Joseph
First-year College student
What do you like to do in your free time?
Read/write poetry, watch football, play my PS3.
What are the physical and personality attributes you are looking for in a date?
I like attractive girls who are smart, but not nerdy. I like to be able to carry on an interesting, balanced conversation. I don’t want a girl who is taller than me (I am 5-foot-10), but slender, slightly shorter girls are a plus.
What are your favorite TV shows?
“Scrubs,” “Mythbusters,” “SportsCenter,” “Spike TV Presents: World’s Most Amazing Videos,” “South Park”
Favorite books/authors?
My favorite book is “Lyrical Ballads” by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
What’s your favorite food?
Any type of Lebanese or Middle Eastern food.
Describe your ideal date (not person but outing)?
My perfect date would be dinner at a casual restaurant, followed by either ice skating, a movie, putt-putt or bowling. I like to do one-on-one activities as opposed to group dates.
What are deal breakers?
Bad breath, cigarette smoking, really tall girls.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
In 10 years I see myself earning a partnership at a large law firm and competing for a high ranking position at a Fortune 500 company.
If you were a member of the circus, who would you be and why?
I would be a clown because I love making people laugh, and it has the lowest casualty rate.
Describe yourself in one sentence.
I like to have a good time at my own expense, I am an enjoyable person to hang out with and I’m just an all-around fun guy.
Claire
First-year College student
What do you like to do in your free time?
Listen to music, attempt to play the harmonica, eat, go to art museums, go on hikes, occasionally write poetry, spend time with friends, watch movies, travel, take photos, go to concerts/see live music.
What are the physical and personality attributes you are looking for in a date?
Shockingly good looking, funny, taller than me (not hard since I’m 5-foot-2), nice smile, sweet, good conversationalist, cutely awkward, easygoing, likes to laugh, not overly stocky/overweight; I like brunette curly hair, but it doesn’t really matter.
What are your favorite TV shows?
“Project Runway,” “Seinfeld,” “Scrubs,” “Gilmore Girls,” Pushing Daisies”
Favorite books/authors?
“The Catcher in the Rye,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Phantom Tollbooth,” “Crime and Punishment”
What’s your favorite food?
Mashed potatoes, sushi, bananas, Thai food, mango lassis, chickpeas, brie.
Describe your ideal date (not person but outing)?
Anything spontaneous and fun; making a picnic lunch and going on a picnic/nice walk, good conversation, going out for coffee and seeing a good live local band.
What are deal breakers?
Smoker, really obnoxious and egotistical, very overweight or super stocky.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Working, living happily, hopefully engaged or in a good relationship/settling down.
If you were a member of the circus, who would you be and why?
When I went to see Cirque du Soleil I saw a guy who could whistle any song — even really hard classical pieces — and that is what I would want to be.
Describe yourself in one sentence.
I am pretty easy to get along with, can enjoy myself in most situations as long as I’m in good company and love being spontaneous.
Date: 0ct. 26
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Virginian
Joseph: I thought she looked like a pretty normal girl. She was on her cell phone, so I wasn’t sure how to take that ... but I thought that from the start it would be a pretty interesting date.
Claire: He looked like he was a nice guy.
Joseph: I walked up to her and waited until she got off the phone, and I said, “Are you Claire?” And she said, “Yes,” and I said, “I’m Joseph, nice to meet you.”
Claire: I was on the phone outside the restaurant when he walked up ... We awkwardly shook hands and said, “Nice to meet you” and walked inside.
Joseph: We talked about what we had heard from our friends about the restaurant and a little bit about why we signed up to do Love Connection.
Claire: We talked about why we signed up for [Love Connection] and just about where we live since we’re both first-year [students].
Joseph: She ordered grilled cheese, and I ordered The [Famous Virginian] Club. [The grilled cheese] was actually what I wanted to order, but she took it from me. I thought it was funny she was going to order the same thing as me.
Claire: I had the Gourmet Grilled Cheese and he had a club sandwich.
Joseph: There was never really a dull moment because she would ask me my favorite things. Whenever we hit a topic that we would have something in common, we would go off on a tangent. [There weren’t many awkward pauses], only a few times when I was trying to eat and she asked me a question right when I took a bite. It was only awkward for me because I was chewing.
Claire: We talked about a lot of different stuff. The conversation wasn’t that awkward, which is good. There [weren’t] that many awkward pauses. We had a few similarities. We both like to write, we both don’t like working out, we don’t go to the gym a lot, [and] we’re both taking astronomy and psychology.
Joseph: She lives in Balz and I live in Kellogg. I think our windows face each other, and we had never met. We both are kind of undecided on our major, so we’re taking pretty standard classes. Other than that, we didn’t have a lot in common, but not in a bad way. [My least favorite part of the date was] probably that she stole my grilled cheese.
Claire: He was really easy to talk to and he was friendly. I guess something we didn’t have in common is we talked about politics briefly, and he’s conservative and for McCain, and I’m liberal and for Obama, so that was not good, I guess.
Joseph: She’s a good conversationalist. I was kind of worried I’d be with someone who’s kind of ditzy or way too talkative. She was a good balance between wanting to talk and listening what I had to say. There was about 50-50 balance of who did the talking. There was a little bit of chemistry, probably more toward the beginning of the date.
Claire: It was a friendly conversation, but I didn’t really seem romantically connected to him. After dinner we went to Arch’s [Frozen Yogurt] ... and then we walked back to our dorms talking. We went back to my dorm and talked a bit more. We said, “Thanks for a great date” and hugged goodbye.
Joseph: She wasn’t really receptive to my hug, but the effort was there. We exchanged phone numbers. She’s right there, so I would probably hang out again.
Claire: I’d be willing to hang out with him again but probably more as friends.
Where they are now:
Claire and Joseph have not talked since the date and are not Facebook friends.
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