Welcome back Flyby Matchmaker!
Alice Xiao ‘18 lives in Pforzheimer House and studies History, Art and Architecture. Ben Betik ‘17 lives in Quincy House and is studying Economics. Both Ben and Alice said that the three things they could not survive without are food, water and air. Ben originally said that living in the Quad would be a deal breaker. But was it? Read on to see if a long distance relationship was born over some Boloco burritos. We don't have a picture of our happy couple, so this date is going to remain blind to all of us.
Ben: Alice was there first, which was weird because, for the first time in my life, I was on time.
Alice: I think I got there at six exactly. It was raining.
Ben: There was a whole drama of my umbrella not closing… so everyone in the room turned and looked at me and I didn’t know which of [them] I should be talking to… Eventually everyone else turned away… and then Alice was standing there. I didn’t [recognize] her. That was [a] plus because it [meant it] was an actual blind date.
Alice: He looked nice.
Ben: I tend to try not to judge people on their looks or whatever… [but] I mean she’s cute so that helps.
Alice: [I got a burrito] and a smoothie too.
Ben: Burritos are great, but burritos may not be the best blind date choice… there is no graceful way to eat a burrito… I should have gone for the bowl; would have been a much better call.
Alice: [Initially] we talked about basic stuff like class, concentration what you do on campus and I found out that he did a lot of model UN, which was cool because I do international relations stuff on campus too.
Ben: It took a while to get into conversation. [With] some people it’s easy, you walk into the energy and you know you have the chemistry.
Alice: The beginning was a little bit awkward. The getting to know you part in general… [but] I wouldn’t say that it was that difficult [to find things to talk about]. He was a pleasant person…
Ben: There are the four things you aren’t supposed to talk about on first dates… politics, religion, abortion, [and] economics. So we talked about politics… that was something really interesting. She’s a Hillary supporter. I’m kind of on the fence between Hillary and Bernie so we just had a really engaging conversation about politics. Everyone can bond over how awful of a person Donald Trump is so that really brought us together.
Alice: [Politics] were a good part of our conversation because I told him honestly how I felt about it... It wasn’t like we were trying to impress someone.
Ben: I wouldn’t say Alice and I had instant chemistry…[but] I’d be interested in hanging out with [her] again. In fact, I did invite her to a dinner party thing.
Alice: He invited me [to a biweekly dinner his roommates put on] and I thought it seemed like a fun idea. I’m going on Friday.
Given Datamatch was in full swing just weeks before that the two met, we had to ask about our competition:
Ben: Yes, I did [Datamatch]. I was seven people’s top match so apparently I’m really mathematically popular… I’m just getting all kinds of free food. It’s amazing. I think I’ve eaten in a dhall twice this week and haven’t had to pay at all.
Alice: I did Datamatch too. I actually had a Datamatch date this morning. [But] I would recommend actually being set up on a blind date, like going with Flyby, because it’s more exciting to not know [who your date will be]… it’s more spontaneous; it’s more… exciting... I don’t see why more people aren’t doing it.
Ben: I would [recommend this] to my best friends and my worst enemies… What I’ve learned from this is that blind dates are really weird and they are weird for everyone. So if you’re having a weird time don’t worry the other person is having just as weird a time… I’d be down to do another blind date just because I think it’s fun and kind of funny after the fact.
Want to take Alice’s advice? Find out just how weird and fun blind dates really are? Fill out this form!
XOXO,
The Flyby Matchmaker