Since we are in college, I decided to get a little spicy, and write my last article about a topic that everyone wants to talk about: sex, drugs, and rock ’n roll.

Friends that have known me since I arrived seven months ago will agree when I say that dating in America is very different then dating in Brazil.

Take flirting, for example. So many times my American friends had to warn me “Annah that was flirting.” I thought it was just some innocent friendly talk.

This might sound a little bit ridiculous, but I had to learn how NOT to flirt, because the way I acted, the things I said and the way I said them were always sending the wrong impression to boys eyes and ears.

It might sound exaggerated, but it is not. I had to train myself to not stand too close, not touch too much, no sexual innuendos here, and not wiggle with body language.

So, if you go to Brazil or Marshall Hall, my residency, get hugged by a beautiful dark haired woman, get touched in the arm in the middle of a conversation, it might be just a friendly conversation. Or, it might be just me flitting, but not flirting, around.

According to my title, I guess I should now talk about drugs. However, drugs are really not my thing, and I would be fooling everyone if I pretended to know much about them. So, I will talk a little bit more about sex.

Since we already covered flirting, let us move on to dating and, more specifically, teenage dating. If I could sum American dating up in a few steps, it would be: guy asks girl out, girl plays hard to get, girl gets upset because guy doesn’t ask her out again, guy becomes confused, a friend tries to help but messes everything up, and then girl moves on while guy is still confused.

In some rare occasions, the friend actually does help, the two lovebirds go on a date, and the rest is just a facebook relationship status change away.

Now, let us talk about Brazilian teenage dating. I hate to say it but for us hanging out is making out. After a while of “hanging out,” guy and girl might be enjoying each other’s company and decide to start a real relationship, with exclusivity, flowers on Valentine’s Day, and meeting the parents.

Or, if they are not really into the whole relationship thing, the situation can just stay as it is: simple and casual. I know it may sound confusing, but trust me, it is easier than what I found up here: drama and more drama.

I feel like I have to skip the rock ’n roll part and write about the hardest thing I have ever had to learn in my entire life: the difference between talking and taaaalking.

I am not sure how it works in other countries, but I am pretty sure that in Brazil, when we say two people are talking, that only means they are having a conversation. Well, in America, depending on how many A’s you pronounce, that could either mean a conversation or that two people are in the process of dating.

It took my friends a lot of effort, countless days, and even a drawing, which I still have hanging on my wall, to make me understand that when two people are taaalking they can’t really taaalk to anyone else, even though they can still talk, as in have a conversation. And if a girl is taaalking to a guy and that guy is taaalking to some other girl as well, then the two girls automatically hate each other, even though he is the one to blame.

Well, I guess all I have to say is: welcome to America and this confusing thing called dating.