Week 7 - Universality (Love)

Monday

Listening (30 minutes)

Watch the excerpts from the film "Shrek 2". Then do the crossword puzzle given by the teacher in class.

Reading

Getting ready

1. Discuss in groups about what stages one goes through when he/she falls in love. Present your ideas to the class.

Read and Compare

1. Compare your stages to the stages described in the text. How similar/different are they?
2. Did you relate to the feelings explained scientifically in the text?

The Science of Love

Adapted from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/print/science/hottopics/love/print.shtml

Flushed cheeks, a racing heart beat and clammy hands are some of the outward signs of being in love. But inside the body there are definite chemical signs that cupid has fired his arrow.

When it comes to love it seems we are at the mercy of our biochemistry. One of the best known researchers in this area is Helen Fisher of Rutgers University in New Jersey. She has proposed that we fall in love in three stages, each involving a different set of chemicals.

• Stage 1: Lust

Lust is driven by the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. Testosterone is not confined only to men. It has also been shown to play a major role in the sex drive of women. These hormones as Helen Fisher says "get you out looking for anything".

• Stage 2: Attraction

This is the truly love-struck phase. When people fall in love they can think of nothing else. They might even lose their appetite and need less sleep, preferring to spend hours at a time daydreaming about their new lover. In this stage, a group of neuro-transmitters called 'monoamines' play an important role:

· Dopamine: also activated by cocaine and nicotine

· Norepinephrine: otherwise known as adrenalin, starts us sweating and gets the heart racing

· Serotonin: one of love's most important chemicals and one that may actually send us temporarily insane

• Stage 3: Attachment

This is what takes over after the attraction stage, if a relationship is going to last. People couldn't possibly stay in the attraction stage forever; they'd never get any work done if they did!

Attachment is a longer lasting commitment and is the bond that keeps couples together when they go on to have children. Important in this stage are two hormones released by the nervous system, which are thought to play a role in social attachments:

· Oxytocin: This is released by the hypothalamus gland during child birth and also helps the breast express milk. It helps cement the strong bond between mother and child. It is also released by both sexes during orgasm and it is thought that it promotes bonding when adults are intimate. The theory goes that the more sex a couple has, the deeper their bond becomes.

· Vasopressin: Another important chemical in the long-term commitment stage. It is an important controller of the kidney and its role in long-term relationships was discovered when scientists looked at the prairie vole.

In prairie vole society, sex is the prelude to a long-term pair bonding of a male and female. Prairie voles indulge in far more sex than is strictly necessary for the purposes of reproduction. It was thought that the two hormones, vasopressin and oxytocin, released after mating, could forge this bond. In an experiment, male prairie voles were given a drug that suppresses the effect of vasopressin. The bond with their partner deteriorated immediately as they lost their devotion and failed to protect their partner from new suitors.

Brain imaging techniques have been put to use in the name of love. Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki at University College London used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to take pictures of the lover's brain. Whilst inside the scanner, loved-up students were shown pictures of their new flame. They were also shown images of platonic friends of the opposite sex. Zeki and Bartels were struck by how clear cut the pattern of brain activity was when students were looking at their new love.

Four areas of the brain became active, and one area noticeably inactive, when the students had love on their mind. The active areas include one responsible for 'gut' feelings and one that is known to respond to euphoria-inducing drugs. The lights go off however, in the prefrontal cortex, an area that is overactive in depressed patients.

Writing

Write a brief summary of the article. Use your own words and try to incorporate sentence connectors you have been studying in this unit.

Tuesday

Activity 1

Cloze test

1. What are the points of attraction if we fancy people?
2. According to the text, how do people choose their partners?
3. Do you agree that couple look like each other? Why (not)?

What Makes You Fancy Someone?

It can take between 90 seconds and 4 minutes to decide if we fancy someone. But this has little to do with your smooth-talking. As far as attraction goes, here's how we get the message:

55% is through body language

38% is the tone and speed of our voice

Only 7% is through what we say

When it comes to choosing a ________, are we at the mercy of ______ subconscious? Researchers studying the science of __________draw on evolutionary theory to explain _________ way humans pick partners. It is__________our advantage to mate with somebody __________ the best possible genes. These will then ________ passed on to our children, ensuring _________ we have healthy kids, who _______our will own genes on for _________ to come. When we look at ________ potential mate, we are assessing whether ____________ would like our children to have their ________. There are two ways of doing this that are currently being studied: pheromones and appearance.

