Ryan and Gabby met on Friday at 7 p.m. and went to Café Caturra on the Corner.
Gabby: [I signed up because] I love meeting new people. Plus, I’d never been on a blind date before.
Ryan: I’ve never been on a blind date before.
Gabby: At first, I was surprised at how fast it happened, but, in general, I was just really excited and nervous to meet him!
Ryan: [When we met], I didn’t know who I was looking for. Thankfully she came up to me.
Gabby: I didn’t know if it would be awkward or whether both of us would be able to have a good time with it.
Ryan: My first impression was that she was cute. She was really outdoorsy, which seemed kind of cool.
Gabby: I thought that he was a walking Vineyard Vines ad.
Ryan: [The date] was definitely awkward at first. I felt unprepared. She made it less awkward by stimulating the conversation.
Gabby: [We went to] Café Caturra.
Ryan: We both had a nice big glass of water. I had the club sandwich, which was excellent.
Gabby: The conversation was pretty easy and natural. However, I felt like I initiated [conversation for] the majority of the date. Our conservation focused mainly on sports — U.Va.’s men’s basketball team — and traveling.
Ryan: She was definitely doing most of the talking — without a doubt. I would have been fine with just watching the basketball game, but [I] was trying to [engage in] the conversation.
Gabby: [One thing we have in common is that] we both love sports.
Ryan: We’ve both been to Europe, but she seemed more keen on travelling the world than I [am].
Gabby: If we were to go out again, it would be as friends. While I didn’t feel a romantic connection, Ryan was still fun to talk to and hang out with.
Ryan: I didn’t feel that there was too much flirting going on. We were trying to be nice and [we both] recognized that it’s an awkward situation.
Gabby: As soon as we finished eating, we decided to leave because there were others waiting to get seated.
Ryan: I’d be open to exploring a romantic connection.
Gabby: I would rate the date a 6. I had a fun time, but we are just very different in terms of interests and passions.
Ryan: I would rate the date a 7. It was kind of awkward at first, but we seemed to be able to carry the conversation despite me being angled toward the basketball screen [the whole time].
This week’s Love Connection is sponsored by Cafe Caturra.
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