A Dating Guide for the Busy Couples of Syracuse Univeristy
Here at SU — or at any college for that matter — it can be hard to balance the demands of a heavy course load and also maintain a healthy relationship. If you’re one of the fairly few campus couples attempting monogamy, you understand how difficult it can be to up the romance while also making assignment deadlines.
Since it is extremely important to keep some sparks lit between you and your significant other, you may want to consider new ways to spend your intimate time around campus. It’s always tempting to spend your nights together in bed, binge-watching your favorites on Netflix, or finding new ways to quietly have sex in your dorm room (those walls are thin), but you do have options beyond your comfort bubbles. ‘Cuse has its hidden gems for romance between classes, and we at Jerk have compiled just a few for you to try.
1. Goldstein Alumni & Faculty Center for a romantic lunch date. If you and your No. 1 have an hour-long break anytime between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., you could squeeze in a romantic lunch date that far exceeds the basic dining halls and campus cafes. Goldstein Alumni & Faculty Center has a full in-house dining experience and is conveniently located between Bird Library and Watson Hall. Sometimes there can be a wait, but it’s always worth it. The loveliest part? You can spend your excess SUpercard FOOD dollars on this fancy faire and are discouraged from tipping. You and your babe can fine dine like you’re on a date night in the city while shelling out the fake money that comes out of your SUID. It’s a lunch date definitely worth walking over 1,000 feet for.
2. Panasci Lounge for peace and quiet. Those of you who have never ventured to this prime study destination upstairs in Schine are missing out on the extent of SU’s luxury. If you and your lover have just finished a long day of classes, try hitting up the tranquil Panasci Lounge at sunset. Complete with a large fireplace atrium and adjacent walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, this lounge is the perfect place to go and sit on a comfortable couch and relax by the fire with bae. You may even feel content enough to pull out that bio textbook you’ve been avoiding and read it like you’re on the beach. Just be sure you’ve caught the right timeframe. Panasci can get full pretty quick, and nothing will kill the romantic vibes you’ve managed to pick up like a pack of hyped up freshman.
3. Fifth Floor in Bird Library to get some much-needed alone time. If you plan to meet up with your sweetie for an hour or two between obligations, choose to meet on the fifth floor of Bird, which is usually a ghost town. Find an empty "team room" or grab a table between the many rows of books, and you and bae will have found a good spot to study, chill, talk, cuddle, and maybe even mess around a little. Apparently, dirty Bird hookups are not as uncommon as some may think. This could be a great rendezvous point for any busy couple on campus, since Bird is easily accessible and the fifth floor hosts few guests beyond those who have been asleep for three hours or are heavily engrossed in a 50-year-old book about Chinese history. You two will soon find comfort in being alone together with no roommates or nosey passersby in sight.
4. Thornden Park for a lovely daytime stroll. Although spring may feel like a distant memory, lost somewhere in the past, it will come again. When that lovely day arises and the sun becomes an actual agent of warmth, try bringing your date on a nice walk through Thornden Park. It may be a taboo after-hours destination for students because of its dark history of crime, but during a sunny day, it is undeniably beautiful (and fairly safe). Just a short distance from the center of main campus, this park off of Ostrom is a perfect place to go on a half-hour long, romantic walk hand-in-hand with your boo. You’ll be surrounded by beautiful landscaping — that will eventually brighten into the greens of spring — and will have every opportunity to soak in nature on the way. You can use this time for fruitful conversation with your admired, or to snag an outdoor make-out sesh that could lead into so much more than a simple walk in the park.
5. Picnic on the Quad for the idealistic, exhibitionist couple. If you and your partner are fairly settled and have little to no reservations when it comes to PDA, you may want to try setting up a picnic on the Quad. Everyone loves a good picnic, and SU’s Quad offers a wide scape of green for you to choose from. Whether you decide to set up under the shady trees by Link Hall or smack-dab in the middle amongst the crossing walkways, you can turn your one or two-hour break between classes into a cute little lunch date. This time together could prove to be the quality time you needed to get you through the rest of your stressful day. Since you don’t seem to care who bears witness to your love, you could even up the ante and pack finger foods to hand-feed to your bae. Strawberries and chocolate, the hors d’oeuvre of sensuality, could be your midday snack of choice at your exhibitionist picnic. You may even be tempted to skip your next class and head back to your dorm together instead. All of that romance could be too much to handle alone while listening to a stats lecture. You may not be able to keep your mind off of the quiet sex you could be having with your love on that twin-size bed. And that Netflix queue…
Photos by Adham Elsharkawi