Graphic by Natalie Kulak ’21
BY GRACE FITZGERALD ’20
This week we set up junior Dawn* with senior Miranda* on a date at Thirsty Mind. Dawn described themself as a corny food lover seeking a caring and sarcastic person to spend time with. Miranda described herself as a gregarious and caring person looking for someone to get coffee with and make laugh. Their mutual caring nature and love of art made them seem like the perfect pair! The two wore their cutest red outfits and met in Thirsty Mind. Here’s what happened…
Dawn: Going into the date, I didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping things would go well. Right before the date I was a little nervous, but it didn’t hit me until right before when I was talking about the date with my friends. They were really excited for me, tried to comfort me and told me to be myself.
Miranda: I was expecting to meet somebody and hang out. Usually when I meet somebody or go on dates where I don’t know the person, I typically get drinks at night so this was a little different for me.
Dawn: I arrived at Thirsty Mind first. She got there a little late because she was in a meeting, which she explained to me when she got there. I was afraid that I had gotten stood up!
Miranda: Before the date I was running around, trying to finish homework, going to meetings; I’m always busy. I was a little nervous beforehand, but at this point I’ve gone on enough first dates where I don’t know the person that well, or at all, that I figured that it would be fine. I got there 10 minutes late because I was trying to pick up the Thirsty Mind gift card, so I ran to get there on time.
Dawn: When I first saw my date I thought she was really pretty. When we got to talking it seemed like we were having a good conversation. We did the basics of getting to know one another: major, year, where were from, stuff like that.
Miranda: I saw that they were wearing red, too, which we were told to do, so I asked if they were here for the MoRomance date. I didn’t recognize my date at all. It was cool to meet someone new at Mount Holyoke because it’s such a small school and most of the time you never meet new people. It was exciting to see a new face. At the beginning we were a little nervous and avoiding eye contact, but once we got talking the date was fun.
Dawn: When I meet new people, I get really nervous. There’s always this fear that I’ll mess up or say something and offend them by accident, but I thought it went well. In the end I thought she was a cool person, because of her major and where she went for study abroad. We talked about race which was pretty interesting because we were able to have an open conversation about it.
Miranda: We got coffee and talked about our majors. They are a studio art major, and I’m a gender studies major. I had a good time just talking to them. The conversation flowed fairly smoothly. There were a few pauses where we had to stop and think of what to talk about next.
Dawn: I was surprised that we were matched. It’s not like she didn’t meet any of the ideal traits I’m looking for in a person but more so that I didn’t have an idea of the specific type of person I would be matched with.
Miranda: It is a blind date after all, so I wasn’t expecting to get matched perfectly. I think that’s the good thing about being in college and going on dates with people who either go to your school or are enrolled in the Five Colleges because you find out their major and from there you can find a pretty good topic of conversation.
Dawn: At the end of the date, she had to go to another meeting and I had to go grab dinner, so we left together until we reached the crosswalk. We agreed that we would probably see each other around campus in a friendly way, but we didn’t make any plans.
Miranda: I don’t know if my impression of the person changed, but rather developed [over the course of the date]. We have similar interests, but were different in other ways. They are an artist from the West Coast and I’m a gender studies student from New England.
Dawn: She was nice and really fun, I’d love to meet up again and hang out as friends and talk. This date was definitely better than my previous dating app experiences. I found that I was able to be comfortable with someone.
Miranda: We added each other on Facebook, and I told them to hit me up if they wanted to hang out. They seem very cool, and the art they do is great. They seem like a very chill, nice person.
MoRomance is a student-run matchmaking service run by Flori Needle ’20, Gina Perry ’20, Grace Fitzgerald ’20 and Maya Rhode ’20. These interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity. To sign up for MoRomance, visit mountholyokenews.com/moromance.
*Names have been changed for anonymity.