The art of falling in love (Harriet Swain)

Esta nota es del Guardian, me la recomendó una amiga. Amigos de la facultad, noten las letras que resalté en rojo!

Falling in love is one of the main perks of being a student. Never again are you likely to find such a wide selection of potential mates all in one place, or spend so much time gazing into each other's textbooks.

First though, there are a few people you must try not to fall in love with. These include: your best friend's ex, your flatmate, your flatmate's ex, your personal tutor, your tutor's spouse, the university chaplain.

It takes between 90 seconds and four minutes to decide if you fancy someone. In fact, according to research by psychologist Arthur Arun, if you spend half an hour sharing intimate details of your lives with a complete stranger and then four minutes staring deeply into their eyes, it is possible to fancy almost anyone. See the above list of lovers-to-avoid, and avert your gaze.

Only 7% of feeling attracted to someone has anything to do with what they say. This may be reassuring if you find every time you meet the object of your affections you talk complete gibberish.

Once you fall in love, it is a good idea to make sure the other person falls in love with you. Why not suggest bungee jumping as the first date? No, really. It has been proved that people easily confuse sexual arousal with downright terror. They will think they are madly in love when in fact they are worried about smashing their head on a large rock.

Alternatively, you could try cooking a candlelit dinner. Candles make your pupils dilate, which is another sign of arousal. Do make sure you can cook, though, as people are unlikely to confuse food poisoning with love.

If your date offers to cook for you, say how delicious it all was. Compliments make people feel good about themselves and more inclined to feel good about you. Then fill up their glass, and look deeply into their eyes. Again.

Writing poetry is nice, unless your beloved is studying English literature, in which case you'll be facing strong competition from the likes of William Shakespeare and John Donne. Unfortunately for scientists, equations are rarely an acceptable alternative.

Once you love each other, you are likely to start mirroring each other's movements, such as not turning up to lectures early in the morning. You may also start talking constantly about your lover, and snogging on the sofa while your flatmates are trying to watch telly. This will make you intensely annoying to everyone else, but you probably won't even notice. In any case, you can't help it. Scientists have shown falling in love is like a form of obsessive compulsive disorder, without the constant housework.

Meanwhile, if you've not managed to stare at a stranger long enough to clinch a date by Valentine's Day, don't despair. You can always mirror your professors and fall in love with your subject.

(The Guardian)

If I had an oscar I would do what George Clooney does with his:

"I keep it back over a fireplace in my house," he said. "When my friends come over, I make them pick it up and we take photographs of them giving an acceptance speech."