The spring season has finally come in at full force. If you were to walk across North Campus, you’d find the flowers in full bloom, the birds chirping, and people spread throughout the various quads soaking up the April sun. With such weather, it’s difficult not to feel more uplifted and positive about what lies in store for you. This includes your relationship status. Even the guys feel the change in the air as they become more aware of their female counterparts and finally ask the girl they’ve been eyeing since the first day of class out on a date. Suppose this girl just happens to be you. At first, the butterflies will inevitably flood your stomach as you become excited at the potential prospect of a boyfriend. However, then you realize you’re going on a date. A real date. With a guy. Cue the intense feeling of panic. Now you have to decide what to wear, what to talk about, what to bring…. the list is endless. As strong as this worry may be, we can’t go on the date for you. However, to ease the anxiety, we have created a list of a few dos and don’ts to remember on a first date.
DOs
1. DO be safe. Make sure your date is in a public place until you’ve gotten to know him. Better safe than sorry!
2. DO give yourself enough time to get ready. You don’t want to appear like you spent five hours getting ready for this date, but you also don’t want him to feel like an afterthought
3. DO wear something fun and flirty. Put more effort in than you would for class, but not so much you look like a drag queen. It’s all about balance.
4. DO go in with an open mind. You want someone with similar interests as you, but that doesn’t mean they need to like everything you do. You never know what someone has to offer unless you give him a chance.
5. DO compliment him. If he looks nice or smells good, let him know! It’ll show you noticed his effort and he will appreciate that.
6. DO talk about topics that interest you. Don’t talk about football for half an hour if it really doesn’t interest you. Who knows what other interests you may have in common if you spend all your time on one topic.
7. DO be honest. Don’t lie to try to impress him. It’ll only come back to be thrown in your face down the road.
8. DO text him after the date if you had a good time! A quick text after you’ve parted ways reassures him that you enjoyed yourself and his company. (But don’t feel the need to carry on a conversation after the date…that’s overkill).
DON’Ts
1. DO NOT wear something slutty. It’s an obvious “don’t” because too much of the goods can be a major turn off. He’s most likely already seen what you look like so no need to go out of your way to emphasize your assets.
2. DO NOT show up late or , if he’s picking you up, be ready to go. First impressions are lasting impressions.
3. DO NOT talk about yourself the entire time. You want him to get to know you, of course, but he doesn’t need to know your life story in the few hours of your first date.
4. DO NOT talk about your ex. Even if you try to compliment him by saying he’s not like your ex, don’t do it. It’ll just show you’re trying to one up your last boyfriend and not focused on the guy sitting right in front of you.
5. DO NOT drink excessively (for those of you that are of age). People never think highly of drunken fools.
6. DO NOT text other people. You’ll only be on this date for a few hours…you can live without your phone and your friends can wait until after the date to hear how it went.
7. DO NOT pretend to like him if you don’t. After dinner if he wants to go somewhere else, end the date early. Thank him for the dinner and move on. Sometimes dates just don’t work out and THAT’S OKAY. He’ll appreciate it in the end because he’ll have saved what he would have spent on the next part of the date and his time.
8. DO NOT add him on Facebook right after the date if you’re not already friends. It’s just creepy. Wait a day or two.