In a conversation with an American friend, the question came up whether friendships between men and women, platonic relationships, are common where I come from. I think so, but it got me thinking.
Family and friends in the Netherlands
(Not really representative as I have a very large family and many more friends but to give you an idea)
In a conversation with an American friend, the question came up whether friendships between men and women, platonic relationships, are common where I come from. I think so, but it got me thinking.
In my student days we also talked about whether a man and a woman can be friends. Then I was also convinced that it was absolutely possible, but now I don't know if I am the right person to make a correct statement about this. I now see that I may have a slightly different background and may even be difficult to place.
Although I was only in a class with girls at the Christus Koning School in Suriname, I was often enough with boys on the sports field. When I went to the AMS, I was in a class with almost only boys as a Beta student and since then this has not changed at all. On the contrary.
The year I started studying Information Systems in the Netherlands, there were less than ten women studying at the UVA. So I was often not only the only girl there, but also often enough the only Surinamese girl. That certainly did not spoil the fun because I got to know George, Benny and Herman, whom I already knew from Suriname, better and that is how we also became good friends.
We programmed, studied, ate, laughed, complained, played sports together and eventually we all obtained the title of Drs. I certainly had girlfriends, but when I look back now I was much more among the "guys", especially during the week when lectures had to be followed.
Student life will of course have played a role in my thinking about platonic relationships, but also the fact that I have played sports all my life. On the sports field you almost automatically learn how to deal with the opposite sex.
So these are my experiences in a nutshell but now I am curious about your experiences and what you think about this. Can men and women be friends and do you have more friends or girlfriends?
A group of friends in the US