The word ‘date’ generally conjures up images of candle light dinners, romantic strolls along a moonlit beach, flowers and the whole shebang. However, are these images only Hollywood’s perceived images of a date; what is the actual reality of a ‘date’ these days? It is not all chauffeur driven cars like Carrie and Mr Big, but where do we draw the line between exquisite romantic gestures and a greasy curry and beer from the local pub? Are they both dates? What is a ‘typical’ Exeter Lad’s romantic idea of a date? This week HCX has searched high and low throughout the Streatham campus to try and classify what exactly constitutes a date and whether the “lads” opinion differs from our rose tinted opinion.
A Cassanova hailing from Lafrowda admits that although he would love to “wine and dine” his beautiful ladies often he is too strapped for cash to afford such luxurious dates. He does confirm though that in his book, men should arrange these ‘dates’ so that the couple can focus ‘one on one’ with each other, without the harassment that comes with flatmates crowding all around. A more drastic and sadly worrying answer from one History student was that “there wasn’t really the need for dating in university, as we are nicknamed Sexeter after all!” Luckily, most Exeter men did not all follow his sentiments and some revealed that they did in fact have some tender romantic gestures tucked away beneath their rugby ties. A prominent EURFC member revealed endearingly, that to constitute as a ‘date’ the guy should “flatter their partner, allowing for an enjoyable time where (usually) their girl can be romanced for an entire night without the drunken alcohol fuelled conversations that seemed to occur in Mosaic.”
After much debating, some HCX readers also revealed their classification of dates was “anything that involved two single people, interested in each other, who meet and spend time together, preferably with the added bonus of a little bit of romance thrown in!” Interestingly, it was actually the male population which encouraged ideas of romance incorporated with ‘dates’ rather than the more sentimental views shared by the female readers who focused on spending quality time together regardless of location.
So were all Exeter Lad’s focusing on classifying ‘dates’ as tender one on one moments with chivalrous gallantry winning? The general consensus (albeit I ignored the more rogue and sometimes gaudy answers) was that a date did not necessarily have to be dinner or a movie, but a pre-arranged time concentrating on their relationship and if they were lucky, with the men picking up the bill! So it seems there are still Mr Darcy’s strolling around campus. If by chance you do come across a Daniel Cleaver, cut your losses and try to find a man that will treat you right…after all every girl deserves to have her very own Vivian Ward/ Edward Lewis (Pretty Woman) moment!
Picture Credits: ayay.co.uk, favim.com, lady-bleu.deviantart.com