I don’t recall really getting into the idea of inter-class relationships but it may have been briefly touched upon in some random post. Regardless, I see many a debate on the subject and various points of view. The general consensus is NOT to do it.
If things go sour, you will see this person a LOT more than you probably would want to. Not to mention other classmates will take sides and you may end up with a divorce-like split of your friends. Simply another stress not needed during dental school. Now I have been a proponent of this opinion since well before starting school, being a person of practicality, reason, and general pessimism – I can’t help myself.
HOWEVER, there is a little hypocrite in all of us and despite all the reason in the world – I have gone ahead and gotten involved with one of my classmates. There are so many factors that nobody understands that I hope to elaborate on why instinct outweighed mind.
Point A: You are in Dental school, you are in dental school A LOT. I live in Chicago. Perhaps you have heard of it…kinda big city ya know? Well I have met and actually talked with a total of around 10 people that aren’t affiliated with the medical campus in some way. WHY? Because I simply don’t have tons of time to go out, and when I do – it is with my classmates or friends from home.
Point B: People that aren’t in dental school don’t get that it takes a lot of time. Most people don’t even know that it’s four years. Good luck getting some random pick-up to understand that you have to get up at 7am on a Saturday to study for 3 exams you have the following week.
Point C: Most of your social interactions directly involve your classmates – you may eventually just click with somebody whether you are really trying to or not. No point in putting your life on hold or snuffing out a potentially great match just because you think things might go bad.
The major negative I see in this whole decision is the amount of gossip I will now be involved in. I have flown under the gossip radar ALL year so far, but now it is like some new celebrity couple getting together and you have all these people talking…I just don’t like the idea of it.
Again, all the negatives in the world don’t change the simple instinctual feelings of pure attraction, both of mind and body. No amount of pessimistic logic can change that.
I was pretty happy already, and now I am actually ELATED..dare I say dental school is not crushing my spirit so much as of late? Well..maybe not..but things seem brighter.
A major concern is the likely plummet in grades. I haven’t been able to focus, mainly because I am excited about this change of events and occlusion and anatomy are the last things I want to think about. However, press on I must. The fact that I am also suffering a mid-semester burn-out doesn’t help either….I just feel like all my energy to study is gone. Of course, I have started off really well, so I will try my damndest not to blow up…but I honestly don’t care enough about how your GI tract develops to study it all weekend. I have time to type this post because I’m not studying when I should be…whoops.
I of course am well aware of the inherit risks. But much like the pack-a-day smoker that never develops cancer; I hope to be in the percentile that works out for the best – because it happens. And again, I may end up kicking myself in the future but I don’t really care right now. Hell, even if things do blow up in my face, I probably would still have made the same decision given the choice again.
Here’s to risk-taking!