Karsten
Year: Second
Major: Your guess is as good as mine.
U.Va. Involvement: Jefferson Rounds, Phi Sigma Kappa, Pave the Lawn, Student Council, TomTom Fest, Econ Clicker Club.
Hometown: Colonial Beach, Va.
Ideal date (physical attributes): Petite, nice complexion, preferably 5-foot-9 or shorter, long hair, dancer.
Ideal date (activity): Cook food at one of our places, listen to Motown, dance a little bit, then maybe watch a movie, go to a party or throw water balloons at streakers.
Deal breakers: She needs to be able to take a joke. I make a lot of them, but I only occasionally mean the sexist ones. No smokers.
Describe a typical weekend: Failing to get stuff done during the day, going out at night and regretting it all as I drown in work on Sunday.
Hobbies: Writing short stories and poems, listening to music, attending open mic nights, drinking coffee, wishing I had more time for real hobbies.
What makes you a good catch? It’s okay to brag!: I’m personable, funny and easy-going. I’m pretty ambitious and usually push those around me to be their best. Oh! And I have Starbucks coupons — so, you know.
What is your spirit animal? Probably a sea otter or something a little bit spastic.
What’s your favorite pick-up line? “Hey, I’m about to shamelessly hit on you. My name’s Karsten.”
Who is your favorite couple? Jim and Pam from “The Office”
Describe yourself in one sentence: Ball so hard, m*********ers wanna find me. #swag
Breanna
Year: First
Major: Kinesiology
U.Va. involvement: Cavalier Marching Band Feature Twirler, University Dance Club, Cav Cross Fit.
Hometown: Chesterfield, Va.
Ideal date (physical attributes): Tall, dark and handsome type. Nice hair, beautiful eyes, taller than me. Fit — [I] would like an athlete of some sort.
Ideal date (activity): Dinner. Nighttime stroll where we can talk and better get to know each other — also leaves it open for spontaneity. I am always open for random fun.
Deal breakers: Snorts, mouth breather, lazy, unmotivated, too sensitive, plays the victim
Describe a typical weekend: If there is a football game: early morning wake-up to get to practice on time. Participate in game day activities, go home, rest, possibly go out to dinner or hang with friends. No football game: late morning wake-up, clean up room a bit, homework, go out with friends at night. Sunday is my catch-up day for sleep and homework.
Hobbies: Baton twirling, exercising, dancing
What makes you a good catch? It’s okay to brag!: Smart, athletic, good personality. And, I mean, I am one of the feature twirlers…
What is your spirit animal? Bear — specifically one of the mischievous ones from the movie “Brave.”
What’s your favorite pick-up line? “If you were words on a page, you’d be what they call fiiiine print.”
Who is your favorite couple? Ron and Hermione.
Describe yourself in one sentence: Me.
The pair met at 8:30 p.m. on Friday for a scenic picnic on the Lawn.
Karsten: I applied for Love Connection because I thought it would be fun. I was really surprised to hear I was chosen, because it was less than 24 hours after I submitted my application.
Breanna: My friend convinced me to apply because she thought it sounded interesting. We had read other Love Connection articles and wanted to see what it would be like.
Karsten: I had never been on a blind date before. I thought it would be at worst hilarious and at best lead to a second date.
Breanna: I didn’t know what to expect from the date. Going into it, I was afraid the conversation would be awkward, but luckily that wasn’t the case.
Karsten: For me, the date started at 2:30 p.m. when I was at Harris Teeter trying to decide whether she was going to more of a cheddar or a colby jack girl. I read up on previous LC articles to see how they’ve gone in the past, and it seemed like for every date they chose to go to Basil. I wanted to deviate from the norm, so I got a picnic basket, candles, wireless speakers for music and a spread of cheese and strawberries with sparkling grape juice. I set it all up on the Lawn and then went to the Rotunda to meet her.
Breanna: When I got to the Rotunda, he was the only one standing by himself, so I figured that had to be my date. My first impression was that he was nice looking. I couldn’t see him that well because it was dark, but he was really outgoing off the bat, which made me feel really comfortable.
Karsten: I thought she was really cute when I first met her. There were a lot of Intervarsity people running around the Rotunda in weird costumes, so I took her to the picnic area. I could tell that she was surprised.
Breanna: I was really impressed by the picnic. It was kind of “try-hard,” but I thought it was really sweet.
Karsten: I had initially planned to do a hot seat thing where I would ask her rapid-fire questions to get to know her, but I never had to do that. The conversation happened organically, and we didn’t have to work hard to make it flow.
Breanna: Throughout the date, we talked about so many different things. We would get started on one topic and then go off on a random tangent. It was a lot of fun. We’re both really chill people and found we had a lot in common.
Karsten: Our conversation ranged from talking about our interests to our old relationships (which might have been a bad idea, but was surprisingly normal), to superpowers and “Teen Wolf.”
Breanna: The conversation felt really easy. He definitely talked a lot, but I got to put some words in edgewise.
Karsten: One thing we didn’t talk about was our majors, which was nice because I feel that’s so trite. I largely tried to hide from her the fact I’m a huge hipster, but she eventually found out and started teasing me.
Breanna: He tried convincing me he wasn’t a hipster, but he totally is. I found that out by the end of the night.
Karsten: We disagreed on two things. [First], she is not a fan of chest hair, and I think it is possibly my best quality and [second], I think I’m a lot funnier than she thinks I am. She obviously has that wrong, and I’m sure she’ll figure it out eventually. Overall, the conversation was very, very easy and not awkward at all.
Breanna: At one point, we ended up swing dancing on the Lawn. I was impressed with his dance moves.
Karsten: We were teasing each other a lot and even joked about rating the date. It was nice that we could play with each other without worrying about the other person reading too much into it.
Breanna: There was definitely some flirting from both ends by the end of the night.
Karsten: Before the date even ended we both said we plan on there being a second date. I would definitely say this date was one of the top five dates I’ve been on. I would easily give it a 9.
Breanna: It was honestly one of the best dates I’ve had. It felt like a storybook date. You couldn’t not be impressed with it. It was all really great. I would give it a 9.5.
Karsten: After the date, I added her on Snapchat, but told her I wouldn’t text her until Sunday to give her a day to mull things over. I wanted to keep the magic of the blind date alive for the night without too many expectations about the future.
Breanna: I was slightly confused and insulted when he told me he was going to wait to text me. I was hoping that he would change his mind and text me the day before, but he didn’t. I kind of wanted to text him to see what he would say. I told him that he had to come to the halftime show at the football to see me, so I’m hoping he went to it.
Karsten: When we talked about why we signed up for Love Connection, I somewhat jokingly told her I was looking for my wife. After the date, I’m not sure if that’s a joke anymore. I’m guessing in the future, there will be a second date — and then maybe in about three years, when she’s a fourth year and I’ve just graduated, I’ll propose.
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