First Dates

First dates are the pinnacle of the start of a relationship. They are either a painful shortcut to the end, or the opening to a great beginning. This also means that during the first date there is a lot of stress, anxiety, and awkwardness hanging in the air. A great way of reducing this tension as much as possible is by picking the right place or activity to do for the first date.

Now let me be clear, I am in no way an expert in dating. I am just a college student that has been on a fair share of dates and found the following ones to be the most fun. With no further a due, here are three first dates that I strongly recommend you consider:

College Sports Games

This date is definitely a personal favorite. It is a great place to slowly get to know each other in a safe and fun environment. You get to see each others level of competitiveness and with that, in my opinion, your true personality. Something about the combination of sports and being in an open space surrounded by strangers brings the real you out, including the funny clumsy stuff, and it is the perfect place to show off your jokes (personally I am an expert in the dad joke genre). As with every first date, there will be awkward moments, being at a sports game makes these moments a lot more bearable, simply distract each other by placing your focus back onto the game! Overall, sports create great conversations such as what sports you played as a kid, or what kind you prefer watching now as an adult. Perhaps you yourself will score a kiss at the end of the game (I was not lying about the dad joke thing).

Bowling

What a cliché! I know! Let me show you why this is a great first date. First off, everyone can bowl. There are not many skills needed to throw a ball down a lane while aiming it at some pins. If it is, there are always the side gates. Although it is fairly easy to bowl, somehow it gets insanely difficult to talk on a first date. Even though it is one of the first things you learn in life and have been doing ever since, for whatever reason, first dates take away those years of experience. That is where bowling comes in handy. As you may know, bowling is played with the use of turns. This means that there is a limit amount of time between each turn to talk. It is just enough time for some small talk, but not enough time to completely mess up. You are also in control of this time, you can choose to bowl more and talk less, or talk more and bowl less. The power is in your hands. Then after a little while at least one of you will send signals of wanting to stop. Bowling also allows you to pinpoint on where you and your date are at, if you think it is going great you should ask her/him if she/he would like to get a victory drink after the last game. If she/he says yes it's a good sign, if she/he says no it probably means that there will not be a date number two and you will end up getting a gutter-ball.

Local Events

Now this date isn't as specific as the ones previously discussed. When I say "local events" I am talking about things such as farmers markets, food truck festivals, small free concerts, fairs, etc. Mainly activities in the community that involve food, music, and a crowd. The reason that any of these events are great as a first date is that there is a certain happy feeling in the air all around. You can walk around, eat different foods, talk, listen to music, lay down on the grass, get to know each other, and escape silences with distractions. It is something that has variety within the date itself, it is hard to get bored when there is so much to do.

As I mentioned before, I am in no way an expert on first dates. I just enjoyed these activities and will keep using them until I find the right girl for me. I hope you enjoyed and learned something from my ideas and experiences. Thank you for reading!