Ryan
Year: Third
Major: Commerce
U.Va. Involvement: Dance Marathon, Madison House Tutoring, SAE
Hometown: Collegeville, PA
Ideal Date Personality: Challenging, intelligent and witty.
Ideal Date Activity: Dinner, drinks and a good conversation.
Deal breakers? Snapbacks and tattoos.
Hobbies: Trivia and watching “Suits.”
What makes you a good catch? I’m great at ironing and well-liked by family members. I also have good posture, or so I’ve been told.
What makes you a less-than-perfect catch? I’m less than adventurous and hardly punctual.
What is your spirit animal? George Costanza.
Describe yourself in one sentence: I’m a nice enough guy with an awful habit of underselling myself.
Miranda
Year: Second
Major: Biology and Global Health
U.Va. Involvement: Peer Health Education, UN Women Executive Board, Madison House, Sig Delt, Public Health Research Assistant
Hometown: Leesburg, VA
Ideal Date: Looks cute and huggable, but still masculine, like a Care Bear on steroids.
Ideal Date Personality: Funny, cultured and easy to talk to.
Deal breakers? Closed-minded, anti-feminist or if his name is Gary or Jerry. Ew.
Describe a typical weekend: A party one night, baking and Netflix with friends the other night, homework and sleep.
Hobbies: Hiking, yoga, baking, reading, being sarcastic, kayaking.
What is your spirit animal? Andy Dwyer and April Ludgate’s future baby.
Ryan and Miranda met at the Commerce School at 6:50 p.m. on Friday and went to Citizen Burger.
Ryan: I have been having a hard time scoring dates for the past couple of decades and I saw Love Connection as the perfect opportunity to land a date before being seen or heard from. I had never been on a blind date before, but I had certain expectations based on television shows, movies and horror stories labeled “Love Connection” in the Cavalier Daily. I didn’t expect to fall in love immediately, but I was open to the idea.
Miranda: I knew I’d be disappointed if he didn’t whisk me away to be married at the chapel, then spend our flight to Tahiti discussing the names of our future children.
Ryan: I arrived at promptly 6:30 p.m. —our agreed upon meeting time. I was neither early nor late, yet still fashionable. I waited outside for five minutes before [I was] notified that my date was running late or in the process of standing me up. As I [waited], my phone died, so I knew the night was off to a good start.
Miranda: I was almost 20 minutes late because I’m a mess of a human being. We finally found each other and he said he had made a reservation downtown and had an Uber driver waiting. I ruined those plans by being late — sorry Ryan! I’ll let you choose the honeymoon destination to make up for it.
Ryan: Knowing that women love decisiveness, I made a reservation at The Local and arranged for a taxi to pick us up behind the Comm School. With a useless phone and no date in sight, I had to call off the cab and the reservation.
Miranda: While I was apologizing, half my brain thought he was pretty cute. The other half worried about how he must think I suck, but he was a perfect gentleman about it.
Ryan: Once we arrived downtown, I recommended we eat at Citizen Burger.
Miranda: While waiting for our table at the restaurant, we wandered [down the] Mall a little. We passed the tea bazaar, one of my favorite places, and I got really excited to show it to him. But sitting down, I realized he probably thought it was a weird place, since he’s kind of traditional and unadventurous with food and traveling.
Ryan: While waiting for a table, we were able to visit a tea lounge, Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, which was as strange as advertised. She suggested we check it out and I [know] all good relationships require compromises from time to time.
Miranda: He told me he’s not too adventurous with food, which is the complete opposite of me.
Ryan: Other than being odd enough to submit a survey to Love Connection, we really did not have much in common. She lives on-Grounds and hails from England, while I live off-Grounds and represent the U.S. of A. We run with different crowds, but opposites do attract.
Miranda: It felt pretty casual — there was rarely an awkward pause. He was a laid back guy, so it was easy. I didn’t have to use my many charms to coax him into conversation.
Ryan: I paid for dinner. We caught a cab, after waiting for quite a while and were dropped off at separate locations. I was being coy, but I think she was making eyes at me.
Miranda: He said I have nice teeth, so obviously he’s in love with me.
Ryan: I had a great time talking to her and would consider grabbing coffee or even dinner again. I wouldn’t say there was a romantic connection, but I’m also not adept at reading the signs when it comes to women.
Miranda: I’d hang out with him again. He was pretty easy to talk to and it was refreshing to talk to someone different from me. The question is, on a scale of 1-10, how crazy does he think I am?
Ryan: I would rate the date a 7.
Miranda: I’d [rate the date a] 7 out of 10. It was fun and casual, but he didn’t quote Shakespeare or hire a mariachi band to follow us around — huge deal breakers for me.
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