Yonseians’ opinions on their failed experiences of their own first love
“HOW ON earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?” Albert Einstein once said. First and foremost, how do you define first love in the first place? During the survey, *The Yonsei Annals* explained to individuals that first love is someone who, for the first time, made them unable to sleep at night because of fluttering heart and stifling mind whenever the image of the beloved came into mind as well as made them jealous to see their first love flirting with other girls/guys. The *Annals* attempted to confirm whether the tacit law of first love - that first love usually tends to fail - is a rumor or not through the views of 59 male and 41 female Yonseians on their experiences of unaccomplished first love.
Q: When did you love someone for the first time in your life?
What do you think of when you see students touring around Yonsei campus in school uniform? Young and cute, right? However, there must’ve been a time when you spent such years yourself. Didn’t your heart shake when you saw pretty or handsome girls and guys? It seems that middle and high school period is usually the peak of being in love for the first time. 32 out of 100 Yonseians replied that they had fallen in first love when they were in middle school and 28 Yonseians loved during their high school period. I guess little cute teenagers roaming in our campus in their little cute uniforms have their own troubles and aching toward their secret admirers.
Q: What had been the cause of the failure of your first love?
Why can’t first love remain also as the last love? This was the question I had asked after the painful failure of my own first love. Uniting with your first love for the rest of your life seems to be more of a myth than reality. Then why did Yonseians fail to accomplish such myth? 43 out of 100 Yonseians replied that they were too young and inexperienced to solve out the relationship tactfully. There were other interesting answers, as well. One Yonseian said that she could not confess her love truthfully because her own friend liked the same boy. Another responded that the age gap was so huge that he had been reluctant even to speak to his beloved. For my own reason, please don’t ask.
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Q: When do you miss your fist love the most?
Have you read the novel “Affinity (*In Yeon*)” by Pi Chyun-deuk? In the novel, the author in the deep reminiscence of his first love says, “even though one misses (one’s beloved), one cannot meet except once and even though one cannot forget (one’s beloved) for one’s lifetime, one does not meet the first love.” Similarly, in our lives, most first loves are described as an unforgettable recollection and a lifelong longing of one’s heart. Really? 34 out of 100 Yonseians replied that they do not miss their first love at all which was quite an unexpected answer. 21 replied that they miss their loved ones only when they pass by the places embedded with memories of first love. However, how often do you pass by such places? Very rarely. So, the results can be taken as that Yonseians did get over their first loves and hardly think of them. Surely, a new fresh start can’t hurt.
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Q: What’s your current relationship with your first love?
Do you still contact with your first love since your middle/high school period? Can you still maintain the relationship like nothing had happened? It turned out that 48 out of 100 Yonseians do not contact their first love at all and 36 maintain relationships as mere friends. It is a bit sad ending to your grand start full of throbbing and pounding heart. However, it seems that Yonseians are more willing to keep their first love as a “cherishable” memory rather than let it turn into reality.
Q: What would you do with your first love if you encountered him/her now?
What if you encounter the subject of your first love during your “fresh new start?” Freak out and scamper away? No, that’s not how cool Yonseians would respond. 54 Yonseians would stay as friends with their first love when they come up while 17 Yonseians do not want to meet them at all even if there were such chances. But what if you have chance to spend a day together with your first love? 39 out of 100 Yonseians responded that they would go to a bar, drink alcohol, and talk about the lives they had so far. 26 said they would enjoy a one-day date with their once-beloved. A nice breakaway from your dull lives, huh? However, it is a risky deviation when you already have your lover next to you! Be careful and be faithful to your current, dearest Yonseians!
Q: What would Yonseians like to say to their first love?
Assume that the *Annals* will deliver a message to your first love. What would you say? Most Yonseians are satisfied with just saying, “Hello, how were you?” What a cliche opening! There were other hilarious and odd answers too. One answered that he would say, “Hey! I look better now!” and another would say, “I am sorry but can you please give me back the book you had borrowed?” One of the extreme but a nice payback answers was, “You will regret, dude.”
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It is surprising to see how many Yonseians are so cool and even skeptic about their first love. I guess the elderly whose eyes twinkle and glitter over the remembrance of their first loves in movies and dramas are not so true in the reality of Yonseians. Or maybe it could be true after much more time passes on but now, in vigorous youth, this does not seems to be the case. Moving on in the life is a great sign to see though. Aching and fluttering heart does not help much, right? Still, cherish your first loves, Yonseians. Do not forget it. After all, first love will act as a scaffold to your more love lives to come.