Phil
Third-year Biochemistry student

What extracurriculars do you participate in?
International Relations Organization, People United by Music and Arts, Free Tutoring, American Medical Students Association

What else do you like to do? Hobbies?
Running, cooking, soccer, salsa, being very bad at speaking Spanish, ice fishing

Describe your ideal date.
My ideal date would probably be Scarlett Johansson. If she is not available, I like pretty much any girl with a pulse. My ideal date would be on the moon. It’s a little tough to plan out logistically, but I could see it happening.

If you could date any celebrity, who would it be and why?
Sarah Palin. She looks great, has solid family values and knows her way around an arctic wilderness. Also if she becomes president, then I would be the First Man. All the benefits of the White House and all I have to do is be eye candy.

Do you work out or play sports? How important is physical fitness in your life?
I play intramural sports sometimes, or the occasional pick up frisbee or soccer game. Also I usually work out a couple times a week. I haven’t been recently because I ran out of steroids, but I should be back in the gym soon.

What are your favorite books and authors?
My favorite books are books that make you reevaluate the way you think. So I loved “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged”, “Siddhartha” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. I also enjoy fun reads though like books by Dennis Lehane or Dave Barry.

What are your favorite foods? Favorite restaurant in Charlottesville?
Right now I’m really big into making quesadillas, I make at least three a day because they are so easy and take less than five minutes. When it comes to going out, it’s always a tough decision, but I think my favorite Charlottesville restaurant is The Varsity. Way up 29 but has amazing food.

Describe the best five minutes of your life.
Being born.

What would your theme song be? Why?
“Sexy Chick” by David Guetta featuring Akon. It doesn’t describe me at all because sexy chicks don’t talk to me, but overall a really good song.

If there’s one thing you could change about yourself, what would it be? Why?
If I could only change one thing about myself, I would have a lot more chest hair because that’s the true sign of a man.

What do you want to do when you graduate?
Become a dentist.

Describe yourself in one sentence.
I’m just an average guy trying to make it at an exceptional college.

Faith
Third-year Architecture student

What extracurriculars do you participate in?
Sorority, intramural sports (soccer and ultimate frisbee) and … Architecture School? I might want to get involved in either Habitat for Humanity or Freedom by Design.

What are the physical and personality attributes you are looking for in a date?
Physically, I’d go for someone who has a decent build, is fun to hug, tall. He’s the guy who’s maybe a little shy at first but easily warms up to people and turns out to be so awesome, someone who people just enjoy being with. He’s interesting, motivated and has this amazing energy for living life to the fullest. He’s dependable, confident but not arrogant, tolerant and has a contagious smile.

What are your favorite TV shows?
“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

What’s your favorite food / favorite restaurant in Charlottesville?
In downtown C-ville, the crepe place [The Flat] and the Thai restaurant on Water Street are awesome. Mudhouse for coffee, Guadalajara for Mexican. The Tavern or IHOP for breakfast foods — good at any hour.

What are your favorite books and authors?
“Gone with the Wind” and “The Pillars of the Earth” are must-reads. And I’m not a reader.

What makes you a good catch?
I’m not high-maintenance. I can be in a relationship with someone but still have my own thing going on. I’m trustworthy, reliable, chill and always down for a good time.

What’s your type?
Attractive and fun.

What hobbies/interests would you like to share with your date? What ways would you like them to differ from you?
They don’t have to study architecture, but it’d be cool if they appreciated art. I’d like it if he played sports, was someone I could throw a frisbee around with. It’d probably even be better if we had different interests so he could share his interests with me (and vice versa). I love trying new things; that’s the one interest I hope he’d have too.

Describe where you would go on your ideal date.
Disney World, camping, anywhere we’d be doing something. Somewhere neither of us has ever been so we can laugh about whatever we’re doing.

If you could have any superpower what would it be?
Flying (cliché, but c’mon, it’s obvious)

You’re stranded on an island. What three foods would you bring? Which three people would you want with you?
Three foods would be chocolate, Caesar salad (never gets old) and blueberry pancakes. I’d want to be stranded with my best friend and two attractive guys, one for each of us.

What do you want to do when you graduate?
Work for an architecture firm. Or Disney. Or perhaps be the architect of Disney parks/resorts so I could have coffee with Imagineers on a daily basis.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Married, with a kid or two maybe by this point, living in a city on a coast, east or west. Hopefully I’d be financially secure and in love with my job.

If you were a member of the circus, who would you be and why?
Oh, definitely a trapeze artist. I’d actually have fun doing my act, and I’d be able to eat all the circus food I want and still stay in shape.

Describe yourself in one sentence.
I keep everything in perspective, think positively and appreciate all the good times.

Faith: I had always wanted to go on a blind date, so I was really excited when I found out I was going on Love Connection. When it was actually about to happen, though, I did not know what to think about it and didn’t even want to think about it. My friends found out who the guy was, but I wouldn’t let them tell me. I refused to check his Facebook because I’d say embarrassing things in the date that I wasn’t supposed to know already. After they looked at his Facebook, they just laughed, so I was kind of concerned.

