Understanding male university students

I was browsing through my files and I saw this one. I just remembered how bitter I was after I finished writing this article for my Opinion Writing class.



Dota. Kobe Bryant. Rock Music. Gory Movies. Carbohydrates. Calculus. Fraternities. Liquor. FHM.

“What?” whines the girls in chorus. What the heck are those, they ask, completely oblivious as if those mentioned are things that are a million light years away from their own understanding. And then here goes the guys laughing about these girls’ ignorance.

Oh come on, girls. It’s about time to understand them, really.

Well then, enter the world of a Male University Student.

First off, there is a huge difference…not.

“I like movies with bloody scenes, I like punk rock, I like basketball, I like challenging subjects, I like Megan Fox,” a typical male college student would probably say. On the other hand, comes a typical female college student saying, “I like romantic, tear-jerker films, I like pop songs, I like hanging out with my girlfriends, I like caring professors, I like Robert Pattinson.”

A guy is different from a girl just as numbers are different from words. Just as sneakers are different from stilettos. Just as a live coverage of NBA is different from the season finale of Gossip Girl. Just as playing Mafia Wars is different from playing Fashion Wars. Just as Stephen King is different from Meg Cabot. Just as Coldplay is different from the Pussycat Dolls. Yes, there is a huge difference between a guy and a girl—yet they are still the same.

“Girls usually think that just because guys prefer rock music doesn’t mean that we can’t listen to Pop or ballad songs,” says Dave Gabriel Abalos, a freshman Physical Therapy student from Silliman University. “They think that we can’t watch those movies that move them to tears, that we can’t distinguish between Havaianas or Ipanema, that we can’t worship anyone else but Kobe Bryant…well they’re wrong, because we can…sometimes, we are just afraid to admit it.”

A guy’s world is so much the same as a girl’s world. What makes it appear different is that guys tend to keep some things they do secret, to preserve the image that makes them a “man”—you know, competitive, invisible at times, and hard to the core. No sissy-ness please, at least that’s what girls think.

“They have no idea that we run to our mommy and cry like crazy when someone hurts us,” laughs Timothy Te, a junior Nursing student from St. Paul’s University. “They have no idea that behind the tough exterior is one pusong mamon that also falls for cute, cute kids and puppies and butterflies and all that sappy stuff.”

Identifying with each other

The question started way before our ancestors’ ancestors’ time: Why is it so hard for guys and girls to really understand one another?

Simple. It’s because of lack of communication to comprehend each other. Here’s an example: the girl wants affection while the guy wants to be appreciated. The main trouble is that they don’t say anything. They keep assuming that the other would understand—but it doesn’t work like that. It will never work like that.

“I ended a relationship with a guy because we just couldn’t understand each other anymore,” said Anna Maria Felizardo, a sophomore Mass Communication student from Foundation University.

“But lately, I’ve been thinking that we never really talked about our problems…that I never said anything about how I felt and I never really understood his side…now I realize that if only we talked more, then we could have sustained our relationship.”

But when a girl enters a guy’s world…

“Everything else changes,” said Dan Ryan Rejuso, a junior Mechanical Engineering student of Silliman University. “Study becomes so much easier to handle and other problems become bearable…exhaustion after a very long day could no longer be felt.”

Computer games, fraternities, Frisbee, weekend jamming. To a guy, all of that would mean nothing as compared to a girl he loves. Because although a guy could be the Most Valuable Player in his team or be the president of his fraternity, it is still in loving a girl that he excels the most.

It’s true that guys may act indifferent and act like complete Martians at times, but when it comes to fighting for the ones they love, they no doubt find all means—no matter how impossible it could appear to some. That’s the nature of the male species when it comes to love, you see. They fight, they conquer, and they love more than what everyone else believes of them.

But aside from that, they also want to be recognized. They want to be appreciated because it boosts their ego. “What keeps us fighting is the girls’ appreciation of us,” said Rejuso. “It’s more than enough to know that they notice the simple things we do for them.”

The best place to be in during college years

“I’ve had a lot of bad relationships in the past and I keep blaming those guys for it because I thought I was the girl and I shouldn’t be the one to reach out and all,” says Anna Isabella Cortez, a fourth year Accountancy student of Silliman University.

“But then this certain guy appears and he made me realize that guys are no super heroes…that they can’t do everything we expect of them and they are just like us girls who hurt.”

“So we worked together to make our relationship last and now we’ve been together for four years now,” Cortez added.

One of the best things that can ever happen to a girl in college is to be able to enter the right guy’s world and stay there as long as possible.

Imagine a world full of hearts and roses and serenades. A world full of chocolates and hugs and companionship. Doesn’t it just sound like a pretty place to be in?