Since my freshman year at my college in Pennsylvania, I have seen the beginning and end of all sorts of relationships. Looking back on that first year, I can still recall the vibrancy of all the excitement running through the air. Coming into a new environment, after you have lived your whole life with older figures telling you what to do, gives you a new sense of freedom. You are now more willing to try and experience new things. I was a very busy student my first year of college, so I wasn't really in the market looking for a new love -- and trust me, I have been single for a very long time.

I remember going through my everyday schedule, constantly busy, with no real time to actually breathe, and I started seeing new love sprout in the air like the trees on campus lost their white flowers. Then the relationships would begin to change with the seasons. During the fall, relationships became more heavy and serious. Then during the winter, there would come the end of some and the stagnant freeze of others. During this time, I would look out and ask, Why can't I have these relationships?

Only after joining my fraternity and spending every waking moment going through their process did I finally realize that I did not need to be in a relationship. It came to me like a slap in the face; there is no need for a relationship in college, because you are here for yourself and your education. During my new member process, I had a lot of time to think for myself and for the benefit of myself. I could see how silly I had become, looking at other love bloom and wither around me, while I constantly longed for the same. Now, don't get me wrong, it is always nice to be in a relationship. You should not have to go through life alone -- we are all only human. We seek and long for companionship in many forms. But what I did notice was that my best relationships were my fraternal bonds.

While reminiscing about how much I wanted to be in a relationship, I can see the longing coming back. As I sit in a freshman residence hall, looking after a floor of wonderful freshmen, I see the same relationships blooming like those of my freshman year. My only hope is that those single individuals out there, like me, find an outlet in which to express that love, because trust me, love will come to you, in a way that you will least expect. And when it does, be wary but enjoy. You never know when you will get the chance again.