Whether it’s on the cheek, lip to lip, or with or without tongue, kissing is a world-wide phenomenon. Today, July 6, is this year’s International Kissing Day. In celebration of kisses everywhere, students and professors share some of their kissing experiences: from the first kiss, to kissing ‘the one,’ to kisses that taught them about who they are, and the kisses that are yet to come. Whether a kiss is enjoyed for a brief moment or a lifetime, it becomes a personal memory, which is something worth celebrating.

1. First Kisses

“The only kiss worth sharing is my first one with Chase Bellows. It was like kissing a wall, and he had crusted cheese on the inner corners of his mouth. We were 13.”

— Kristen Pringle, 26, English major, Cal Poly University, Pomona

“My first kiss was August 25, 2006. It was hilarious. He was my first boyfriend ever. We were sitting in the family room of my parent’s house, on the great big leather couch. We were cuddling and holding hands. He kept kissing my shoulder, so I flat out said, ‘you know my mouth is over here, right?’ And he said, “Oh, yeah. Hold on, I gotta pluck up the courage.” It only took me about 15 seconds to get over it, and I leaned in and kissed him real good. He was in absolute shock. Then, we made-out for forever, and at the time, it was the best. Looking back, it was extremely slobbery and not okay.”

— Bonnie Koenn, 24, graphic design and photography major, Cal Baptist University

2. Memorable Kisses

“In fifth grade, a person who was not necessarily a bully, but not very nice to me either, gave me a kiss at the end of the year after the graduation ceremony. It was a nice way to ‘bury the hatchet,’ if you will.”

— Matthew S., 28, business administration major, Mt. San Antonio College and National University

“My most memorable kiss was with my ex, ex, ex-girlfriend. I was helping her study for a history final at her house when we started making-out. She had really soft lips, and the kisses were just really tender, loving, and pleasant — and she ended up doing really well on her final too.”

— Stephen Hess, 28, photography major, Mt. San Antonio College

3. Kissing “The One”

“The best kiss I ever had was on a sweaty, crowded bus traveling across the English countryside. I was twenty years old and in the naive foolishness that cause young people to rush headlong into things, I knew that I was going to spend the rest of my life with this person. I was right.”

— John Brantingham, 44, Professor of English, Mt. San Antonio College

“The most memorable kiss for me was when John and I kissed for the first time. It felt like pure electricity pulsing through my whole body, and I knew he was “the one.” The hair on my head tingled, and my lips felt right at home. We had been friends for months, jogging together in the mornings and having occasional lunches together during the week. One day he asked me if that evening I wanted to go see Dances With Wolves, which had just come out in the theaters. I sensed that things were evolving in our relationship, and I was eager for the change. During the film, he slipped his hand into mine, and he kept looking over at me. I could hardly keep calm. Afterwards, he drove me home, and I invited him in, and just like that, the magic happened. We’ve been together 25 years, and I still can’t get enough of his one-of-a-kind electric kiss.”

— Dr. Frances Borella, 58, Professor of Anthropology, Mt. San Antonio College

4. The Kiss Rehearsal

“It was 2007 and I was 16. I’d just been cast as the romantic lead in my theatre teacher’s thesis show for his master’s degree, “You Can’t Take It With You.” The first time I met the guy who ended up being the male romantic lead was at call backs. Things at our first rehearsal together became super awkward when I realized he was going to be my first kiss and I didn’t know him at all. Our director freaked and asked us to spend time together off stage so we could attempt to develop the chemistry we needed onstage. So, we did. We started hanging out together before school, in between classes, and during breaks at rehearsal. As it turned out, we really hit it off and I fell for him. Rumor around the theatre was that he had fallen for me, too. Weeks before our big moment, my friend came up to me during rehearsals and asked, ‘So are you guys rehearsing the kiss scene next week? Have you kissed him yet?’ I hadn’t. And when I told her that, she just smiled, and walked away. About five minutes later, I was told I was needed in the costume shop for a fitting. When I opened the door, it was dark and no one was there except for the show’s male lead. ‘I want you to know I had nothing to do with this,’ he said, quickly. ‘They tricked me too.’ I tried to open the door, but it was locked from the outside. ‘You’re not allowed out until you kiss!’ called my friend’s voice from the other side of the door. We sat there at first, just talking. Him about how he thought the whole thing was funny, and me about how I was going to kill my friend when we got out of there. He smiled and laughed. Then, he took me by the hand, pushed me gently up against a wall, and kissed me. It was so sweet. We ended up dating for two years.”

