Malcolm and Annika met on the Lawn at 6 p.m. on Thursday and went to Lemongrass.
Annika: I had a good friend of mine who did [Love Connection] recently and I thought it was really funny. I was talking to some friends about it and they said they wanted to make a profile for me. And I figured, why not.
Malcolm: So, funny story about that. One of the residents in my dorm filled out an application and came to my door and displayed it and asked what I thought about it. I was just like, "You know what? Go ahead." I thought it would be kind of funny. I'm always looking to meet new people so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to find someone cool.
Annika: I was kind of surprised when I got chosen. I had actually forgotten about it. I didn't really get nervous about it until the day of.
Malcolm: When I got chosen, I laughed hysterically and immediately texted the resident and she said I had to give her credit. Shout out to Caroline for doing that. When I received the email that said it may take years to even get picked, I thought, "I don’t have to worry about getting picked and being embarrassed about what she wrote." So when I got picked I was like, "Look what you did." It was pretty funny and she was proud about it.
Annika: I went on one blind date before and it was really awkward. This time, I was expecting to meet someone new, get dinner on the Corner. That was pretty much what I was expecting.
Malcolm: To my knowledge I have never been on a blind date before. My expectations were very minimal. I honestly.... wasn't expecting much. I thought I'd come out of it with a friend at least.
Annika: I was hanging out in my friend's Lawn room doing work, and I was waiting for the clock to strike. At 6 p.m., I saw this guy standing on the other side of the Lawn and I was thinking that he looked familiar. "What if I know who he is?" As I got closer I was like, "Yes, that’s definitely Malcolm."
Malcolm: I was waiting out there and one of my friends who lives on the Lawn, who was my RA last year, started making fun of me like, "Oh my god you're doing Love Connection. You might meet someone you hate." So I, of course, got nervous listening to him. Annika walked up and it was very relieving to see her because I've known her for a very long time [from high school] so it was really funny for me because my worries went away.
Annika: He looked like he had dressed up a little bit so that was flattering. He looked chipper and seemed happy to see me. We haven't really spent much time since I graduated high school, so it was nice to see him again.
Malcolm: We both looked at each other and started laughing. She saw me and was like, "Are you here for what I think you're here for?" and I was like, "Are you here for what I think you’re here for?" We hugged and thought at least now we can catch up. I've known her for six years and volunteered together at the YMCA, went to the same high school. It's cool that I got to see her again. We pass each other all the time and it's one of those friendships where we say, "Oh yeah we should catch up and go get a meal sometime!" but never do it. So this gave us a chance to actually do it.
Annika: For the date, he suggested we go to Lemongrass because we both love it so much.
Malcolm: I said I love Lemongrass — [I’m] a huge fan and always looking for an excuse to go, and she said she loves Lemongrass too. So we went to Lemongrass.
Annika: [The conversation] wasn’t awkward at all, and it was pretty balanced. It was really nice because we already know so much about each other. We're both involved in Resident Staff at U.Va. and I know he's super involved in Class Council so it was great asking him in greater detail about those commitments and how he's doing and what he's studying. It's also kind of nostalgic for me because I am graduating this year and he's just finishing out his second year. It's really cool to hear where he is in his arch of his time at the University and it was fun to catch up.
Malcolm: It was definitely not awkward at all; it was very balanced. It was just a lot of catch up and [getting] to know what's going on. I know her family well and she knows my family so the conversation just flowed the whole time since it's been awhile since we talked. It was nice, especially since she's graduating.
Annika: We have some things in common, but I do think we are pretty different people. We got along very well. We come from the same place and we were both involved in many things in high school so that gives us a lot of experiences in common. But I think in terms of personality or like what our interests are, we are very different. But he's cool, super nice and laid back and very sweet. He is very invested in other people so it's always nice to talk to him.
Malcolm: Aside from everything in high school, we both at one time tried Salsa Club. She did it her first semester of first year, and I tried out this semester and I'm doing it now. So we both started talking about dancing. She does a lot with different theater groups so I we're both into the performance type of stuff.
Annika: I admit that I have no idea what Class Council does, which is kind of concerning as a fourth-year, but he was very sweet and explained all of the student politics to me. We kept on coming back to how funny it was that we got paired to go on a date.
Malcolm: Because we've known each other for so long it was very immediate that we weren't going on an actual date. It was still cool because even though it was a blind date, there was a nice little coax into it by seeing someone you know and there was no pressure or anything like that.
Annika: The date was really casual. Definitely super casual.
Malcolm: I could see myself going out with her again, but in the same context as a friend.
Annika: I promised him I would take him out for ice cream since he paid for dinner. So we're going to have a part two at some point.
Malcolm: I paid for dinner. Father and mother raised me well. If you take a lady out you should pay for dinner, so I picked up the tab. She didn’t want me to, so she said that we would have to go get ice cream sometime and she'd pay. I said deal. So we will probably go get Arch's or something in the near future. Hopefully before she graduates.
Annika: I would say the date was a 7. It was a solid date. I think what would have made it a 10 was if there had been attraction or been someone unexpected. But since we knew each other, we already knew we weren't interested in each other that way.
Malcolm: I give the date either an 8 or 9. It's hard to give a perfect score because in a way it wasn’t really blind and we knew each other. But it was definitely a fun experience that I can add to during my time at U.Va.
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