Thomas
Year: Fifth—Master’s candidate at Curry School of Education
Major: Higher Education Administration
U.Va. Involvement: Resident of the East Range, Raven Society, former President of the Jefferson Society, “Academical Heritage Review” as an undergraduate
Ideal Date: A nice dinner then relaxing in front of the fireplace
What makes you a good catch? I’m a passionate person that values friendships above all else. I’ll go the extra mile for someone I care about every time. I’m the guy who you can take out to bars and home to your parents—moms love me.
Hannah
Year: Third
Major: Nursing
U.Va. Involvement: Nursing Student Council
Hobbies: Long walks, going on car rides, visiting the park
Ideal Date: Sweet, caring, energetic, passionate
What makes you a good catch? I’m nice and I care about people’s well being.
Favorite Pick-Up Line: Do you believe in love at first sight? Or should I walk by again?
Thomas and Hannah met at the Rotunda at 7 p.m. and went to Crozet Pizza.
Thomas: I filled out the survey on the last snow day when everyone had gotten tired of going out and playing in the snow. I was procrastinating to try to do anything but work on my thesis. I had just seen the article that talked about Love Connection and saw that there weren’t many grad students that did it, so I thought I would fill it out.
Hannah: I thought [Love Connection] would be fun. I knew other people who had done it and I was looking for a new experience.
Thomas: I was excited when I found out that I had been chosen. I think it takes some guts to put yourself out there, but I was excited for the chance to meet someone. I told a friend of mine about it and he immediately asked who had filled out the survey for me and then refused to believe me when I said I had filled it out for myself.
Hannah: I was really surprised when I found out because it was like a month later. I was a little nervous because I don’t usually go on blind dates.
Thomas: It was my first time on a blind date. I didn’t have many expectations. I was looking for the chance to meet someone and was hoping it would be nice and not too awkward.
Hannah: I was sitting around at the Rotunda for a while because I got there early to enjoy the weather. They were doing this random Shakespeare thing on the steps so I was watching that until he showed up.
Thomas: When I got to the Rotunda, there was a whole bunch of people taking pictures for a sorority formal. I had to fight through the crowd of sundresses to find Hannah.
Hannah: My first impression was that he was dressed nicely. He suggested Crozet for dinner and I was good with that.
Thomas: When I saw her sitting over to the side of the steps, I thought she was cute. The deal was to find somewhere outside to eat, but there was like [a] half an hour [wait] to get an outside table at Crozet, so we ended up sitting inside.
Hannah: During dinner we talked about everything. We talked about our majors, where we’re from, history, travel, what we’re involved in and what we want to do after college. We didn’t talk about TV or anything like that, but did end up talking about Pinterest because he has an account.
Thomas: It was a pretty good conversation. There weren’t many dead spots at all and I thought we were both interested in what the other person was saying. I didn’t expect it to be easy to carry out a conversation for a long time with someone I had just met but we both made the effort to keep it going.
Hannah: It was pretty even with us asking each other questions. I’m not much of a talker, but he was. We didn’t have that much in common—he’s very involved in things and seems to like books and history, but we did agree that we both really like to sleep.
Thomas: We don’t have any mutual friends and [we] have different majors, but we talked a lot about how we both want to travel. I don’t think it was terribly flirty. It was just good conversation and a nice dinner.
Hannah: After dinner, we went back to his Range room and sat outside and drank wine and watched fireworks. It was nice.
Thomas: We talked for a little while longer outside my room. I asked for her phone number and she gave me a hug goodbye.
Hannah: It was a really nice date. I would give it an 8.5. I had fun and there weren’t any bad moments.
Thomas: I would give it a 6 or 7. It was a good time; we both enjoyed getting to know each other, but I don’t know if there was a huge romantic connection or anything. Overall, it was a good date. I have her number, so I might give her a call at some point.
Hannah: I could see us going out again for a casual coffee thing. It was a nice time.
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