How internships kill university relationships

A third-year university student recently took to Facebook to express his pain after losing his campus lover to a more mature man.

A post which only his friends saw, read in part: “I loved her with the whole of my heart. Things started going south when she went for attachment. I would call her, but my calls went unanswered. Later, when we resumed studies, I realised I had become a stranger. I confronted her, but all she said was that I was too young for her.”

Another student, who asked not to be named, said his girlfriend left him for an older man just recently.

“We’ve had this talk for a while now. I couldn’t really understand what was wrong until I saw her being dropped back to college when we reported for a new semester,” he said.

“I confronted her and she revealed that she had met her future husband,” he said.

This is quickly becoming a trend in most campuses, with many girls going for mature men, either during long holidays or when they go for internships.

Rachel, a fourth-year music student at one of the universities said she grew up after her first long holiday. She told Campus Vibe that she did not expect to fall out of love with her ex-boyfriend who is her classmate, but that it died a natural death. She said that while she was teaching music at an international school in Nairobi, she met someone whom she hopes to get married to in December this year.

“I met an older man where I did my internship. My then boyfriend stayed in Nakuru. So, here’s a man I see every day... I just liked him,” she said, describing the man she is now engaged to.

Counselling psychologist Ken Munyua told Campus Vibe that such was the nature of life, and that the campus love may be a crush after all.

“The lady may have considered this man’s maturity and stability and felt the connection,” he said.

“Looking at the working class dude, she feels like she has a secure future, and could actually be the real deal for her,” he added.