Moo'd music: Country kids hit the town

Matchmaker understands that for 'Hoos of the female variety, dating can be difficult because of, well, the 'Hoos of the male variety. We listened with a sympathetic ear as Christa, a fourth-year psychology major, explained her plight. "All I want to do is go out and enjoy myself," Christa says. "But the UVA dating scene leaves something to be desired."

Could that something be Collin, a 24-year-old publicist who describes himself as someone who "always has a good time"?

Hints: champagne, skydiving, and runaway farm animals.

The date

 Christa and Collin had dinner at Escafé on the Downtown Mall.

Did you do anything out of the ordinary before the date, to plan for it?

 Christa: I spent a long time figuring out what I'd wear and polling my roommates for their opinions.

Collin: I put on a nice shirt and rocked out to some tunes on the drive there, while chewing about a whole pack of gum.

Were you first or second to arrive?

 Christa: I was second.

Collin: I won the race there, even though I walked around the Mall for a few minutes because I thought I was at the wrong place.

What did you do while waiting?

 Collin: I sat down at first, wondering if maybe she was inside. Then I stood up and spun around in circles to see if I could spot her looking around for me.

Were you nervous?

 Christa: A little bit.

Collin: I tried not to think about it too much. I was just a little afraid that I'd put on too much cologne.

When did you calm down?

 Christa: A few minutes into the date. We joked about how this was not the type of restaurant we'd usually go to because it was nice!

Collin: When I met her, I gave her a hug, and she didn't punch me or run away screaming.

First impression:

 Christa: He was really nice, laid back, and cute. I'm tall, and I was a little worried he'd be shorter, but I learned later he's an inch taller than I am.

Collin: She looked too good to be hanging out with a guy like me. Believe me, I wasn't complaining.

How did you like their style?

 Christa: I liked it. He wore a collared shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He was clean-cut and smelled nice!

Cologne worries put to rest!–MM

 Collin: It was very appropriate. She wore a brownish top and a lighter skirt.

Escafé

 Did you order drinks?

 Collin: I just had a beer.

Christa: I got a gin and tonic... to start with. Then our waitress gave us a bottle of champagne on the house, which led us to befriend some older dudes at the table behind us, because there was no way we were finishing the whole bottle. It was delicious, and we toasted our date. After dinner he had a couple of beers, and I had cranberry juice and vodka.

–Just one beer, eh, Collin?–MM

What did you order, and how was the service?

Christa: We got a yummy sirloin quesadilla appetizer, and he tried a "rigatoni and fagioli" entrée, which was daring because neither of us knew what the heck that was. I had the salmon, and it was awesome. Our server was a sweetheart and got us champagne on the house when we told her we were on a blind date.

Collin: Our waitress even opened up the locked bathroom door for me with a big knife when I realized that I liked champagne more than I thought.

What did you talk about?

Christa: A lot of things. First our jobs, then our hometowns. We're both from small towns, and Charlottesville seems like a pretty decent city to us. We also both had stories from our childhoods about cows that escaped from the local farm and wound up in our yards, so we laughed a lot about that. He had a lot of funny stories for me about his karaoke experiences, and I almost started crying from laughing so hard.

Collin: I have a big fear of awkward silences, but I don't think there were any. I probably talked about myself too much, but hey, it's what I know best. I thought it was really cool that she's looking into joining the Peace Corps instead of looking for a regular job after school, like most people.

Was there anything you really disliked?

Christa: Nope.

Collin: Well, she's a Redskins fan, but I let it slide.

Did you have a lot in common?

Christa: Yeah! We both enjoy a good time, new experiences (we both want to go skydiving), and we're both pretty chill people, I'd say.

Collin: Neither of us is sure of the exact difference between anthropology and sociology, and we both agreed that if we died from a skydiving incident, it'd be a pretty cool way to go.

Was there "chemistry" between you? Interesting body language?

Christa: There was maybe a little bit of chemistry.

Collin: I didn't take note of any body language, but I thought the chemistry was just fine.

Did anything particularly interesting happen?

Christa: Well, there were plenty of interesting people around us. A guy at the table in front of us showed us his harmonica and told us he was going to perform; later he "performed" by playing and singing. Collin compared him to Enya and mood music. The guy was like 100 years old and mumbled a lot. We had no idea what the heck was going on. Also, my good friend called, worried something had happened to me because I'd been gone for almost four hours without answering my phone– but time flew!

Collin: We shared our champagne with a nice fellow named Bruce, who proceeded to tell me how nice-looking my date was when she left for the bathroom.

How did dinner end?

Christa: We stayed around the restaurant after dinner because a band seemed to be assembling. The band turned out to be really fun– kind of a bluegrass jam band. They were so nice, too. The singer stopped by our table to say hi and introduce himself, and when I complimented the violin player, he was really gracious.

Collin: It was fairly late when we left the restaurant, but we did go check out the new pavilion. I walked with her to her car, got a hug, a phone number (which I just realized I accidentally did not save... duh!), and went to find my car.

Did you have fun?

Christa: Definitely. It was fun, entertaining, interesting, all that good stuff. Now I'd love to go on more blind dates, since this one went so well.

Collin: I had a very good time. It was 284 times better than sitting at home complaining about how I never get to go out with any girls.

Would you see this person again?

Collin: I'd definitely be up for that.

Christa: Yeah, he got my number before we parted ways.

–Matchmaker smells trouble, does anyone else?

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the date?

Christa: 8

Collin: 8.73.