if you were both okay with it (and I do know people who've had this arrangement work). Really, my advice boils down to this: do whatever you want as long as you're respecting the other person's wishes (and would ultimately be okay with it yourself), and whatever happens happens.