— Jennifer Sandy, 23, journalism major, Mt. San Antonio College

5. The Planned Kiss

“I started going out with this girl in the seventh grade. We hadn’t kissed yet, and it had been like two weeks. I had been planning, and asking myself, ‘How do I do this? How do I see her?’ I asked her if I could meet her at a mall on a Saturday afternoon. One of her parents dropped her off, and we met outside, in front of one of the stores. I don’t know when I thought of it, but while we were walking around, before we went into the mall, I said, ‘Let’s go to the parking lot.’ The mall had different levels of parking, and I remember that we were going to go up to the top parking level where we could see outside and admire the view. I got really nervous because I kept thinking, ‘I’m going to lay this kiss on her, right now, in the next couple of seconds, or minutes.’ We were going up the winding stairs, and we got to this turn. I just looked at her, put my hands on her shoulders to pull her in, and we started kissing. Right before I made that final move, I could feel my body shaking. After I started kissing her, her reaction was exactly what I needed, and I wasn’t shaking anymore. I remember thinking, “Wow, this is really nice.” I had had a big crush on her for a long time. She was really beautiful, and even though it wasn’t my first kiss, it was my first kiss with her.”

— Michael Aguero, 49, psychology major, California State University, Fullerton

6. The “Online-Meets-Reality” Kiss

“I met this girl through one of those online dating applications, like Tinder or something. I went to a college party, and the next morning, the girl from online asked if I went to a party the night before. She had been at the same party, and we went on a date the next day because she saw me in person and decided that I wasn’t a weirdo. We kissed on the first date in the back of my car. I just thought, with the online thing, that it was such a small world. She didn’t even go to the same college, and was just a friend of a friend.”

— Pablo Garcia, 23, music major, California State University, Northridge

7. Self-Revelation Kisses

“For the first 25 years of my life, I had only kissed boys. It never felt quite right. When I finally kissed a girl for the first time, I immediately said afterward, ‘So that’s what I’ve been missing!’”

— Ashley Aisenson, 26, accounting major, Moorpark College

“When I reached college, I had kissed maybe two or three boys, but it still hadn’t felt right. Then, later down the road, I started to put the pieces together, and I realized that I fancied girls and not boys. It was on the second date with my current girlfriend, and we went and saw Jupiter Ascending at this sketchy movie theater in Los Angeles, Calif.. I had butterflies in my stomach all night because I was so nervous. We walked out to her car after the movie, and hung out outside the car for awhile, just talking. I remember her leaning in, and the space between us was getting smaller and smaller. Before I knew it, her lips were on mine, and I couldn’t stop kissing her. Within minutes, it was sprinkling, and then it was pouring as we continued to kiss. My hair was soaking wet, as well as my clothes, and I didn’t care because, for the first time, I felt that feeling I had been searching for. I grew up watching Disney movies, and watching the guy get the girl, and when they kissed, it always represented this magical, happy ending. I had never had that feeling until that night. After about two hours of making-out in the rain, our night had finally come to an end. As I drove home that night, I couldn’t help but smile. Little did I know that this was the girl who was going to change the definition of love for me — and get me to fall in love with her, every single day.”

— Courtney Johnson, 23, Marine Biology, California State University, Long Beach

8. The Awkward, Childhood Kiss

“When you kiss someone, I think it should be shared with someone that you want to spend the rest of your life with, not just someone you want to mess around with or something like that. But, my first kiss was at eight years-old. Our moms were friends, and we were playing around in the apartment complex, hanging out at the jungle gym, and stuff like that, when she locked me in the wash room. Eventually I got out, and chased her all over the place, to the playground. We ended up at the top of the jungle gym, and she kissed me. At first I was disgusted by it because I was only eight. The kiss lasted for 60 seconds. I’m not exaggerating either. It wasn’t a French kiss. We were just sitting there, lips together, breathing, not knowing what to do, wondering, when do we stop? And, are we supposed to feel something? “

— Cyron Bird, 21, pharmacy technician major, Chaffey College

9. The Waiting-For-The-Right-Moment Kiss

“I’ve never been kissed because I’ve never been in love. I’ve always thought that love is important, and I wanted my first romantic kiss with a woman to be with the only woman I love. I’m not entirely a hopeless romantic. However, when I was younger, everyone else seemed like they kissed because they just wanted to get it done. I didn’t kiss anyone because I wanted kissing to be something that I did, not because I had to, but because I’d love to. As I got older, I became a little afraid of love. I haven’t given up. I’m just waiting for the right one.”

— R. Espiritu, 34, Professor of English, Chaffey College

10. A Kiss in the Future

“There is this pen pal that I’ve had, and now that I’m in France we are going on a date. I haven’t seen her yet, but I will this Sunday for the first time. My first kiss with Julienne Muggeo will be on Sun., July 12. It hasn’t happened, yet I know it will. The kiss will last a moment, but feel like a lifetime. The optimistic future of love in Paris mutually waits patiently until the first time that we meet.”

— Ivan Rios, 24, English literature and language major, Sorbonne in Paris

Substance is a publication of the Mt. San Antonio College Journalism Program. The program recently moved its newsroom over to Medium as part of a one-year experiment. Read about it here.