Gerard Krasnopolski, Third year, History and English, Corpus Christi
Having decided to keep things risqué by turning up to House a single minute late, I discovered guiltily upon arrival that a lady possessed of wide, wandering eyes and a foxy mane of dark, wanton ringlets was already outside waiting. Momentarily dazzled, I had to inwardly summon Donne’s “Do not ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” to steel my nerves for the initial approach. Thenceforth, I singly failed to hold the attention of said sultry lass for the next two hours with a disastrous mélange of poorly delivered poetry, botched self-deprecation, and a random rhapsody in praise of Chinese folk music. She took, however, sufficient pity on my floundering to share some enchanting, intriguing vignettes of her life past and present—so much so, that I cherished the thought of asking to meet again, until the bungled curtailing of proceedings, where I panicked and bottled it. Regrets.
First impression? Somewhat alluring
Chat? Reliably top-flight
Personality? Impossible to fit in this box
2nd date? If only
Ella Grodzinski, Second year, Human Sciences Mansfield
Blind dating was as hilarious as I’d expected. A very awkward five minutes of eyeing each other up outside the bar (before actually confirming that we were the person the other one was waiting for) was followed by the discovery that the bar was thoroughly dead inside. So we sat outside The Bear with our ginger beers (me because of my rowing drinking ban, him because of camaraderie) and quickly established that we had the same nerdy interests. Between Firefly and Proust’s madeleine, we didn’t run out of things to rant about. The attempts to avoid row-chat failed miserably, proving that even ex-rowers can’t go 15 minutes without talking about rowing during VIIIs week. It also transpired that he was a mid-exams History & English finalist. Going on a blind date during exams? Either strong game, or very daft. Anyway, we split early (definitely for the sake of his revision, nothing to with me yawning).
First impression? Very intense eye-contact
Chat? Niche and intense, therefore great
Personality? Interesting but slightly mad at times
2nd date? No thanks, but maybe a phone-call
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