Circle of Friends

While Fine and Sampson both dated their future spouses in high school, Dalia G. Trachtenberg '96 and Andrew D. Yablon, an MIT graduate student in mechanical engineering, found each other in college.

Trachtenberg wasn't yet a college student when she accompanied her brother to a dinner at MIT Hillel in the fall of 1991--and first encountered Yablon.

The two were part of the same circle of friends, but didn't date until the spring of Trachtenberg's first year at MIT--she transferred to Harvard as a sophomore--a year and a half after they first met.

The two watched movies and went out for dinner, but say they tried to keep their relationship under wraps.

Their reasons? Dating within a small group of friends can be difficult, as can dating someone four years younger, explains Yablon.

"It was a secret for the entire first month," he says. "The way it was discovered was that we were going for a walk around Mem[orial] Drive on Saturday afternoon at the Esplanade. And the rest of the MIT Hillel community..."

"Literally all of them. They were standing there staring at us," Trachtenberg remembers.

The couple broke up in the fall of Trachtenberg's sophomore year.

They cite differences in age and back-grounds--his parents are very American, she was born in Israel--as initial barriers to their relationship.

In addition, Yablon was planning to spend six months in Israel and Trachtenberg knew she had been accepted to Harvard.

The couple got back together, though, rebuilding their romance in Israel that summer.

"We spent a lot of time together, and it made up for a lot of the problems that happened the previous summer," Yablon says. "From there it was smooth sailing."

While the two will be separated next year--Trachtenberg in Israel, Yablot at MIT--they plan to reunite in Israel in 1997 for a June marriage and then move to the New York area so she can attend Columbia.

Ian R. Liston '96 and Margaret R. Chou '95 also met each other in an extracurricular atmosphere: the Harvard a capella scene.