Phil: I was really nervous before the date because I had never been on a date in college before, let alone a blind date. It just doesn’t seem like what people do here; there’s definitely a bigger hookup culture. The only blind dates I’ve seen are in movies, so I had really low expectations. My roommates thought it was hilarious; they wanted to dress in a disguise, fake rob us and then have me save her to look like a hero.

Faith: We planned to meet at 8 in front of Michael’s Bistro, which he chose. I didn’t want to be late for my first date — I mean first blind date — so I got there 10 minutes early and stood in front of the place at first. Then I realized that the door kind of recessed into the alley, so I felt like a hooker. Even the way the light was shining — and I was staring at every guy passing by, thinking he would be my date, so I definitely got some weird looks. After that I moved in front of Littlejohns, but people were still smiling and nodding at me, as if they were accepting my invitation.

Phil: So I was about to be on time, but then I realized I needed to get money, so I had to stop at the Bank of America and showed up a few minutes late. It made me look like a douche bag, especially because there are always creepers outside Littlejohns. When I saw her, I thought she was a little too cute for a blind date. Then I asked something like, “Michael’s Bistro?” and she nodded. She was really cute, which was a huge surprise; she had on the sundress, pearls, looked really U.Va. But she worked it.

Faith: When he introduced himself, I got really excited because he had just the biggest smile ever. He was cute — I wouldn’t say the hottest guy I’ve ever seen — and he gave off the “I’m a really fun guy” vibe right away. He was dressed well, too, in a nice shirt and khakis, which showed that he cared. But then he had his backpack on because he came from the library, and I actually liked this because it showed that he didn’t care too much. He didn’t take the date so seriously that he couldn’t study in the hours beforehand because he was too busy checking and rechecking his face in the mirror.

Phil: We started talking right away about random stuff, not too much of the small talk. She did say she was from Georgetown, and I’m from McLean, which I think is better, so we had a little debate about that. She talked about the A-school, which pretty much is her activity, and we talked about life and all its mysteries in general. She said she likes the outdoors and just went camping, which I really respect; I don’t even know what a sleeping bag is, so I have never been camping. At first she carried the conversation, but then I scored a few points, made a few layups.

Faith: He said he was a transfer student, so I made fun of him for being a noob. We also told embarrassing first-year stories. Mine was that my first party was a Trigon party, and then the next party I went to I showed up at 9 because I thought that was casually late. We got into talking about what we do school-wise, since I’m in the A-school and we have keggers every weekend. Since he’s in the E-school, he said they definitely don’t have anything like that. Then he said something about needing someone of “the black persuasion” or something like that to start a party, then he apologized for being racist or stereotypical and making it awkward. But he didn’t make it awkward because he wasn’t really being racist, and we just laughed it off.

Phil: We took so … long to order. I think we’re both procrastinators and I always wait until the last minute to order at a restaurant. She was pulling the same move, though, so the waitress had to come back like five times before we even looked at the menu. Then it took forever to decide, so finally she decided to get scallops and I still didn’t even know what I wanted, so I ended up with salmon.

Faith: At one point when we were talking, he whips out a notebook and started writing down things I was saying, like suggestions for places to go hiking and camping. I told him just to get in a car and drive toward Roanoke to look at the mountains, and he took diligent notes. It was funny, but I felt like I was talking so much. I kept apologizing, but he didn’t seem to mind. Even if he was pretending, he seemed really interested in what I had to say.

Phil: There might have been awkward moments, but no one told me. I had a great time and would love to see her again. She’s not like any girl I’ve ever dated, and I probably just came off as really uncool. It’s tough to get a sense of her because she’s just a little different — and I don’t mean she’s a crackhead or a serial killer — but just that there’s something else.

Faith: I’d say yes to another date; I’d rather do something like hiking or camping, something more informal than a whole dinner type thing. I got the feeling he was impressed by me — at one point he said, “So you’re a srat star, you’re athletic, you’re cute … And you live my dreams!” And I loved his personality but I’m also not someone who sees a guy and wants to go home with him right away. Here, it seems like you meet someone at a frat party and then hookup, so I’d love to actually be friends with him first.

Phil: I’d rate the date a 10,000 or a 10,000.5, since I’m a scientist and always leave a little room for error. I’ll probably call her and she’ll never respond. Her picking up would really be the factor in whether we go on another date or not. I’ll give her a call this weekend to see what she’s doing … And hopefully she’ll answer.

Faith: I’d give the date an eight. A really solid eight because I had such a great time, but to me, nine to 10 means there is a spark and I just can’t decide those things so early. He did text me after the date which was nice, and I just texted him back now asking if he’s done his interview yet, so maybe we’ll keep chatting and hanging out.

Phil texted Faith to grab dinner during the weekend, but Faith locked herself in the Architecture School and couldn’t attend. She felt bad, though, and the two plan on trying again when the academic storm subsides.