Human pheromones are a hot topic in research. They are odourless chemicals detected by ___________organ in the nose. Some scientists ___________ they could be the key to _________ a suitable lover. In 1995, Claus Wedekind of the University of Bern in Switzerland, asked a __________ of women to smell some unwashed T-shirts _________ by different men. What he discovered _________ that women consistently preferred the smell ___________ men whose immune systems were _____________ from their own. This parallels what __________ with rodents, who check-out how resistant ____________ partners are to disease by sniffing their pheromones. So it seems we are also at the mercy of our lover's pheromones, just like rats.

At the University of Chicago, Dr Martha McClintock has shown in her own sweaty T-shirt study that what women want most is a man who smells similar to her father. Scientists suggest that a woman being __________ to her father's genes makes sense. ______________ man with these genes would be ______________ enough that her offspring would get a __________and tested immune system. ___________, he would be different enough to ensure a wide range of genes for ______________. There seems to be a drive to reach a balance between reckless out-breeding and dangerous inbreeding.

Appearance could be another indicator of the ___________ of a person's genes. Research suggests that there are certain things we all _________ - even if we don't know it. It is thought that asymmetrical features are a sign of _________genetic problems. Numerous studies in humans have shown that men ____________ go for women with symmetrical faces. The preference in women for symmetry is not ________ so pronounced. Women are also looking for a man's ability to ________food and protection. This might not be indicated in their genes, but in their rank and status, for example.

Studies have shown that men prefer women with a waist to hip ratio of 0.7. You can calculate your own using this formula:

waist measurement ÷ hip measurement = ratio

This seems to apply whatever the woman's overall weight. A group of researchers even compared ________ ratio with the average ratio of Miss America winners ________ the years. It was exactly the same. This ________ would seem to make sense as _______ indicator of a woman's reproductive health. When women age their waist _______ to become less pronounced as they put on fat around the stomach. This coincides with them becoming less fertile.

Have you noticed how many married couples look quite similar? Studies have shown that more ______ anything we prefer somebody _______ looks just like we do. From a batch of individual photographs people can spot _______ are the couples with unnerving reliability.

Research has uncovered that there is a correlation in couples between their: lung volumes, middle finger lengths, ear lobe lengths, overall ear size, neck and wrist circumferences, and metabolic rates.

Cloze test – Complete text

What Makes You Fancy Someone?

It can take between 90 seconds and 4 minutes to decide if we fancy someone. But this has little to do with your smooth-talking. As far as attraction goes, here's how we get the message:

55% is through body language

38% is the tone and speed of our voice

Only 7% is through what we say

When it comes to choosing a partner, are we at the mercy of our subconscious? Researchers studying the science of attraction draw on evolutionary theory to explain the way humans pick partners. It is to our advantage to mate with somebody with the best possible genes. These will then be passed on to our children, ensuring that we have healthy kids, who will pass our own genes on for generations to come. When we look at a potential mate, we are assessing whether we would like our children to have their genes. There are two ways of doing this that are currently being studied: pheromones and appearance.

Human pheromones are a hot topic in research. They are odourless chemicals detected by an organ in the nose. Some scientists believe they could be the key to choosing a suitable lover. In 1995, Claus Wedekind of the University of Bern in Switzerland, asked a group of women to smell some unwashed T-shirts worn by different men. What he discovered was that women consistently preferred the smell of men whose immune systems were different from their own. This parallels what happens with rodents, who check-out how resistant their partners are to disease by sniffing their pheromones. So it seems we are also at the mercy of our lover's pheromones, just like rats.

At the University of Chicago, Dr Martha McClintock has shown in her own sweaty T-shirt study that what women want most is a man who smells similar to her father. Scientists suggest that a woman being attracted to her father's genes makes sense. A man with these genes would be similar enough that her offspring would get a tried and tested immune system. On the other hand, he would be different enough to ensure a wide range of genes for immunity. There seems to be a drive to reach a balance between reckless out-breeding and dangerous inbreeding.

Appearance could be another indicator of the quality of a person's genes. Research suggests that there are certain things we all look for - even if we don't know it. It is thought that asymmetrical features are a sign of underlying genetic problems. Numerous studies in humans have shown that men in particular go for women with symmetrical faces. The preference in women for symmetry is not quite so pronounced. Women are also looking for a man's ability to offer food and protection. This might not be indicated in their genes, but in their rank and status, for example.

