Love Connection: Nia and Eden
Nia and Eden met at Grit Coffee on the Corner
Jenna Onetto, Love Connection writer
Nia Blibo*: fourth-year Engineering student
Dream job: Doctor but also professor that discusses the intersection of medicine and African American studies
Childhood hero: My mom
If you were an animal or plant, what would you be?: Red panda
Deal breakers: Lack of awareness on social issues, anti-social, close-minded, not easy going, lack of humor
*Answers courtesy of Nia’s friends
Eden Hentschel: fourth-year College student
Dream job: Doctor
Childhood hero: Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson
If you were an animal or plant, what would you be?: Fox
Deal breakers: Anti-vaxxer
Nia and Eden met at Grit Coffee on the Corner.
Eden: [Our date] was … in the afternoon. We met at Grit on the Corner.
Nia: I suggested coffee because if it was going to be a bad date … coffee is short. If you sit down for a meal, that has to be prolonged until you finish eating.
Eden: I got there a little bit earlier, I think we were supposed to meet … I want to say 1:20 [p.m.] or something and I was there at 1:00 [p.m.], so I got us a table on the second floor of Grit. I texted Nia, and I guess she had never been to this Grit before because it was kind of funny, we had a little trouble meeting up. I texted her and said, “Hi, I’m upstairs at the table,” and she was like, “Wait are you inside or outside?” and I said “I’m inside,” and she’s like, “Oh, there’s an upstairs?” and I said, “Yeah, there’s an upstairs.”
Nia: I didn’t realize Grit had an upstairs so she had to come downstairs, and then we ended up ordering coffee, went upstairs and we just talked about a lot of different things. I think one of the things we connected most on was that I’m pre-med and she’s pre-PA, so just like the science background.
Eden: We talked about a lot of different things. I think we were there for an hour and a half or so. We talked about how she wants to be a doctor and I’m also pre-med, and we talked about [how we’re] both graduating this year and what we’re going to do. She’s taking a gap year and so am I. She’s considering becoming an EMT or a scribe, and I told her I was a CNA, which is like a nurse’s assistant, so she was asking me a little bit about that, how much I liked it and whatnot.
Nia: Then we talked about spring break plans, family, life, mutual coming out processes, how our family reacted to us coming out and stuff like that … Being black and being queer, my experiences are going to be a lot different than hers.
Eden: She’s from [Northern Virginia] and so am I, and we were talking about our families because we both come from kind of big families. She has a lot of cousins who she’s really, really close to, and a lot of my cousins also live in the area.
Nia: It was pretty easy going, it wasn’t too awkward … I think that we’re both pretty sociable people, so it wasn’t weird forcing conversation or anything like that.
Eden: I think it was a little awkward … meeting each other because we had trouble meeting right away, but after we found each other, it was pretty easy. She was really easy to talk to, very nice. We shared a lot in common so that was easy to talk about.
Nia: I didn’t really have any expectations [going into the date], partially because my friend signed me up for Love Connection so I didn’t fill out my own application, and I was like, “What did she put? What’s going to happen?”
Eden: I didn’t really have any expectations [about the date] actually. I assumed it would be more friendly than romantic, which it was, and I assumed I would probably be meeting someone who was either my year or my department major but other than that I didn’t really have any expectations. I would definitely hang out as friends I think. I’m glad we went out. She’s definitely an interesting person to know. I’m definitely glad that I met her.
Nia: I think [in the future it’ll be] the friendship route, especially considering the fact that we’re both fourth years and going to graduate.
Eden: It was fun, it was very chill, it was relaxing. It was nice to meet somebody I probably would have never met otherwise. She seemed very thoughtful … I can tell she’s very smart.
Nia: I think that it was just a good experience to have, even though I didn’t choose it for myself — I’m not mad at my friend for signing me up. [She was] nice, easy-going … sociable. [We were at Grit] for a little over an hour, an hour and 30 [minutes]. Saying goodbye was nice, we kind of just walked down Elliewood for a little until we got to the actual Corner part and then she went right and I went left.
Eden: I thought [the Love Connection process] was great. I mean, I pretty much got exactly what I was expecting out of it, getting to meet somebody who you might never have met before … It seems like a very chill process, not a lot of pressure, which I enjoyed. So yeah, I would recommend it.
Nia: From what my friend told me it sounded like [the application questions] were good questions, not just superficial … you can delve a little bit deeper. I think it’s good that you get out what you put into the application.
The Cavalier Daily's Love Connection will return in the fall semester.
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