An oar-some or oar-ful date for these two rowers?

WE SENT TWO CAMBRIDGE STUDENTS ON A MYSTERY DATE AND HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED.


It is officially ‘cuffing season,’ so instead of living your life vicariously through other people’s Crushbridges, you can live it through Fizz McNally and Isaac Fernandes, who we sent on a mystery date.

 

Or just send one to yourself, because you deserve it (Image Credit: Camfess via Facebook)

 

The premise of this is that, we matched these two up and sent them on a date, so we could interview them after about how it went. Sort of like the Channel 4 show, First Dates, but I’m not Fred Sirieix, but I do expect an invite to the wedding if it works out long term.

Firstly, a brief introduction to our lovely mystery date-rs, Fizz and Isaac. Fizz is a second-year medic at Sidney Sussex and Isaac is a physical natural sciences student at Magdalene. Although not technically a complete surprise, as the two had mutual friends and knew vaguely of each other (the perils of the Cambridge bubble), the two met on a chilly Thursday night at the Pickerel.

The Pickerel (Image Credit: Olivia Bradley)

As Paddy McGuiness would say- let the butter see the crumpet.

 

The Date

 

Although Isaac suggested that the main thing, he would change about the date was choosing “somewhere not directly outside my front door,” the two went to the Pickerel, for some cosy pints and a chat. Despite being there for an hour and a half, they only had one drink, which Fizz attributed to all the chatting (I’d take that as a good sign). I learnt from Fizz, that she had the Amstel top, and he had a session IPA – I won’t claim to know much about beer, so those of you who do, judge as you will. Isaac only gave the beer an adequate 6/10, so we can all only hope this was overshadowed by the lovely company.

 

First Impressions

 

Considering Isaac was complaining about the pub being too close to his house, it will probably surprise you to know he was late. Confusing to both me and Fizz and presumably you too. However, Fizz didn’t seem too phased by this, she just said “he was probably trying to play it cool.” But, brownie points to me, she was impressed that he was “actually fit,” despite the purple bitmoji (red flag?) When asking Isaac, the same question he said “she was wearing college stash, take that as you will.” A slightly salty comment from Isaac, but, to give Fizz the benefit of the doubt, she had agreed to this rather last minute and had to come straight from a supervision. This all strikes me as a very dating-in-Cambridge problem to have.

You heard it here first (Image credit : Camfess via Facebook )

 

Next came the question of what they thought their date thought of them. Isaac went with the rather cocky reply “she loved me – who wouldn’t,” so love may be on the cards for these two? Fizz enjoyed the mystery aspect of the date saying the usual apprehensions weren’t there, so she felt very comfortable and relaxed allowing her to be herself more. At first suggesting she thought he’d find her “underwhelming” (we can’t have a bestie self-depreciating) so she changed to say she thought he’d think she was “solid, good craic.” Fizz went on to clarify that she initially felt there wasn’t a spark because Isaac “seemed off the whole date,” like he was holding something back or wasn’t exactly “feeling it,” so I guess it can be hard to try and read someone- try as we might.

 

Conversation topics

 

Now, when Fizz began her answer about what did you talk about with “ I feel awful but…” I had no idea what to expect from the answer, so I was slightly relieved when she said “we are both rowers.” Again, a very dating-in-Cambridge problem to have. Now, although the concept of a rowing couple may sound slightly insufferable (sorry to the rowing power couples out there), how else can we expect rowers to fit in a significant other?  Shamefully, I know little about rowing but I’m sure I should be impressed by the W1 and M2 lingo, as much as I am impressed by rowers’ ability to wake up before 6am. It then surprised me when this topic of conversation didn’t seem to cross Isaac’s mind, we all know rowers really do like to talk about rowing. He said they chatted about “all sorts of things, the Greeks, sibling life, and our mutual friend who gets unreasonably drunk all the time.” Presumably, mutual friend, who likes to get drunk, you know who you are. There was no explanation on the Greek front, so I was left with the question of whether this means they were having one of two conversations: one about the ancient Greeks or the (contemporary) people of Greece. Although that is me presuming, they didn’t have enough time to discuss the breadth of Greek history, politics and culture in an hour and a half date. Either way, slightly random- but at least conversation was flowing.

 

 

Look at them go! Fizz pictured third from the left (Image Credit: Fizz McNally)

 

How did it go?

 

Before I reveal the juicy stuff about whether they wanted to see each other again, it’s interesting to find out how the two felt the date went themselves. Fizz felt it was difficult to read the “vibe,” it wasn’t flirty all, she said she tried a couple of times, but this “wasn’t exactly picked up by Isaac.” Maybe she should have continued with the Greek theme and tried ‘are you the Greek God Apollo? Because you light up my day and are music to my ears.’ But then again, she probably wanted her date to go well.

 

When asked if the pair would do anything differently, Isaac said with a rather disappointed look that he would have ensured he “got [his] student discount on [his] drink,” as apparently Magdalene students get a discount at the Pickerel- so that’s something to consider when looking for your next date, find someone from Magdalene. Both agreed there were some slightly awkward moments when conversation came to a pause, Fizz said she try to fill them with funny stories but felt she should have asked him more questions about himself instead. Although, she did tell me one of the stories that involved dyslexia, misspelling, and a tattoo. If you have the pleasure of meeting Fizz, I’d recommend getting story told in full by her.  This probably explains why Isaac, when asked to describe his date in three words said she was “easy-going and fun.” Technically, that’s four words, but there’s no point being pedantic. Fizz said Isaac was ‘chill, interesting, difficult’ but asked me to specify the difficulty was on part because of her own apprehensions.

 

Magdalene looking cute (Image Credit: @camdiary via Instagram)

 

The verdict

 

Fizz said that as she walked back, she thought that there was ‘no spark’ but during in the interview she suggested there was maybe ‘a tiny little one that could blow up’ given the chance. There may be a chance for that as well as both daters said that they would like to see each other again. Although, this may change when they read what the other said about the date.

 

Fizz said her love language was ‘fitting people in’ to her busy schedule, so maybe she will have to make time for a second date with Isaac, although I imagine not at the Pickerel.

 

Cover Image Credits: Isaac Fernandes (left) and Fizz McNally (right) 

 

If you would like to get involved in one of these Mystery Date interviews, consider filling in the Google doc below for the chance to get involved!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5nNObPOz-bk9GiWY2ZrlpueSkjva167qwykFpzd24IIPJNw/viewform

 

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