BY GRACE FITZGERALD ’20
We at MoRomance are all about burying the hatchet, so when we got the opportunity to set up Emily*, a hilarious and thoughtful Mount Holyoke junior with Sylvia*, a fun and flirty junior from Smith, we jumped at the opportunity! Emily described herself as an attentive listener who cares deeply about the feelings of others, while Sylvia said that she is an understanding and loving person who likes late nights and sleeping in. They each appreciate an evening staying in ordering pizza and watching reality TV. Hoping they could put school rivalry aside in the spirit of romance, we sent the pair to the Gettell Amphitheater for a movie night. The two met at the Blanchard bus stop and here’s what happened…
Emily: I feel like dating in the Five Colleges is a tangled web of lies. I’ve never really had that much luck, nobody ever really wants to be exclusive, which is what I’m looking for. There’s this stereotype of Smithies being kind of uptight. I mean, you can’t even walk on the grass at Smith!
Sylvia: I’ve only really dated people at Smith so far, so this has been a new experience. I’ve never actually been to Mount Holyoke before and I haven’t met that many Mount Holyoke students, so I don’t have much of an impression. My friends were driving me to the date and I was very nervous. I didn’t have very high expectations.
Emily: Before the date, I was really worried about not finding the person I was standing near the bus stop worrying that she wouldn’t show up, wondering whether or not I would like her. I was a little bit nervous but mostly I was just trying to be in the moment.
Sylvia: Once I met her I thought that she was super cute. We were told to wear yellow so she had this yellow backwards baseball cap on. She walked up to me and told me, “I don’t normally wear stuff like this, it makes me look like a d-bag.” She was very funny, we were basically cracking jokes with each other the whole time.
Emily: She was really cute, but I wouldn’t say that she’s my type. She’s probably not the kind of person I would have picked out myself but I’m really glad we got matched. I thought she was really beautiful, I liked her blonde hair.
Sylvia: She has really pretty curly dark hair. She seemed a little different than the type of person I would usually hang out with, but she seemed very cool, very interesting. We talked a lot about movies and we both did theater in high school.
Emily: She laughed at a lot of my jokes which is really important to me because I’m insecure about that. We were supposed to go see a movie but we ended up not going because she told me from the beginning that she would have to leave early. I suggested we walk around. I took her to Upper Lake, because that’s one of my favorite spots. I felt bad because she was wearing white converse and it was really muddy. I made a joke that I would Venmo her for a new pair of Converse, I felt so bad! We talked the whole time, walking aimlessly.
Sylvia: After I arrived, we walked on a trail along the lake, just getting to know each other. We explored one of the abandoned kitchens and laughed about the ridiculous number of deli slicers. We ended up not going to the movie, we went into the dining hall instead and ate ice cream, it was really nice.
Emily: I took her to some secret spots on campus, and we explored and joked around. We bonded over going into unconventional places. I think she enjoyed it, I had a good time, that’s the sort of thing I like to do. She was incredibly easy to talk to, that was definitely my favorite thing about her. She is definitely someone that I would want to meet again. We exchanged numbers, and later that night she texted me that she had a really great time and offered to show me around Smith sometime. I would love to see all the cool spots around Smith.
Sylvia: I think that we liked each other. I like someone who can joke around with me so it was nice to just go back and forth in that way. Normally, I tend to date people who look exactly like me and she didn’t look like me, but that was really nice.
Emily: I hope she had a good time, she was smiling and laughing so I counted that as a success. Her friends had driven her so they were watching “Wonder Woman” in the amphitheater, so at the very end I had to walk her to her friend’s car and they were like “Ooh, how’s it going?” That was a little awkward.
Sylvia: It was a good date, and it didn’t feel uncomfortable at all, as opposed to some of the dates I’ve been on in the past.
Emily: The date didn’t end in a kiss, I feel like everyone at MoHo is a coward in that sense, including myself, so it wasn’t unexpected. There was definitely an opportune moment to kiss her when we were in Abbey Chapel, but then I decided that we should leave. I don’t usually kiss people on first dates, but I never initiate kissing people anyway.
Sylvia: At the end of the date, I invited her to my school and I told her that I would love to come back to Mount Holyoke sometime. I was really surprised about how well it went, and how cute she was. I wish the date had ended with a kiss, my friends sort of bombarded me at the end and I got a little flustered.
Emily: I felt really comfortable on this date, as opposed to dates with men that I have been on in the past. I feel much more chill with women and nonbinary people. Neither of us had seen each other’s favorite movie, so maybe we could meet up and see them together sometime.
MoRomance is a student-run matchmaking service run by Flori Needle ’20, Gina Perry ’20, Grace Fitzgerald ’20 and Maya Rhode ’20. These interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity. To sign up for MoRomance, visit mountholyokenews.com/moromance. *Names have been changed for anonymity.