Studies have shown that men prefer women with a waist to hip ratio of 0.7. You can calculate your own using this formula:

waist measurement ÷ hip measurement = ratio

This seems to apply whatever the woman's overall weight. A group of researchers even compared this ratio with the average ratio of Miss America winners over the years. It was exactly the same. This ratio would seem to make sense as an indicator of a woman's reproductive health. When women age their waist tends to become less pronounced as they put on fat around the stomach. This coincides with them becoming less fertile.

Have you noticed how many married couples look quite similar? Studies have shown that more than anything we prefer somebody who looks just like we do. From a batch of individual photographs people can spot who are the couples with unnerving reliability.

Research has uncovered that there is a correlation in couples between their: lung volumes, middle finger lengths, ear lobe lengths, overall ear size, neck and wrist circumferences, and metabolic rates.

Activity 2

Study infinitive, gerund and participles in the websites below.

1. Go the the following link and read the information about infinitive and gerund in English. Then do the exercises at the bottom of the page.

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/infinitive-gerund

2. Read about infinitive, gerund and particularly about participles in the following link.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/627/01/

3. Now do the exercises on participles at the bottom of this page.

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/participles

Thursday

Think as you listen.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1524_love/page2.shtml)

You are going to listen to part of a BBC radio programme about love. As you listen, think about the following questions:

1. What aspects of love will the excerpt address?

2. Can love be studied scientifically?

3. Do you see any images or have any memories as you listen to the interviewees?

What do you think?

1. What aspects of love did the radio excerpt address? Are these aspects relevant to all cultures?

2. Did you relate to any of the people being interviewed?

3. Was there anything that surprised you or that you disagreed with?

4. What do you think is the interviewer’s intention in this program?

5. Are there other questions/aspects about love you would like the radio programme to address?

What does it mean?

Listen again. What do the interviewer and interviewees say about love, break ups and sex? Complete the table below and then compare your answers with a partner.

Characteristics of love/ what people want	triggered by looks
Feelings associated with falling in love/words used to talk about falling in love	Sweaty palms
Feelings associated with breaking up/words used Metaphors used	Washing machine
Love and sex/words used	Totally crazy

Language Awareness

Look at the transcript of the radio programme What is Love? on pages 9-10. This is a spoken text.

▪ Look at the interviewer’s parts (in regular text, not in italics) and identify some of the features of spoken text.

▪ Underline all of the transition words used in this excerpt. Replace some of the less formal transition words with their more formal counterparts (see chart in Language Notes if you need help).

Using English

1. Speaking. In pairs or groups of three, discuss the following.

a. Do you believe in love at first sight? Why or why not? Has it ever happened to you?

b. Describe your ideal life partner. What characteristics would (or does) he/she have?

c. Tell your classmate your own love story – a tale of unrequited love, perhaps, or a story of a blind date, or how you met your current partner.

2. Grammar and Writing. Fill in the blanks in the texts below with an appropriate transition word.

A. Conversation between two friends:

Pablo: Hey, how was your blind date last night?

Adam: Well, for me it was love at first sight, _____________ I don’t think she felt the same way.

Pablo: What makes you think that?

Adam: Well, a bunch of things. ____________, I invited her to a concert next

weekend, __________ she said she couldn’t make it. ___________ I suggested dinner the following weekend ____________ she said she’d be out of town. ___________ no good night kiss – just a handshake.

Pablo: I think you’re right – it wasn’t love at first sight for her. _____________, it sounds like she downright disliked you, dude.

Adam: Hey, dude - thanks for making me feel better.

Pablo: Just having some fun with you. Hey, Janet and I aren’t doing anything

tonight, ____________ why don’t you come over for a beer and you can drown your sorrows. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. Janet can introduce you to some nice women. ____________, her best friend is in town and she’s really cute and nice. She can take your mind off this other woman.

B. Formal Memo from Management to Staff

Dear All,

It has come to our attention that some staff are using their computers for personal business during work hours. As graduates of the Integrity Awareness training, you are well aware that this is unacceptable. We were particularly displeased to learn that many of you have joined on-line dating services, ______________ Match.com, from work. ______________, we have been informed that some staff regularly visit chat rooms to “meet” people and then instant message their new “friends” through Lotus Notes.

______________ is this behaviour inappropriate in the workplace, it can ______________ be dangerous. There are countless stories of seemingly innocent computer “love matches” ending in tragedy. ____________, recent statistics from the Medical Services have revealed that more and more, staff are taking “mental health days” ________________ broken hearts.

