When I was twenty-four, I dated a nineteen-year-old girl. When we met, I thought she was older, and she thought I was younger, so it was kind of a surprise to us both. But there was mutual attraction, so we went for it.

Suffice it to say, it didn't work. She was going to a junior college, whereas I had been out for some time. I didn't yet know what I wanted to do with my life, but I at least had some good ideas of what I didn't want to do. I had lived overseas, burned out on one career, and was casting about for another. Picking my girlfriend up from school definitely felt weird, and her idea of a great date involved basically just hanging out at the mall for hours on end (at least it was a cheap date). She didn't seem to have much to talk about except school, friends at school, problems with her parents (whom she was still living with)… I can't remember how it ended, but I remember feeling rather relieved that it did. It was precious life experience, and it turned me off of the idea of dating girls who weren't at least old enough to have graduated college and lived out in the real world a bit.

Fast forward to now, five years later. I've found a career, and since neither it or anything else was holding me down, I'm living overseas again. I'm taking classes to learn the local language. (If you ever have the opportunity to do something like that, I highly recommend it; great way to meet lots of interesting people from all around the world with a common interest, and not only for romantic relationships.)

I'm finding myself starting to fall head over heels for another of the students. She's single and cute, and even though we're only able to communicate in the language that we're both still in the early stages of learning, she strikes me as pretty smart, and with an interesting life story. She seems to tolerate me, if not like me, and we often engage each other in conversation. I really want to get to know her better.

So what's the problem?

She's nineteen.

But you probably saw that coming.