Ben and Morgan met at the Rotunda at 7 p.m. on Thursday and went to Oakhart Social.
Ben: I was very excited [for the date] from the get-go. I think blind dates in and of themselves are exciting. It’s hard at U.Va. to go on a date with someone you’ve never met.
Morgan: I’ve never been on a blind date before. I figured that it would be entertaining if nothing else, and I was hopeful that I would meet a quality guy.
Ben: I had no expectations. I had heard that [Love Connection] was a fun time, so I assumed it was going to be fun.
Morgan: I was sitting in one of the rocking chairs by Pav I and he was walking from the Rotunda across the Lawn and asked if I was waiting for someone.
Ben: I could tell she was fun – she was smiling from the start and looked bright and happy. She’s a pretty cute girl, and I felt a mutual giddiness at the beginning.
Morgan: He seemed nice and outgoing, which was reassuring. He was attractive.
Ben: I’d parked down by Batten, so we had some time to walk and talk as we walked down to my car. It was a perfect night in terms of the weather.
Morgan: When we got in the car, he had an old iPod with the last 30 years of music on it . My first test was to try to pick a song, which was difficult because the middle button was impossible to use. I was going to play “If I were a Boy” by Beyonce, which he justified having because it used to be his sister’s iPod.
Ben: I took her to Oakhart Social – [the restaurant has] tapas plates, so [food is] served group-style.
Morgan: We really talked about everything. We sat for three hours; I totally didn’t realize what time it was when we were leaving. I missed a couple other things I was supposed to go to after. We talked about literally everything.
Ben: We got to dinner at 7:30 and when I looked at my watch, it was 10:15. There weren’t any lulls in the conversation at all – I think it was a good mix with neither one of us dominating. I definitely didn’t expect it to be that easy to talk to a complete stranger like that.
Morgan: We both really care about service and being a part of the community. He does Camp Kesem and I do Cavs in the Classroom. We’re both a part of Madison House. He’s going to do a program working at a non-profit for a year before he starts his job.
Ben: Some of the conversations were really interesting. She studied at the London School of Economics over the summer and her room was haunted – we talked about that.
Morgan: We were discussing how he [is] going to do the fourth year 5K among other activities that day, and we were talking about how he would manage that.
Ben: I didn’t feel super-flirty, we kind of just swapped stories the whole time. It didn’t feel overly romanticized – just two people talking about their lives.
Morgan: There might have been some flirting – I don’t know. He recently started drinking coffee – maybe we’ll get some coffee together. I’d be open to a second date.
Ben: I think, if we do hang out again, it would be more as friends – it was just easy to talk to her and hang out with her. I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing her again, but probably not a date-y scene.
Morgan: My commerce school block was having a gathering, so he [took me there after the date].
Ben: I dropped her off and hugged her good night – it was a pleasant evening. It was a good experience to have to meet someone you know nothing about. I feel like nobody goes on a date anymore.
Morgan: I would rate the date an 8.7. I’m glad I went – it was good.
Ben: I’d rate the date a 9 – it was great. A great, classic, traditional date. It definitely makes me want to go on more dates now.
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