Hooking Up Sober

Winter term: One month, one class, one man?

We’ve heard it a million times before. New year, new you. Sure, it’s an exciting maxim, the idea that 2013 is a fresh start and that we can accomplish all we wanted to but didn’t do in 2012. Go to the gym; eat healthier; call grandma once a week. And for the relationship junkie: find a boyfriend.

At Middlebury, January is more than the new year, it’s the legendary winter term. The campus has an entirely different vibe than any other time of year, but is this an atmosphere conducive to starting a new romance? Is winter term the monogamist’s friend, or foe?

My first instinct is to say friend. Winter term means more chances to go out. The more times you go out, the higher the probability you’ll talk/dance/make-out with someone promising. And if you do, you don’t have to wait an entire week to talk/dance/make-out with that promising person again. With weekday parties, you can see them the next night and the night after and the night after without any fear of becoming a stalker. Ergo, the more often you’re going out, the more likely you are to continue talking/dancing/making-out with this promising person, which can lead to exclusivity, and eventually the cherished hooking-up sober.

But that’s just my initial thought. Because once I start to really think through all that is winter term, I begin to realize that in many ways, starting a relationship in January seems nearly impossible.

Winter term has a different psychological effect on everyone. For me (of course) it’s the romantic thought process. But for some, Winter term means a time to experiment with polygamy. For those, going to more parties means hooking up with more people. winter term becomes a very valid justification for doing whatever you want, for partying harder than ever and for making choices you might not have made back in October. With the overall campus spirit wilder than usual, winter term can suddenly become the worst time to settle down.

Or is it? I’m still not convinced. Maybe, even if we’re all partying like it’s 1999 or pretending we live in the Tomorrowland Promo, deep down under our layers and layers of Patagonia, Winter Term has us yearning for something a little more sustainable.

One reason winter term is different than fall or spring is because for once, Midd kids have the luxury of free time. With one class, and usually a class with very little homework, there are hours in people’s schedules that are unaccounted for, obviously a factor leading to the gluttonous amount of parties. But no matter how much we’re channeling that state-school attitude, no one can maintain a buzz, 24 hours a day for four straight weeks.

So, the amount of time that we’re not studying or partying has exponentially increased. But you can only watch the How I Met Your Mother box set so many times. With all this extra free time, I think it’s easy to realize how nice it might be to have a significant other to re-watch the series with you (if you can find someone who can tolerate “How I Met Your Mother”). Plus, it’s freezing out! And in my humble opinion, the best way to stay warm is body heat.

I have to believe that people are hooking-up more in winter term than usual, if for no other reason than that they finally have the time. For some, that means hooking up with a large sample size of the student population, but for others that means hooking up with one person exclusively. You just have to find someone who’s on the same page as you.

I’ve always thought of winter term as the College’s gift to us, a thank you for the arduous work we’re doing all year. In return, we get a month to relax and to finally do what we want, or who we want. It’s a month of possibility, a marathon of fun and a good way to kick off 2013 in the highest of spirits.

So here’s my conclusion: For the monogamist, winter term is always a friend. With benefits.