On the road to love, there are bound to be at least a few roadblocks. Students at Seton Hall have had their fair share of awful dates, and their experiences have made for unforgettable stories.
A Drive That Led to Nowhere
Some students, like Maria Saitta, a junior accounting major, have had promising prospects quickly prove to be quite the opposite.
“I met this kid through one of my closer friends, and we started texting, and we hit it off,” Saitta said. “We had a lot in common.”
However, for a date, the pair often needs more substance than simply having similar interests and traits.
Saitta’s prospective date frequently drove late at night to deliver campaign materials for his work. In an attempt to spend time with Saitta, he expressed how much he hated doing those drives alone.
“‘What do you mean? Late-night drives are peak,’” she recalled saying to him. Her soon-to-be date responded with a cheeky: “‘Maybe I don't like going because you're not there with me.’”
Saitta agreed to join her date on his next drive, but his suave manner quickly fizzled out as he lacked basic chivalry.
“It was just awkward; he never opened the door for me for the car,” Saitta said. “Not that I cared, but I was like c’mon, if this is a date.”
Saitta’s date pitched a pit stop at Wendy’s for food since the drive started at 10 p.m. They decided to dine in.
“A big topic of conversation was how microwaves are bad,” Saitta said, which wasn’t anything crazy to her until he kept saying, ‘You would get along so well with my dad.’”
Saitta felt unsure how to react, since neither of them had said this was a genuine date, so the idea of bringing in his parents’ opinions took her aback.
The entire drive only lasted an hour and a half, including the 40 minutes at Wendy’s.
“I kind of ghosted him after it,” Saitta admitted.
Wendy’s is not a romantic spot, Saitta said, and the two stood out amongst the fast-food crowd.
“Highkey, I felt like people were staring at us; we just didn't belong,” Saitta said. “Wendy’s now is so autonomous, you're just supposed to get takeout and not sit down.”
Saitta said that even taking their food to the car would have been better.
“I think he was nervous,” Saitta explained, and said that while the two are still in touch, she is no longer trying to go the distance.
No Plan, No GPS, No Second Date
Sometimes dates aren’t just “bad,” they come with embarrassment as well.
Brandon Strohl, a junior psychology major, decided to take a romantic interest out on a date to Jackie & Sons, a local restaurant in South Orange, for brunch. But, here’s the catch: Strohl had no clue where he was going.
“I decided I was going to be prideful and go with no GPS,” Strohl said, despite never having been to the spot before.
Still, Strohl led the way since he was “trying to be a gentleman, chivalry and all–still alive.”
A few minutes into the walk, Strohl told his date he was sure he knew where the restaurant was located.
“She's like, ‘Are you sure you know where it is?’ [and] we keep walking,” Strohl said. “Then we pass the train station, pass some building I’ve never seen before, and she opens the GPS, and we realized we have walked completely past Jackie & Sons, 10 minutes, possibly 15 minutes out of the way.”
The two had to turn around to get to the restaurant, but that wasn’t where the incidents ended.
“While I was filling our waters, I spilled water all over the floor,” Strohl said.
Even conversation was not a saving grace for Strohl.
Strohl’s date assumed during brunch that he planned to be a neurosurgeon with his degree in psychology, explicitly stating she was looking for a man with money; however, Strohl’s true aspirations disappointed her.
“I was like ‘No…more like an underpaid therapist,’” Strohl said.
Additionally, his date did not shy away from making it known that she loved Taylor Swift, which, for some, is no problem, but for Strohl, that was his final straw.
“I am decidedly not a Swiftie, possibly a Taylor Swift hater, and she talked about how much she was a huge Swiftie and loved Taylor Swift—that was perfect icing on the cake,” Strohl said.
This series of unfortunate events left Strohl with only one option.
“After that, we texted a little bit, and then I did what I like to call ‘soft ghosting’ where you lead the conversation to its grave by being super dry.”
The proper procedure then requires making no effort to continue talking once one party sends a text with “no obligatory response,” according to Strohl.
A Surprise to a Standstill
While not a date experience, Dakota Harrison, a freshman interactive media major, had quite a time trying to be a good man by bringing his romantic interest some flowers.
“I was gonna surprise her with the flowers, but every time I said, like, ‘Can you come get the flowers?’ Basically, she would come up with different excuses.”
Harrison was down the block from the girl’s house and repeatedly asked her when she could come outside to get them, as the girl was too shy for her family to see him go into her house.
“So then I was like, ‘Are you gonna come get the flowers?’ after like, 30 minutes, you know, 45 minutes, two hours pass, she still hasn't gotten the flowers,” Harrison said. “Three hours pass, four hours pass.”
Then, the girl hit Harrison with a major plot twist: she was leaving her home in New York to head to New Jersey.
“She's like, ‘Oh, I'm going to Jersey,’ just randomly out of nowhere,” Harrison said. “And I'm like, ‘So what do you expect me to do?’”
He was disappointed that she was not more communicative about not being able to come by to pick up the flowers, especially since he had been waiting for four hours at that point. Harrison couldn’t wait much longer for her to return, despite her asking him to, so he had to think of a backup plan.
“I ended up just going home and giving the flowers to my mom, since her birthday was the next day,” Harrison said. “Mom was very appreciative, so I guess it does work out.”
After the flower fiasco, Harrison said the girl was very apologetic and even asked to reimburse him for the flowers, but to Harrison, that didn’t matter because “the damage was already done” and he couldn’t get that time back.
“It's been a minute since I got flowers for a girl since that instance,” Harrison added.
Love That Didn’t Pass the Midterm
Kristen Stringer, a junior visual and sound media major, experienced her college dating canon event during her freshman year. She had been hanging out with a guy consistently throughout the semester, saying they would hang out regularly, and he would even take her on dates. Then came Valentine’s Day.
“[Around Valentine’s Day] he told my best friend, ‘Oh, I'm gonna ask her in like, two days to be my girlfriend,’” Stringer said. “So then he texts me, and he's like, ‘Oh, do you want to meet in the University Center after your class? It's about us.’”
Stringer’s automatic response was to assume the topic of conversation was negative, but after asking, he told her, “No, it’s nothing bad.”
“And then he's like, ‘I'm obsessed with you. I'm crazy about you, but I have to call things off because I failed my Russian midterm,’” Stringer said. “And I was like, ‘What?’”
Stringer never got any further explanation for his abrupt departure from her life; however, she said he did come back to her after a failed relationship with another woman.
“And I [asked him], ‘Why did things end?’” she recalled. “He was like, ‘Oh, she was crazy, but I stayed with her because of that ass.”
Well, that’s college dating for you.
Lakyn Austin is the head editor for The Setonian’s Features section. She can be reached at lakyn.austin@student.shu.edu.
Rhyleigh Russell is the assistant editor for The Setonian’s Features section. She can be reached at rhyleigh.russell@student.shu.edu.
Brandon Strohl, who was interviewed for this article, is a writer for The Setonian.
