Hookups are great. They’re even better if it’s the first time with a particular person, and are filled with all the anticipation that comes with the courting process.

There is, however, one giant problem across the world that arises from multiple random hookups: awkwardness, once the heat (and alcohol) have worn off. From the avoidance of eye contact, cold shoulders and feelings that aren’t mutually shared, to the ever-dreaded Walk of Shame, random hookups show us that the “morning after” is more than just a pill to fix what happened the night before.

To get more insight into this problem, I interviewed a young woman who, for the purposes of anonymity, will be referred to as “C.”

C was visiting Binghamton University this past weekend, and told me she has experience with problems like the ones mentioned above. After one hookup C found herself being ignored by the guy she had hooked up with as soon as the following evening, when he wouldn’t respond to a text message or even talk to her when they bumped into each other. On a different occasion, with another guy C met while visiting a different school, she had to experience the awkward morning after. Even worse, she had to go through the Walk of Shame all the way across a strange campus to get back to her friends’ dorm.

Now, not all hookups lead to the embarrassing shenanigans that C has gotten into. But many of them do come close.

So is the momentary pleasure of the random hookup worth the obvious awkwardness and shame that can follow so quickly after?

Many people will undoubtedly say that hookups are the greatest thing in the world. After all, what better way to pull through a tough week full of studying and classes than to have a night of drunken debauchery capped by a (semi-) romantic encounter with a person of the opposite sex? But there’s more to the story than that.

A meaningful relationship can be, in my opinion, much more rewarding than the random hookup. As an added bonus, there’s also none of those tedious aforementioned embarrassments. That’s not to say that relationships don’t come with their own struggles and issues, because Lord knows they do. But that’s for another column.

Still, fulfillment aside, you can’t just walk down the street and bump into someone with whom you can get into a meaningful relationship. At least, not every day. And that’s okay, it’s part of what makes a relationship so valuable — trying day after day to find a person that you actually do click with; who makes you happy beyond that initial night of passion and fun.

And what better way to find that person than to keep trying out different people by means of random hookups!

Many relationships have been started at such classy establishments as the Rathskeller Pub and Scoreboard. That’s not to say that a bar or club is the ideal place to meet a partner, but we all know it’s probably one of the more fun places to try. So throw caution to the wind and take those risks of embarrassment and ruined friendships!

Because, as my good friends at Club Liquid say on their mugs, “… An awkward morning beats a boring night!!”