Brought to you by the Penn Group

In college, there are certainly plenty of wonderful, mature people with whom to go out, however, there are also an equal amount of people who are, let’s say, a bit off. Now, while the experiences you have with the truly gold-hearted, wholesome ones are wonderful and all, the experiences you have with the ones are are rather strange can not only be good fodder for stories to tell your friends, but, believe it or not, can also make you a lot more savvy when it comes to accepting dates in the first place.

I happened to be lucky enough to have an experience with one of those more interesting personages during my first year of college. I was naive, and I was loving all the new found attention I was receiving from college guys. In high school, I had never really been ambushed with date invitations, but here, I found that I seemed to draw quite a bit of attention from the opposite sex. At a party in my friends dorm room one night, I met a very charming, very suave young man who was one of the few straight guys in the musical theater program at my school. He also happened to be a consummate dancer of many disciplines, including break dancing, a particular weakness of mine. As I watched him dance in the center of a circle of admiring ladies, my confidence slipped away. Why would he ask me on a date? He had hoards of ladies just waiting for his attention; why would he ever pick me? Just as that last thought slipped through my mind, my suave himself stopped dancing for the girls, and slid right next to me on the couch, laid his arm, not so subtly, around my back, and asked me to dinner the next night. At that very moment, I had done a complete 360 from my previous insecurities. And of course, I accepted.

The next night, I did my best to primp and preen as much a possible, and by the end of my vanity session, I had to admit, I was looking pretty darn good. I grabbed my purse and sauntered out the door. Mr. Suave himself was waiting right in front of my building holding a dozen roses, and he was all gussied up as well. It was simply too perfect, and a bit much for a first date, but I quickly dismissed all my questions. He just looked too darn cute!

He escorted me to a restaurant not too far from my place, where he said he was a regular, and had a very close relationship with the owner. I soon found this to be quite true; as we entered the restaurant, the staff all but stood at attention, and the manager came right up to him, kissed him on both cheeks, and promptly escorted us to a dimly candlelit table in a private back room. For a first date, I thought all this pomp and circumstance to be a bit much. He was beginning to come off as a bit of a social connections show off. It ended up being a wonderful and perfect meal of course, but I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable when he began talking about how lucky he was to have found me, and that I was the one he had been looking for his entire life. Eventually, the conversation turned to how children I wanted and what I wanted my wedding to be like. For a first date, or even and 50th, this was all a bit too intense.

As we said goodnight, he continued to jabber about how lucky he was and how I was “the one.” Talk about pressure! I finally managed to quiet him down, saying “I just don’t think this is going to work out. But I’ll see you some other time.” I ran upstairs as quickly as possible. Marriage on the first date is not what college dating is supposed to be about. On the surface, he seemed perfect... but too perfect. He was ready to snatch up the first girl he dated in college and take her to the altar. Maybe for some people, this would be incredibly romantic and endearing, but college is tough enough, and Mr. Suave would have only made it tougher. But hey, I got a free candlelit supper. That’s enough for me.

>>Back To College Dating Articles