The most important and long-awaited event of the term has finally arrived: Date Knight! Whether you have been set up blindly, you are hoping to lock down your campus crush, or you’re wondering what you can do if you’re not getting set up, I’m here to outline the activities for the night! The Student Activities Office (SAO) really committed this year, branching out from some of their previous cliches. Forget skating on the Bald Spot or making balloon animals—blah, boring, gross. These options will get conversation flowing and relieve any of the awkwardness you’re anxious about.
To begin, it’s important to give a bit of a breakdown of your Carleton experience. This activity is only really applicable for non-freshmen, unfortunately. Everyone interested will gather in Sayles at 7:30p.m., pick a table with their date and rate each of their past Date Knight matches on a scale from 1 to 10. An exciting feature of this event is that your past dates will be present! You can introduce everyone, get a dialogue going and then move on to your next stop when you feel like the group’s been well acquainted with each other. This is an opportunity to step a bit outside of your comfort zone while learning all about what your date’s type is (and if you fit it!).
Next on the docket is for those individuals that are worried about being left out on this romantic night. Now, there are two possible reasons for this one. Either you’re already in a relationship (good for you bud), or your friends don’t think you’re suitable for a date (eek, that’s rough). Luckily, there are some good options for both! For those cute couples, SAO has decided to set you up on a double date. They really wanted to make sure that social groups were mixing and matching, so expect to spend the evening with two individuals you have likely never seen before! Next up, those single-not-by-choice folks will be receiving a unique name tag in their mailbox. It will correspond to a room in the 1974 Center that they can stop by when the evening begins. Because, as you may have guessed, you’re getting a free SHAC counselor appointment! Don’t worry, they can help figure out why your friends didn’t want to set you up.
Focusing in again on those typical date knight pairings, there are two new nature-inspired activities that will get your heart racing and your spirits high! To begin, there will be a station near the upper arb with some handy-dandy blindfolds. Your task with your date will be to walk them into a mysterious, unrecognizable part of the arb and then let them find their way out! The best part is that it will be pitch black outside. So, even if they take the blindfold off, it will likely take them the better part of the night to get back to you! Lastly: the race across Lyman Lakes. Now, the weather has warmed up a bit (spring is coming, I can tell), but there is still a bit of ice covering those beautiful bodies of water. Your task is to see who can get from one side of the Goodhue bridge to the other the fastest. SAO has set some long, hardy branches out along the shore in case of any mishaps, but such a negative outcome seems unlikely.
If none of these new exciting activities appeal to you and your date, you can always just stand in the line for boba for the better part of an hour. Nothing screams romance like making awkward small talk in a long line of couples also making awkward small talk!
I hope everyone enjoys their night of revelry, and I look forward to hearing all of the updates that are sure to come. Look out world, more Carls are soon to marry Carls!