By Elana Dure

Senior community health major Michael Samuels and sophomore theater major Tamar Gasko went on a

blind date to Starbucks on Sept. 18. Here is how it went.

What were your thoughts coming to the date?

Tamar: I was excited because I thought it would be really fun. I like meeting people on a one-to-one

basis because I could actually have a conversation, so I was looking forward to meeting someone new.

At the moment, I was running over really fast from CSPAC, so I was sweaty and out of breath. But

whatever, it didn’t matter.

Michael: I was excited. It was a chance to meet someone new that I haven’t yet met before.

What did you speak about?

Tamar: We first went through our majors, and then we just sort of picked up on fun things that we

heard. We talked about music and traveling. That sort of turned into our family histories because we

both had cool family histories. He was wearing a dinosaur T-shirt, and he told me a really cool fact about

pterodactyls that I didn’t know.

Michael: We talked about music, family, travel and camping. She was telling me that she spent her gap

year in South America, which was really cool compared to most people who spent it in Israel.

Was it awkward at all?

Tamar: At some points when we finished the conversation, there was the normal seven seconds of

silence. That’s normal, so it was like, “Oh, there’s silence now, but that’s okay.” It wasn’t really awkward.

We didn’t run out of things to say, and we were both pretty good at picking up the conversation. We

both walked back together — he went to Commons 1 and I went to the South Campus Diner — so we

also talked on the way.

Michael: No, I think we had a good conversation and kept it going. There were a couple of awkward

pauses, but those are to be expected.

Will you two hang out again?

Tamar: I’m sure now when I see him at Hillel Shabbat nights, I’ll go over and we’ll talk. I don’t know if

we’ll hang out.

Michael: Yeah, definitely. If I see her around campus, I’ll say hi and talk to her.

What was the best moment of the meet-up?

Tamar: I guess when he got really into talking about something. He got me really into it, too, so we were

both exclaiming over how cool the pterodactyl is and how Ben Franklin was probably an asshole. We

both got really into some of the conversations, and that was really fun.

Michael: All of it.

What were your thoughts leaving the date?

Tamar: I thought, “Wow! That was a really great way to wrap up the day. I just had a really great

conversation with a new person.” It was really relaxing, and I’m really happy I did it.

Michael: She’s really cool, it was really nice to meet her, and I’m looking forward to hanging out with her

again at some point.