Napatra
Fourth-year Architecture student
Major? Architecture
Sexual Orientation? Straight
What extracurriculars do you participate in? University Guide Service, Alternative Spring Break, Sustained Dialogue, UJC (past), Thai Student Organization
What do you like to do in your free time? Hang out with friends. I’m a fourth year so that’s all I do.
What are the physical and personality attributes you are looking for in a date? Funny, outgoing, intellectual.
What are your religious affiliations? Buddhism — Theravada
What are your favorite TV shows? Grey’s Anatomy, The Office (I’m very original.)
What’s your favorite food? Thai, Indian, anything fusion. I’m a big eater so anything really.
Describe your ideal date (not person but outing). A spontaneous date. I also enjoy dining out a lot, so that’s always an option.
Do you smoke? No
Are you outgoing or shy? Outgoing
What do you want to do when you graduate: Move to China.
If you were a member of the circus, who would you be and why? Probably one of the acrobats. They wear pretty outfits!
Describe yourself in one sentence. I’m a spongy bird; I’m always curious about everything — big or small — and I’m very liberal.
John
Fourth-year Commerce student
Major? Finance and Information Technology
Sexual Orientation? Straight
What extracurriculars do you participate in? Greek Life, Best Buddies, Intramural sports
What do you like to do in your free time? Any outdoor activity, spend time with friends
What are the physical and personality attributes you are looking for in a date? I’d like an outgoing girl who has a sense of humor and brings up topics of discussion on her own. I am most attracted to shorter girls that are athletic/healthy looking. I’m not scared of curves.
What are your religious affiliations? Methodist, but I’m not really practicing.
What are your favorite TV shows? Discovery Channel, Curb your Enthusiasm, The Office
What’s your favorite food? I just like to eat. Hardshell crabs are my favorite though.
Describe your ideal date (not person but outing)? My ideal date would be a nice dinner, followed by an activity like karaoke or something.
What are deal breakers (won’t date a smoker, age, etc.)? Deal breakers would be someone who smells bad, or is really overweight, or doesn’t have a sense of humor [and] someone who acts too slutty.
Do you smoke? No
Are you outgoing or shy? I’m loud and personable, but around girls I find to be attractive, I would say that I am shy.
What do you want to do when you graduate? Have fun doing a job that doesn’t seem like work.
If you were a member of the circus, who would you be and why? I would probably be the ring leader because I am good at orchestrating things, however, I could also be a clown because I can juggle and balance things on my nose.
Describe yourself in one sentence. I am a handsome guy with a great sense of humor and a passion for fun that still believes in chivalry.
Napatra: I was pretty excited because I’ve never done anything like this. I just wanted to try things out and have fun.
John: I wasn’t really excited; I would say just kind of curious and in anticipation of the evening. Before the date started, I was thinking that I would ... meet somebody fun and possibly get some laughs out of the evening. I was definitely not nervous.
Napatra: I wasn’t nervous at all. I just had a mentality that I was going for a date to just enjoy the meal and have fun with it, rather than being conscious of how the date is going to turn out and who it’s going to be. He picked me up at the Chapel at 7:00 on Sunday and right when I got into the car, I realized that we had met before when we were both first-years.
John: So Napatra and I actually first met when I snuck into an International Students dinner the third night of my first-year, with my Brazilian suitemate, Tomaz. So I was sitting at the table — and still very much a cocky high school jock — and apparently I said some things at this dinner that were funny to the other Brazilian sitting at the table and this other girl from Thailand who ended up being Napatra. Then, Napatra and I had interacted on several occasions at parties, but neither of us could precisely remember where or when. But we were definitely familiar with each other’s faces.
Napatra: I guess U.Va. has proven once again that it is a pretty small school. It was more like “Oh, you!” kind of impression as opposed to meeting someone completely new. Although we had met, we hadn’t talked or gotten to know each other so it was still pretty much a blind date.
John: She seemed very nice. I didn’t realize she lived on the Lawn, so when we figured that out, we started talking about who we knew in common and eventually started to talk about dinner. I told her we had some decisions to make about where we wanted to eat. We decided to go to The Local in Belmont, which she was really excited about. I was excited because I knew they had really good food.
Napatra: He seemed pretty outgoing, and I knew that it would be a pretty fun time. Picking the restaurant was not difficult. The conversation just kind of flowed organically. I remember that there was not an awkward silence at all; we just jumped right into conversation. We both apparently enjoy eating, so we had an appetizer and we both ordered the same entrée — pork chop — and it was really good. I had a glass of wine, and he had a beer.
John: When we ordered, we decided to split an appetizer, which was some kind of crunchy spicy shrimp, which was awesome. It was kind of funny because she was trying to be very polite in her table manners and these shrimp were not very easy to eat. So I was just like, ‘Let’s pick these up and eat with our hands,’ which seemed to relax her a little more. We actually both ordered the lamb chops with mashed potatoes and sweet potato stringy things. She said she wasn’t quite the big drinker but she ordered a glass of wine, and I kept ordering beers as quickly and often as possible, so I think the evening got funnier and funnier as it went along.
Napatra: I think both John and I went into this with the same mentality: just wanting to have fun. We’re pretty outgoing and we definitely had a good conversation.
John: We made small talk, mostly about where she and I had come from and what had lead us up to our date. We both had pretty similar answers. We’re both kind of spontaneous and wanted to do something interesting our fourth years.
Napatra: The conversation focused on what we’ve been doing at the University, what we’ve done, our classes, our friends, our involvement, and how much we have fun. We talked about plans after fourth year. I remember he asked me a lot of questions and I also wanted to know about him and ask him a lot of questions, too. We were interested in getting to know each other.
John: It happened that neither of us were really looking for a new romance in our life but we got along really well. A lot of our points-of-view seem to overlap. She’s originally from Thailand and has studied in Australia, which was cool. I’ve got a travel bug myself, so I was interested in all the things she had experienced and seen throughout her travels. She ended up asking me if being in the [Commerce] School limited my ability to appreciate the finer things in life. Basically, she asked me if I was a money sucker, and we discussed that for a while. I think I ended up being able to turn her over to the dark side that is [Commerce] School.
Napatra: I definitely I had a fun time. The dinner was good, the conversation was good. The blind date definitely fulfilled my expectations. John had a meeting at 9, so after we got the bill, he just dropped me off at my place. He was a little bit late to his meeting, but it was fine. I would give it a 6.5 [out of 10].
John: I had a good time. I would rate this date a 6 [out of 10]. [Met] expectations, was fun and enjoyable, however not necessarily on the best time schedule. I actually had a meeting to go to, so I drove her back to the Lawn and dropped her off. We kissed each other on the cheek and wished each other well. She invited me over to chill in her Lawn room whenever I wanted to, and I said I’d probably stop by.
Napatra: I e-mailed him to thank him for the time and the dinner, and he reached back to me likewise, but that’s about it.
John: Today, I saw her in her bathrobe from very far off. I kind of avoided eye contact. I was like 300 yards away so I didn’t make an effort to stop her and have a possibly awkward encounter in her bath robe, although I think she spotted me.
John has purposely not seen Napatra since their date. He cannot recall if they are Facebook friends.
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