It is clear that this type of behaviour cannot be accepted. We have _________________ decided to drastically limit staff Internet access. From now on, staff will only be able to access iSeek and other work-related websites from their desktops.

We understand that this policy will greatly inconvenience many of you, including those of you who have not breached the integrity standards we expect from you. _______________, this policy will be implemented as of Monday, 23 November.

Language Notes

Sentence Combining

Relationship	Coordinating conjunction	Subordinating conjunction	Conjunctive adverb/ Transitional phrase	Preposition
Addition	and		in addition moreover furthermore	in addition to as well as
Cause	for as	because, since		because of due to on account of
Concession	but	even though although though in spite of the fact that despite the fact that	however nevertheless	in spite of despite
Condition		if, unless, provided that	otherwise
Contrast	but	while, whereas	on the one hand, on the other hand on the contrary in contrast	unlike
Example			for example for instance	such as
Purpose	so (that)			in order to
Result	so		therefore, thus, as a result, consequently, for this reason	as a result of
Emphasis		in fact actually indeed
Time		when, while, since, before, after, whenever, as soon as, by the time, until	then, next, after that	for, during, in, before, after

Compare:

1. Despite the rain, the searchers continued to look for the lost dog. (prepostion)

2. Although it was raining, the searchers continued to look for the lost dog. (subordinator)

3. It was raining. Nevertheless, the searchers continued to look for the lost dog. (conjunctive adverb)

4. It was raining, but the searchers continued to look for the lost dog. (coordinator)

Compare:

1. In addition to two Masters degrees, the candidate has worked in the field for 5 consecutive years. (preposition)

2. The candidate has two Masters degrees. In addition, she has worked in the field for 5 consecutive years. (conjunctive adverb)

3. The candidate has two Masters degrees, and she has worked in the field for 5 consecutive years. (coordinator)

Compare:

1. As a result of the recently implemented flex-time policy, employees are more productive at work. (prepostion)

2. The company has recently implemented a flex-time policy. As a result, employees are more productive at work. (conjunctive adverb)

3. Because the company has recently implemented a flex-time policy, employees are more productive at work. (subordinator)

4. The company has recently implemented a flex-time policy, so employees are more productive at work. (coordinator)

Examples.

1. She is planning to travel to Hawaii and she is going to take a cruise through the South Pacific.

2. She is planning to travel to Hawaii. In addition, she is going to take a cruise through the South Pacific.

3. In addition to her trip to Hawaii, she is going to take a cruise through the South Pacific.

4. My sister was a very generous woman. For example, she used to volunteer at the hospital one day a week.

5. Her mother is very warm and friendly, but her father is a bit shy.

6. Her mother is very warm and friendly, whereas her father is a bit shy.

7. Her mother is very warm and friendly. In contrast, her father is a bit shy.

8. Unlike her mother, her father is a bit shy.

9. She had a terrible cold, but she ran the marathon anyway.

10. Although she had a terrible cold, she ran the marathon anyway.

11. She had a terrible cold. Nevertheless, she ran the marathon anyway.

12. In spite of her terrible cold, she ran the marathon.

13. She couldn't come to the party because her brother was graduating.

14. She couldn't come to the party because of her brother's graduation.

15. He worked 16 hours without a break yesterday, so he was completely exhausted.

16. He worked 16 hours without a break yesterday. Therefore, he was completely exhausted.

17. As a result of working 16 hours without a break yesterday, he was completely exhausted.

18. She is studying Chinese so (that) she will be fluent when she moves there next year.

19. She is studying Chinese (in order) to be fluent when she moves there next year.

20. I will meet you for lunch at 12:00 if I don't have to attend the meeting.

21. I will meet you for lunch at 12:00 unless I have to attend the meeting.

22. When he entered the room, the audience clapped loudly.

23. They've lived in England for the past five years.

24. During class, I was dreaming about lunch.

25. I'll be back in five minutes.

26. Let's go to a movie after school today.

Exercise 1. Fill in the blanks with an appropriate connecting word/phrase. Be sure to use the correct type of word. The punctuation will tell you which type to choose.

e.g. In addition to this report, I have to read the ambassador's speech tonight.

1. ___________________ it's quite chilly today, the construction workers are not wearing jackets.

2. ___________________, I would love to have a house in the quiet countryside. ___________________, I love the excitement of the big city.

3. ___________________ you need a ride to work tomorrow, call me. I am driving in and would be happy to give you a lift.

4. She went on a diet ________________ she could lose weight for her daughter's wedding.

5. _________________ the long hours, he likes his new job very much.

