I’m pretty sure the last thing anyone would call me is a follower.

I’ve had a small problem with authority since the ripe old age of 9, when I refused to apologize to a teacher for disrupting her class until she’d apologized for yelling at me.

And yet, I’m totally into the ballroom dance class I’m taking through Norris Mini Courses – my first mini course at Northwestern. So every Thursday, for an hour and a half, I follow my boyfriend’s lead.

I honestly went into the class thinking I’d be the one doing the leading. Despite Jon’s Junior Assembly experience, I figured I’d need to rely on my eight or so years of dance classes to get us through. You can’t blame me; my last experience dancing with guys like this was in a high school musical, where I ended up dragging my hopeless friend Jimmy – and his two left feet – across the stage with me.

But after just a little practice – and some serious one-two-three counting – Jon and I were doing pretty well. Sorority formal, here we come.

Of course, after that, I’m not real sure where we’ll use it. My friends wanted to know why we were bothering to take a dance class together. As one nicely pointed out: “It’s not like you’re getting married or anything.”

Eh, touché. Dance class is one of the last cute, coupley things we’ll be doing together before graduation. Then I’m off to Milwaukee, while he heads home before FBI training.

In the last four years, I’ve heard over and over again how NU doesn’t have a great dating scene. In fact, it’s downright atrocious. And I’ve got a theory: It’s not just NU and it’s not just that people are looking to hook up.

It’s because we’re all crazy driven, Type A personalities who know that college serves as a stepping stone to where we want to get in life. We put in the hours. We join the clubs. We pad our resumes, and four years later (with any luck), we graduate with a job.

I’ve heard underclassmen wonder why they would even bother dating with an “expiration date.” My senior friends in relationships are caught in limbo – waiting to see where they get offers. Not many people figure out the relationship before the job.

The Lifestyle editors at The New York Times have noticed our funny new ideas about dating. This year, the paper’s college essay contest focused on modern love and just what makes us tick in relationships.

It’s a different mindset than our parents had. And I don’t even try explaining to my grandmother – who got married at 18 and thinks I need to hang out in Kellogg more – why I’m not engaged or following someone to keep a relationship going.

At NU, we don’t live on love – at least not right out of school. We’ve all worked too hard, and it seems counterintuitive or a betrayal of ourselves to risk it all on unstable emotion.

Off the dance floor, we don’t put our lives in someone else’s hands, because there just aren’t set steps and a specific count or rhythm to guide the movements.

I guess there’s always the Macarena.

Medill senior Christina Alexander can be reached at [email protected].