India
Because arranged marriages are still prevalent today, women do not date “for the fun of it,” but with marriage strictly in mind and usually in secret. Arundathi Gururajan, 20, says “Despite being in their twenties many young people still live at home and thus must abide by their parents’ rules. So a lot of the relationship is about maintaining the secrecy. People tend to go on group dates because single dates are harder to get away with.”

Holland
“In Holland we do not have the kind of dates you know in America,” says Dennis Dubbelman, 24. “[Americans] have a schedule like 1st date, 2nd date, etc. … we Dutch people aren’t that good in rules. Sometimes there’s kissing involved, sometimes even more … there are no strings attached.” One thing men are traditional about, however, is making sure the woman feels taken care of by always letting her enter the room first and waiting until she sits down to take his seat.

Mexico
Most girls growing up in Mexico get their first ideas of love from the tele novelas, Mexican soap operas predominant in popular culture. Therefore, it is no surprise that the expectations are extremely high. The guys do their part to fulfill the fairy tale introduction and visit their crush at night, accompanied by a mariachi (or a friend with a guitar) to sing a serenata outside her window. If the feeling is not mutual, she will not come out, or worse, her parents will pour water on the amateur soloist to make themselves clear he is not for their daughter.