6. He promised me he would help me this morning, _________________ he isn't here yet. I hope he remembers his promise.

7. He lost his job last month. ________________, he doesn't have enough money to pay his bills.

8. ________________ he has a lot of money, he is a very unhappy person.

9. My mother is coming to visit tomorrow ______________ she wants to see my new baby.

10. I haven't eaten a candy bar ______________ I was a child.

11. I object to the formatting of this document. _________________, I disagree with the claims it makes.

12. __________________ the alarm goes off, I will get out of bed.

13. He moved to another city __________________ he could be closer to his family.

14. I have never studied Russian. ________________, I had a hard time when I moved to Moscow.

15. It took him two hours to get home _______________ the terrible traffic.

100 most frequent words in English

a/an/the

from “Nature” by Scott Thornbury based on the British National Corpus

a/an

Indefinite article is used with singular nouns:

1. to introduce a new person or thing into a text:

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Australian were on a plane…..

2. to show that a person ot thing is a member of a group:

Fatima’s a muslim.

3. to talk generally about a class of things:

An octopus has eight legs.

Collocations

There are many ‘verb + noun’ combinations beginning

have a ….. / take a …… For example:

have a drink, have a bite (to eat), have a laugh, have/take a look, have a go, have a talk, have a say, have a try, have a ride, have/take a walk, have/take a rest.

Can you take a look at my homework?

We stopped at a roadside café and had a bite to eat.

I had a go on Robin’s new motorbike.

Everyone should have a say in the peace process.

Set Phrases

a few / a little / a lot (of) etc. – little

We had a few friends round for dinner.

a kilo / a meter / a dozen etc.

Petrol costs 3 euros a liter.

a coffee / a fruit cake / a Coke etc.

He brought me a tomato juice and ordered a Scotch for himself.

a hundred / a thousand / a million etc.

A hundred and twenty people attended the meeting.

a year / a week / an hour etc.

I go to the gym once a week.

Exercise 1 - Complete these sentences with a/an but only where necessary:

1. The houses made of _______ stone survived the earthquake.
2. Hang on! I’ve got _________ stone in my shoe.
3. You’ve got _________ egg on your shirt.
4. Excuse me, waiter, there’s ______ hair in my soup.
5. Would you like _______ lemon in your tea?
6. She’s got _____ long fair hair.
7. There’s _______ lemon in the fridge. Can you cut it in half?
8. For breakfast I usually have _______boiled egg and a piece of toast.

Exercise 2 – Choose the best alternative to complete these sentences.

1. Shall we stop at the next café and _______? (drink / have a drink)
2. My parents don’t ______ (drink / have a drink).
3. When you have a moment, I’d like to _______. It’s about my salary. (chat / have a chat)
4. In the library you’re not supposed to ________. (chat / have a chat)
5. Don’t _____! I’m getting undressed. (look / have a look)
6. It’s a nice day – let’s go and ______ . (swim / have a swim)
7. My computer keeps crashing. I’ll _____ and see what the problem is (look / have a look)
8. How do you keep to fit? – I _______. (swim / have a swim)

the

Definite article is used

1. before all types of nouns when your listener or reader know which person or thing you are referring to, because:

1. it is the only one present:

It’s in the oven

2. it is the only one in your shared world or in the whole world:

I’ll meet you at the station.

The moon was full that night.

3. it has been referred to before:

Put a pin close to a magnet and the pin will cling to the magnet

4. you are specifying which one, by adding more information:

The woman sitting next to me teaches yoga.

2. before singular countable nouns and some adjectives when you are talking about all things of that type:

The Blue Whale grows to 30 m long.

I am teaching myself to play the guitar.

The aged outnumber the young.

Collocations

The following noun groups are usually preceded by ‘the’.

Nationalities: the Irish

Geographical regions: the north

Times and events: the holidays, the war, the nineties etc.

Shops, etc.: the chemist’s, the doctor’s

Transport: the bus

Musical instruments: the violin

Jobs around the home: the ironing, the shopping etc.

Many proper name: the UN, the South Pole, the Times etc.

Set phrases

the sooner the better

the more the merrier

To make general statements about a class of things, you can use the with countable nouns:

The brown bear hibernates in winter.

To make general statements about uncountable and plural things, use no article:

Bears like honey.

To talk about specific and definite things, use the with all nouns:

The bears in the zoo never hibernate.

To talk about specific but indefinite things, use a/an with singular countable nouns, and zero article with plural an uncountable nouns:

He was chased by a bear.

