On Tuesday, our Bachelorette Paige went on five dates at Starbucks on the corner from 6-9 p.m. While every guy brought something to the table, only one could emerge with Paige’s “rose.” Did she choose the boy who turned out to be an old friend, the boy described as “good looking” or the boy two years younger with whom she “felt chemistry”?
Name: Paige
Year: Fourth-year
Major: Public Policy and Spanish
Hometown: Westport, Mass.
U.Va. Involvement: Casa Bolivar, IRO
Ideal date: Tall and extroverted.
Ideal date activity: Going to the downtown mall.
Deal breakers? Smoking is a no-go.
Describe a typical weekend: I usually wake up and go to Bodo’s. No weekend is typical after that.
What makes you a good catch? I am down to earth.
What makes you a less-than-perfect catch? I can be demanding sometimes.
Describe yourself in one sentence: I get what I want and I work hard to get it.
Date 1: Two old friends meeting over coffee
Name: Zach
Year: Third-year
Major: Foreign Affairs and East Asian Studies
Hometown: Vienna, Va.
Zach: We actually knew each other from before because we went to Hong Kong together in summer 2014.
Paige: Zach is more like a friend for me. We know a lot about each other and know what’s going on in our lives. We talked about the clubs we are in together.
Zach: I feel like a good way of putting it is this: if you were to think of chemistry in terms of colors, orange and brown and slate grey would be comfortable and warm chemical reactions whereas bright blue, pink and green would symbolize exciting romantic reactions. I would most definitely characterize this as a warm and comfortable chemical reaction.
Paige: The conversation with Zach was mostly academic, and it was mostly a friend-like conversation. It definitely felt like I’d known him for years.
Zach’s date rating: A warm and friendly 6
Paige’s date rating: 7
Date 2: Does the good-looking guy win the girl?
Name: Dhillon
Year: Fourth-year
Major: Commerce
Hometown: Vienna, Va.
Dhillon: She was good looking — that was a nice surprise. She was pleasant to talk to.
Paige: Dhillon was very cute.
Dhillon: We talked about our travels. We talked about sarcasm and Tinder and our [mutual] friend Phillip. I didn’t feel like there was an especially romantic vibe.
Paige: There wasn’t a great feeling of chemistry — we had a nice conversation, but it didn’t feel like it was flowing naturally.
Dhillon: We exchanged numbers at the end. I’ll probably text her and say hello, but I think there was more of a friend vibe.
Paige: I didn’t learn much about him until the end. We exchanged numbers, but I don’t really plan on texting.
Dhillon’s date rating: 4
Paige’s date rating: 6
Date 3: A smooth date… but is there more?
Name: Trevor
Year: Education graduate student
Major: Higher Education Administration
Hometown: Dade City, Fla.
Trevor: It was exciting. She’s really smart. I said, “Hey, how are you? I’m Trevor.” I’ve had my fair share of unbalanced conversations, but this one was really well-balanced!
Paige: I feel like I’ll get along with him on a friendly basis. He’s about three years older than I am, so I got more of a mentor vibe.
Trevor: Her desire to pursue both a Master’s and Ph.D. is impressive. She’s traveled the world, which is awesome. She likes the south and I’m from the south. I learned a lot in a short amount of time.
Paige: Trevor and I were both very interested [in] cats — he didn’t freak out when I showed him a picture of a cat.
Trevor: Dating someone is not on the top of my mind. [But] it was nice to do something like this to get to meet somebody on this level, and I haven’t done it in a while.
Paige: We exchanged numbers, but I don’t think there was a romantic connection.
Trevor’s date rating: 7.5
Paige’s Date rating: 7
Date 4: A second-year guy with plenty of charm
Name: Troy
Year: Second-year
Major: Pre-Commerce
Hometown: Leesburg, Va.
Troy: I was nervous at first, but once I got to talk to her, it was really smooth. She was easygoing too, which makes it a lot easier and a lot more fun.
Paige: We both loved Spanish, and we were both transfer students after being waitlisted at U.Va.
Troy: We talked a lot about Spanish. We both share that interest, and we talked about studying abroad — I hope to study abroad, and she’s been to so many places.
Paige: We both seemed very interested in each other and got along very well. We took a Snapchat together.
Troy: I’m not sure what the vibe was. I’m definitely going to keep in touch though, and whatever happens happens.
Paige: We exchanged numbers at the end, and we’ll probably text. He might come visit me on Friday, and he told me he was glad he did this. I definitely felt more of a mutual interest.
Troy: We exchanged numbers. I’d say there’s a possibility of another date.
Troy’s date rating: 8
Paige’s date rating: 10
Date 5: Does lagging energy thwart our last date?
Name: Matt
Year: Third-year
Major: Economics and Psychology
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Matt: My first impression was that she was very nice. [Paige] seemed very relaxed and ready to jump into it since I was her fifth date.
Paige: It was a very flowing conversation — it wasn’t awkward or anything.
Matt: The conversation was very smooth at first, but toward the end we ran out of things to talk about.
Paige: I didn’t really learn that much, and it felt like a lot of me talking. We went on my Instagram, and he asked me how hard my Instagram game is.
Matt: We talked a lot about Spanish and her passion for Spanish. I’ve taken Spanish for 12 years, but that didn’t really come up.
Paige: I don’t know how he’s feeling about it — we didn’t exchange [numbers] because of the short amount of time, but I’d like to continue the conversation.
Matt: I think going forward we’ll say hello around Grounds. I got more of a friend vibe, [so] I don’t think there would be a second date.
Paige: I’d be open to a second date. We only had a short conversation.
Matt’s date rating: 6
Paige’s date rating: 9
At the end of five dates, only one boy could be our eligible bachelor to receive Paige’s “rose”.
Paige chose to give the “rose” to Troy, commenting, “Troy was definitely my favorite guy.” Congratulations, Troy!
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