No.1 8 Love Lessons which You Can Learn From Entourage - Women Campus

You know how it seems like every college girl you know loves Sex and the City?  Chances are that you've watched it yourself, and that you have girlfriends who own some of the seasons on DVD, or who have that infamous poster in their dorm room, or who have SATC quotes on their Facebook pages.  We love it primarily because it's hilarious, but also because the girls talk about sex and relationships in a way that we can directly relate to. 

For guys, this universally-loved show is Entourage.  In case you've never seen it, the HBO series about Vince (played by the adorable Adrian Grenier), a fictional popular actor, and his cohort of friends – his careful manager Eric (affectionately called "E"), his older brother and less successful actor Johnny ("Drama"), his friend and driver "Turtle," and his high-strung agent Ari.  The show follows the group as they party it up in Hollywood, featuring all the sex and hilarity of SATC for a primarily male audience.  While the guys usually prefer having short-term flings or casual sex with women, all of them have girlfriends at some point – and the way that the series depicts relationships can give us a lot of insight into what guys are looking for.  Read on for the 8 major love lessons we all can learn from Entourage.

1. Be a Sloan, not a Kristen.

For many guys who watch Entourage, Eric's on-and-off girlfriend Sloan (played by the stunning Emmanuelle Chriqui) is the perfect woman.  She's charming and has an affectionate relationship with E when they're alone, but she's also down-to-earth enough to chill out with the guys at a sports bar.  Better yet, she has a life outside of the relationship and doesn't freak out if an important meeting pops up for Eric or if he wants to hang out solo with his friends.  (Also, did I mention that she's gorgeous?)  When they're not together, Sloan maintains a friendly but distant relationship with him, engaging in pleasant conversation when they run into each other but avoiding phone calls and planned contact.

This is a stark contrast from Kristen, Eric's college-girl love interest from earlier seasons.  Not only is she relatively clingy, but she also makes fun of E for living with his friends and having a close relationship with Vince.  As a psychology major, she constantly tries to analyze Eric's behavior, and she's famous for playing games with him after they break up, like offering breakup sex or calling him when she hears he's dating again.  Ultimately, she cheats on E when he goes away for a film shooting with Vince.  

Unsurprisingly, Eric's friends don't like Kristen and encourage him to dump her – but even when they're not dating, the guys respect Sloan and never talk trash about her.  So in your relationships (and in your breakups), aim to be easygoing like Sloan– don't try to alienate your guy's friends or give them a reason to dislike you.  
 
2. Communicating too much can ruin relationships.

When the guys go to the Cannes Film Festival for one of Vince's movie premieres, Johnny Drama finds that reruns of his former TV show are seriously popular in France, and hot girls are flocking to him.  He falls for one of them, Jacqueline, and they decide to pursue a long-distance relationship when he returns home.  The couple maintains constant communication, Skyping and talking on the phone for the majority of their waking hours.  Drama blows off the guys to talk with her, and while the guys like Jacqueline, they start to resent her for taking up so much of Drama's time.  One night when Jacqueline doesn't pick up her phone, Drama calls her incessantly and suspects that she's with another man when she doesn't pick up.  The real story?  Her roommate was in a car accident, and she had to rush her to the hospital.  Jacqueline dumped him for being too into her, and Drama didn't know what to do with his newfound free time. 

If you've ever been in a long-distance relationship, you know that things like Skype and phone calls can be valuable lifelines, but don't let them consume your entire life.  Likewise, if you just had lunch with your boyfriend, don't text him 5 times on your way home – constant communication can be annoying, and both parties involved can be considered clingy.  Plus, if you're not out living your life, what stories will you have to tell your man when you do talk? 

3. Try not to kiss and tell.

When the guys let Turtle take a first-class seat on a flight, he finds himself sitting next to Jamie-Lynn Sigler (the real actress that plays Meadow on The Sopranos, another guy favorite).  She's just broken up with her boyfriend, but Turtle makes her laugh and they seem to hit it off – she even gives him her number after they land.  But the guys don't believe Turtle when he says there was a spark, and they accuse him of lying or begging Jamie-Lynn to give her a fake number to impress them.  Feeling defensive, Turtle lets the guys in on a secret – she gave him a hand job during the flight.  The guys think this is impossibly hilarious and ask everyone from random waiters to Ari's staff members if they believe the story.  Later that week, Turtle sees Jamie at a club and she throws a drink in his face, calling him a jerk for telling everyone about it.

Now, things ended up working out with Jamie and Turtle, but only after Turtle explained the misunderstanding and proved he was trustworthy by secretly dating her for weeks.  I'm not suggesting that you should hide your relationships from the world, but you don't need to give your friends a play-by-play of your sexcapades or every cute thing your guy did at dinner last night.  It's important to respect the person you're interested in and be discreet when discussing your relationships – additionally, keeping some secrets with your guy can make your bond more intimate.