I met my boyfriend, Buffalo Bill, last Halloween; he was dressed as a sperm and I was instantly attracted (for some reason). We started hanging out for awhile, and after about a week and a half, he asked me out. I said no because I thought it was moving too fast, but two weeks after that we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Now, in retrospect, I can’t help but wonder if I loved him all along or at least knew that love was coming. Why else would I have jumped into a relationship so quickly? Desperation? ‘ I’d like to think not.

The question I pose is very simple: Is there such a thing as love at first sight? Before coming to college, I would have said no. It is my creed that while there is infatuation and lust at first sight, there is not love. Love involves so much more than first impressions and appearances.

However, having been in this hormone-infested Binghamton bubble for 2 1/2 years now, I’ve come to think differently. Maya, a close friend of mine, is almost at her two-year mark with her boyfriend. They met, had sex and starting calling each other ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’ all within five days. They are in a very serious and relatively functional relationship, and when I asked them how they made it work, they just said, ‘All you need is love’ (except not exactly in those words).

Sally, another friend of mine, needed someone to study with for a biology final. She Facebooked guys in her class, picked the hottest one she could find, went over to his house, had sex with him and was dating him by the end of their exam. Which, by the way, they both undoubtedly failed. And by the way, they’re practically engaged.

So far, the most successful college relationships I’ve witnessed have sprouted in an instant, or at most, a couple of days. I can’t help but wonder if this is just due to the fast-paced nature of our lives as students, or if love at first sight really does exist. I suppose I didn’t love Buffalo Bill as much as I do now. I was just optimistic enough to realize that I could one day.

Maybe that’s the thing about college students. They haven’t been jaded by the real world so they keep their hearts open to different possibilities and different people. Or, who knows, maybe everyone is just a little bit desperate.

Micol Zweig is a junior English major.