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Show AggieLif• Iir Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 Page 4 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesm OM ha BY DREW VAN DYKE staff writer Not everyone believes in true love. While many students at USU are familiar with the notion, few claim to have found it. There is, however, one topic on campus that some students find more relatable: heartbreak. The mutual friend After graduating from high school, Malyssa Menzdorf, a junior majoring in technical writing, enrolled at USU with her boyfriend at the time. "I followed him to Utah State," she said. "I always had it in my head that we would eventually get married." Because they lived nearby one another on campus, Menzdorf and her boyfriend had numerous mutual friends. However, the closeness of their living quarters also created a strain on their relationship, she said. As a result, the couple broke up for a month and then got back together. "One day, my boyfriend was like, 'I have to tell you something," Menzdorf said. "He was super nervous." During the conversation that followed, Menzdorf's boyfriend told her that he had slept with someone, a mutual friend they were both close to. "At first, I thought he was joking," Menzdorf said. "But he was completely serious. As her boyfriend continued, Menzdorf said she learned that the individual with whom he had slept was not only a mutual friend, but a boy as well. "He told me that this kid had comforted him after the fight we had and that one thing led to another," she said. Menzdorf said she discovered that her boyfriend had been bisexual for f eight months, something she had been unaware of until that point in time. "My boyfriend cheated on me with a boy," she said. "At the time I was 19, and he had been my only boyfriend. It shattered my world view for a while, but I wasn't broken forever." The other men When he began dating a freshman at USU, Samuel Wright, a junior majoring in music education, said he was unaware of the drama that would follow. "She was my first real girlfriend, and we were pretty tight," Wright said. As the couple grew closer, he said they learned more about each other's pasts. They spoke openly on many different topics, including past relationships. "She would reference her exboyfriend and say that she had to go see his family," he said. "It was revealed over time that she would get back together with him once he got back from his (LDS) mission." Upon further discussion, Wright learned that his girlfriend was still together with her so-called "ex" while pursuing another man she worked with. She was in a relationship with three guys simultaneously. "It was super messy, so I eventually pulled my head out," Wright said. "I came to a point where I decided enough was enough." Although Wright hopes to avoid similar relationships in the future, he said that he appreciated the experience because it gave him new perspective on affection and heartbreak. "Growing up, my parents cautioned me to guard my heart — not to give it away. To some degree I've realized that it's true, because you still think about those people every once and a while. You still care enough to wonder," he said. The proposal Courtney Robinson, a junior majoring in broadcast journalism, intended on marrying her Mississippi boyfriend after he served an LDS mission. "We started dating when I was 16 years old, and he was the love of my life," Robinson said. "He had given me a promise ring, and we were going to get married once he got home." While he served his two-year mission, Robinson began her degree at USU. Though they were apart, they continued correspondence through hand-written letters and email, she said. When he returned, Robinson was in the middle of her sophomore year. "He took me out a little bit, but it was weird and not the same," she said. After realizing the changes that they had both experienced, Robinson and her long-time boyfriend decided to take a break. She continued her education in Logan, and he began school at Brigham Young University. During the separation, he began communicating frequently with another girl in Mississippi. "This girl wrote him while he was on his mission," Robinson said. "She was crazy, into drugs and has a Dave Matthews tramp-stamp." When the girl spontaneously moved to Provo to date Robinson's boyfriend, Robinson decided it was time to discuss their relationship. "He said he wanted to be with me and told me to come down to figure things out," Robinson said. At his request, she drove to Provo to talk about their relationship. "Everything seemed normal," Robinson said. "He kissed me and told In me that he loved me. I left his house that night and told him that if things work out, we'd get back together." That night, Robinson said she left with the impression that they would be getting back together. The next day, Robinson said she received a phone call from a close friend. "She told me that this kid had gotten engaged,' Robinson said. "I said, 'What are you talking about? I was with him last night." Robinson learned that once she had left his apartment the night before, he had proposed to the other girl. Though Robinson had dated him for years, he asked the other girl to marry him, having dated her for only one month, she said. "I've never talked to him again," Robinson said. "He works in the custodial department at BYU, and I work in the athletic department at USU — so I'm pretty much winning." The Facebook video Patrick Romero, a junior majoring in graphic design, and Kyli Hirshi, a sophomore majoring in exercise science, began dating during spring semester 2011. Though his roommates doubted him, Romero said he successfully courted Hirshi after months of pursuit. "It started when he would always come to our dorms and play pingpong," Hirshi said. "That was his cover story." As the schoolyear came to an end, the couple decided against dating exclusively, Hirshi said. However, when Romero returned from summer employment, they attempted to pick up where they had left off. "We started dating again, but she wasn't into it," Romero said. "Once we got back to school, we moved into the friend zone." Although Hirshi and Romero tried to limit their relationship to a friendship status, they were faced with complications, Hirshi said. We were stupid," Hirshi said. "wed kiss and say 'Friends kiss, let's be friends with benefits.' That doesn't work." As the duo continued spending each day together, the situation became increasingly problematic. "We needed to decide whether we were dating or not, because she felt like she was missing out on opportunities to date other people," Romero said. "I wanted to try dating again. She needed to think about it." Faced with the choice, Hirshi decided against dating Romero. Although both had expressed love for the other, their relationship had failed to advance. "We really liked each other, but other people viewed it as platonic — it wasn't that intimate," Hirshi said. "My heart was broken, because I cared for him so much, but it wasn't going anywhere because of the friendliness of our relationship." "Kylie always had a bunch of guy friends when we were dating," Romero said. "She said that they could just be friends. I always told her that she didn't realize how it works." After he and Hirshi officially broke up, Romero utilized his complicated experience for a project in school. The result was "Why Can't Men and Women Be Friends," a video compiled on the USU campus that has nearly 6 million views on YouTube. "I picked that subject mostly because of her denial," Romero said. 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