Temple students reveal the most cringeworthy dates they’ve been on

Dating in college could either be a hit or a miss, especially when “cuffing season” is upon us and everyone is on the prowl to find someone. 

Whether you have a beau or not, we can all agree that our first dates will always be memorable in a good way or the complete opposite.

The Tab Temple decided to ask students around campus about the most cringeworthy dates they’ve been on.

So, take a break from your work and snuggle up to your phone or laptop and find company in the misery of our fellow students’ first date horror stories.

Zayd Nubani, Undeclared, Sophomore

“I’m an international student from Dubai and I used this app called Tinder. I met up with this girl once before and then I took her out on a date in Center City to this Japanese place and the whole time she was on her phone.

I was just like ‘What the fucks up with her phone, there must be something really interesting going on on her phone right now.’

So, I asked her, ‘What are you doing on your phone?’ She said, ‘Oh I’m just checking my Instagram and my Snapchat.’

I said, ‘You must be super interested in everything that I got going on.’

While we’re walking she saw one of her friends and made her friend tag along on our date and mind you that I’m still jet lagged because this is the first week I’m back from Dubai. We were all chilling and I smoked weed for the first time. I was having crazy spins, but she’s still on her phone. She then gets up and says she has to go do something and she left her house and I’m still there with her friend. I left. That was my first date at Temple University.”

Sierra Guenst, Communications, Senior

“I thought that wonton soup would be a good option for date food… He ordered dumplings. Halfway through the date I realized there were foot long strips of seaweed in my soup and I burst out laughing when he caught me with a strip hanging from my mouth. But my date wasn’t laughing, he just stared at me—awkwardly.”

Ammar, Chemistry, Junior

“My bad date was three years ago when I first came to America, from Kuwait. I had no idea what to talk about since this was my first time going out with an American girl. There was a language and a cultural barrier between us and what she expected from me was different. It just wasn’t what she expected but, I learned from it and I haven’t had a bad date since.”

Becky, Communications, Senior

“I met this boy and since I’m not really good at going on dates I thought it would be a great idea to get a little loose before. So, I went to the bar with my friend for a glass of wine and one glass of wine turned into four glasses of wine and two shots of Jameson.

I don’t remember anything from the date. I just know that I was throwing up in the bathroom and my roommate came over and said, ‘I think your date is outside’ and it went downhill from there.”

Anthony Cordi, Journalism, Freshman

“Basically, I paid for a $40 dinner and a bottle of wine. The date seemed to be going fine but as soon as we left he just wasn’t into it. Yeah it just was not a good date. It ended in Chinatown with an awkward hug and I took an Uber back home.”

Cami Thomas, Acting, Sophomore 

“I had plans to go out with this guy but then I cancelled on him. We lived in the same neighborhood. So while I’m walking home he runs up behind me and like football tackles me to the ground to try and get my attention.

The ‘date’ ended up being us just walking around the same area that he found me in. It was so weird because it was really late at night. So, a car pulls up in front of us to make sure we weren’t doing anything suspicious and we ended up in a pizza shop but neither of us bought anything. We just sat there and stared at each other and it was pretty awkward.”

Keilon Rochford-Hawkins, Math and Physics, Freshman

“I went on a date with this girl from Tinder at Reading Terminal Market in Center City once. We were half way through the date and I was just like this is really awkward since she just kept talking about herself throughout the entire date. I couldn’t say one word about myself and I tried to hint to her that I was ready to leave but she wasn’t really picking up on what I was putting down.

We ended up being there for like five hours. Eventually she decided it was time to go and we never spoke again.”

Becca Winkler, Anthropology, Senior

“I matched with this guy on Tinder who went to UPenn and we talked back a forth for a while and then made plans to hangout, actually on Valentine’s Day. I wasn’t sure, I thought it was weird at first but then decided whatever we’re going to do it. I go over to his apartment and I had never spoken to him on the phone before and I had to call him but he had such a thick accent that I couldn’t understand him.

We watched a foreign movie on Netflix and I drank a bottle of wine that he bought, but he didn’t want to drink. But I noticed two weeks later that weird movies kept showing up on my Netflix history that I didn’t watch.

My mom later called me and asked about it and it turns it out, he was still using my Netflix account after we stopped talking. I got a lecture from my mom about sharing our account with some guy I just met.”

Luiz Campagnin, Accounting, Senior 

“I was hanging out with this girl who also goes to Temple and we decided to go to the movies. However, I took her really far North East to Neshaminy, that’s a 30 minute drive.

I don’t know why, but we got there but neither of us felt like watching a movie so we sat down and started talking. I was super nervous and so was she. We kind of just sat on a bench talking for half an hour. We came back to Temple, I dropped her off, and we never talked again.”

Michael Allford, Business Management, Senior

“I met this girl online and it wasn’t really a date, it was more of a meet and greet. The goal was to meet in an environment where we both felt comfortable and that was the gym. We both like to workout so I decided to bring her to my gym since they allow me to bring a guest for free.

After we worked out she kind of went off in the car somewhere and was missing for a little awhile. It was so awkward afterward and it was just really evident. We kind of said we’ll talk to each other later but both knew we wouldn’t.”

Pheniel Elizer, Economics, Junior

“It was kind of like an online thing, we decided to meet up. I got cat-fished. I tried to make the best of it but we didn’t have anything in common and it was just a bad night. We sat there staring at each other and there were lots of awkward silences.”