Dating 101

Fast forward...We began the course almost immediately. Everything they taught me was off hand 😂. They didn’t even use a lecture note, or even a journal.

Tobiloba Adejumo
Tobiloba Adejumo

A humdrum evening when I was in my final year in the University, during a moment of my repose which seemed to be frequent since the completion of my exams. My friends and I discussed randomly until the issue of “dating” surfaced which I had earlier presaged and somehow the lot fell on me. I told them curtly that I do not have a girlfriend and also do not see the reason for having one.

They asked if I have female friends. I replied with disgust, "Of course, yes! Why won’t I have?"
They asked again, "What do you even discuss with them?" At this time, I was getting really stressed. I went on nonetheless, "We talk about assignments given during lectures, eerm...solve past questions, try to understand some intrinsic concepts together and source for materials related to the course. We even go as far as looking for the lecturers course note online.”

There was a tad of silence which I garnered as their surprise before they burst into laughter, and forcefully introduced a course to me. The course code was “DAT101” and as you predicted rightly was Introduction to Dating; motivation, aims and objectives, scope too😂. Oh please, everything I write here is the truth and nothing but the truth.

Fast forward...
We began the course almost immediately. Everything they taught me was off hand 😂. They didn’t even use a lecture note, or even a journal. You will for an instance,think that they are Emeriti despite the fact that they were yet to bag their first degree.

I listened attentively to everything they said. They asked again, "What’s your daily school routine like?" I replied, "Oh, that, I attend lectures, go to the library, then I go to my base(where I get my fizzy drinks and pastries)... or if it interests me, I get real food to eat from a canteen.

Basically, I’m more of a triangular student, I added, feeling terrible about my boring life. On the off chance I get blamed more often, I was ready to pari passu blame my parents for my "serious" childhood experience;books and more books! I rarely had their type of fun. Or wait, I think the question should be: What is Tobi’s definition of fun?

I ended up listening to hours of corroborees et al from my newly found lecturers. It took time for them to agree on some certain issues as they individually shared their own ideas. Although, whenever an agreement was reached, it was indubitable.

For those expecting me to list the dating techniques I learnt, I’m sorry to burst your bubbles, but I’m not going to share 😂😂. I’m certain you will dissent it or not, who knows? Maybe because of the series of heart breaking experiences you’ve had, the books you’ve read,or the stories you may have heard and yes, I remember you saying instructions from your religious leaders cannot be argued with.

The best technique I learnt was the urge to building positive relationships with people. Since relationships are formed by meeting people which isn’t my forte, especially when it’s one-on-one, I embraced the challenge.

In a broader scope, a major ingredient to success is favour and it involves positive relationships . A kind word often goes a long way. Now, I try as much as possible to spend time with people in real life and not always through the internet as it springs a ballast to life and makes us enjoy the journey of life rather than the destination alone.

🌐 Life

Tobiloba Adejumo

Doctoral Candidate, Research Assistant at The University of Illinois Chicago | Biomedical Optics and Ophthalmic Imaging Lab