Hi! I'm Fabiana and I recently got back into the dating game and let me just say, it hasn't been a walk in the park.
In a previous post, I wrote about my recent experience with dating apps during the pandemic and how I'm a bit turned off by them right now.
Still, I wanted to keep an open mind about dating during the pandemic so I decided to sign up for a Zoom speed dating event.
I'll be honest: Going into it, my hopes weren't that high. If you do a quick Google search, you'll see that the amount of online dating events for singles that pop up is pretty comical.
The Saturday of the speed dating event came and I got ready for it just as I would for a FaceTime date. The event's confirmation email said it started at 9 p.m. sharp so by 8:55 p.m., I was rushing around setting up my laptop and taking a big gulp of wine before clicking on the Zoom link. 🍷
My Zoom app opened to a moderator's face explaining how the event worked and I was able to see the small screens of the 20 other participants who were in the event. Honestly in that moment, I was tempted to quietly leave the Zoom room, grab my wine glass, and call it a night. 😬
But once I was in the room, I knew I couldn't back out so I stayed and listened to the chirpy moderator. She explained that every couple would enter a breakout room and chat for five minutes before everyone came back to the main screen where the moderator was. Then, everyone would go into another date.
Right away, there was one guy who kept asking the moderator tons of questions as she was explaining. And I knew (according to my luck) he'd be the first one I chat with.
The next hour was honestly...very weird. All my dates and I chatted about vaccines, if we've done virtual speed dating before, why it's hard to work out in a mask, and our hopes that NYC will be "back to normal soon."
One guy, who was 10 years older than me and I'm pretty sure was drunk, sensed sarcasm in my tone when I answered his questions. But to be honest, tipsy McGee was the eighth rando I spoke to that night and I was over it. So yes! He was correct about my sarcastic tone. He told me how all of his friends are already "hitched and with babies" and how he'd love to show me around Coney Island. It was a no for me, dawg.
There was the guy who told me he was about to finish med school, to which I found myself going into therapist mode, giving him a pep talk of how he should be proud of himself because his parents never tell him that they're proud.
By the end of this date, I was shaking my head, confused at what just happened.
One guy kindly asked me how I was really doing and honestly, we had a nice little chat about the pandemic, self-growth, and how we're working on ourselves and our careers. Nice guy.
The event ended a little after 10 p.m. and the moderator told us we'd receive an email afterward, where we could give the names of the people we were interested in. And if it was a mutual match, we'd get each other's phone numbers from the event host.
Although I didn't feel a connection with any of the guys I met, I was proud of myself for going through with this event.
It was an interesting experience to say the least! It's definitely a Saturday night I won't forget and TBH, I let out a good laugh once the event ended and I closed my laptop for the night. If anything came out of it, it was an hour of chatting with strangers, having some sort of human connection, and everyone agreeing that the dating world right now is once again weird and wild.