For
Who doesn’t love an accent?
Winter is the best time of year to smell out the fresh batch of sexy internationals away for a semester to play in the snow of Central Otago, or enjoy the black mould of Dunners. For many of us the fantasy of finding the love of our lives at university is strong, but what’s stronger than love? Our horny and delusional imaginations.
Let’s set the scene: it's Baa Bar karaoke night. You clock someone sporting a sexy North American accent. Able to offer any international student’s wet dream, you play tour guide for the wonders of Dunedin. You spend hours trading questions of home, friends, family. You end up in love for a semester and have the best time. Then it’s all said and done; eight weeks of fun, fornication, and learning about a different culture comes to an end. Sure, your feelings may be hurt but you now have something to tell the family over Christmas, and a place to travel to after uni finishes. Plus, it’s great for the plot.
Put yourself, your G-spot, and your feelings on the line, and, who knows, the person you once loved for two months may just be your forever. There’s nothing more poetic than reunited lovers. So give it a go, and fuck a Frenchie.
Against
Would you board the Titanic knowing it was going to sink? Heck no! A new voyage may seem exciting at first, but the end of the semester looms like a great heartbreak shaped ice-berg. You say you won’t get too attached, but is that really any better? A relationship where you’re bracing for impact the whole time is hardly a relationship at all – and besides will you really not get too attached?
Factoring in the time taken to know them in the first place and at least two weeks of sickness (as they inevitably succumb to the Dunedin cold), you’ll be poised to get cut off right as you felt like you were getting somewhere. You say you’ll keep in touch, but come November you’ll be left right off the proverbial floating door. Is that how you want to start your summer? Brokenhearted and forlorn - or worse - embroiled in a sinking long-distance situationship duct-taped together by Instagram voice calls at ludicrous hours?
All of this when there’s clearly a much better alternative - friendship! Befriending an exchange student has almost all the same benefits as dating: sharing new foods, culture, hanging about in their heated UniFlat… You’re probably more likely to stay in touch, and want to stay in touch, as lower stakes come with a more sustainable attitude. All in all, why risk it? Fall in love platonically instead.