I saw bears in the zoo, eating honey.

Exercise 1 – Put the where it belongs in these contexts.

1. She speaks French and is learning violin.
2. What is best restaurant in town?
3. My favorite room at home is kitchen.
4. A couple walked in and man was carrying a big bunch of flowers.
5. Generally I like fish but I don’t like ones with bones.
6. In our town there are two banks. One is next to Town Hall.
7. You can borrow any coat except red one; it’s mine.
8. Valencia is famous for oranges and beauty of its women.
9. I saw Michael Douglas last night. – Not Michael Douglas?
10. A taxi stopped and two men got out. Taxi drove off.

Exercise 2- complete this text by adding the, but only where necessary.

Dodo_______ dodo is an extinct bird, belonging to ______ pigeon family. ________ dodos lived on ______ islands and couldn’t fly. In ________ seventeenth century, _______ sailors started visiting ______ islands, looking for _______ food and ______ water. ______ sailors hunted ________ dodos and ate them. ________ last dodo died in 1790.

BBC Radio: “What is love?” transcript

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1524_love/page2.shtml

What is love?

People have probably pondered this question since our ancestors sat around their campfires or lay and watched the stars a million years ago. I’m Helen Fisher. Over the next four programmes, I’m going to try to answer this universal question. Let’s start with the way we feel:

Trust me, I met my husband when I was 11 and he was 12 … in a bean patch. We was barefooted and I look at the little guy and I told my girlfriend, I say, “God he is cute. I love him.’ So when school start, I kept my eyes on that guy and I say, ‘I’m gonna get him.’

Love, triggered by a glance. Did she get him, I wonder?

I got him. And my husband, he gave love, he show love, he was a bundle of love.

But human beings want more than looks, as this Indian woman elegantly shows:

Honesty, more than anything else. Honesty and also the fact that he really liked to be with me honestly. There were no strings. The fact is he knew exactly what he wanted and he still does. That’s something which I really like about him.

The first thing that happens when you fall in love is that your beloved takes on what I call special meaning. You feel intense energy too. As a Polynesian man said to me ‘I felt like jumping in the sky.’ But most important, you crave an emotional union with your beloved, and when your love is returned, you feel ecstasy, euphoria.

(Spanish singing)

Sadly, when you hear the bolero in Mexico, you clearly see love’s darker side.

(Singing) It was about love and hate which is the same kind of thing with different… nuances.

▪ So that’s love Mexican style?

• Love Mexican style? Of course. Love and hate.

Violence taking the place of deep-rooted love. I think it has taken a very deep toll on my whole system.

I was just torn apart like in a washing machine of physical desperation. I mean I felt like my limb was torn off and I had to rest until some part of me could grow back again.

▪ Love until you die. Or die if you don’t love.

• Love is drama. Drama. There’s a lot of drama, no?

▪ It’s not drama. No no no… it’s not the same as drama. It’s life and death. You love with your heart so much that you’re willing to die for it. So death, life, you know… and also sex, of course. It’s mixed.

Ah yes, sex. In fact, some of the brain chemicals for romantic love actually stimulate the sex drive. You’ve probably noticed this yourself. As soon as you fall in love, even the slightest smile from your beloved can become enormously sexual attractive. It’s beginning to sound:

Ha ha ha totally, completely crazy. And it’s a fantastic sensation to be blind because everything is pink…everything is beautiful. You always feel like smiling because you’re in love.

I don’t know how but I did manage to come out of it. I think I realized that I’m not going to take this shit anymore.

Good for you. But it’s hard to stifle love. In fact, another central characteristic of this madness is that you can’t stop thinking about your sweetheart. Love is addictive. Perhaps this is why some people try to avoid it:

I never thought about love. I thought about relationships but not about myself, not about my feelings.

Why?

I don’t know.

In fact, men fall in love faster than women do. Probably because they are so visual. And three out of four people who kill themselves after being rejected are men, not women. But women reveal more of their romantic passions:

I felt devastated, almost between alive and dead. And then it took me about eight years to get out of this nightmare

When we were that close to one another for the first time, I could hear my heart beating in my head, I was like totally dry mouth, sweaty palms, the whole deal. I’m getting nervous right now.

I don’t think I’ve ever met my love up to now. And I’m still waiting, eagerly, for the love to turn out.

Also today sometimes I think with a little bit of sadness about this love because it was very big, I think.

Love is big. You never forget someone you’ve been deeply in love with.