Written by The Strategy

Another day, another series. Welcome to The Dating Diaries.  A series on the trials and tribulations of our collective dating experiences. Our rants, our raves, our first dates and our worst dates. It feels good to get this all off our chests.

Congratulations! Your Bumble matches and incessant texting has paid off! You have scored yourself a first date. This is exciting, no?

Sure, when the initial plans are made, it can most definitely be exciting, but soon enough, the realization of picking an outfit, wondering what to talk about and who will pay for the check starts to dawn on you. I’m going to go ahead and say what we’re all thinking: First dates are the worst. Even the most seasoned date-r would agree.

When I think of first dates, I always think of a conversation from National Lampoon’s Van Wilder.

Van Wilder: It’s a date.

Gwen: It’s an interview, not a date.

Van Wilder: Gwen, first dates are interviews.

I saw the movie in my early teens and the quote finally made sense when I started dating properly in my adult life. Like an interview, you fuss about what you’re going to wear – “What does this top say about me?”, you worry you won’t say the right thing, and after all, you’re hoping a connection is made and you both get the role of boyfriend/girlfriend. We all leave the house a bundle of nerves, but with high hopes that all will go well.

We dream of the first dates that Nora Ephron wrote about. However, for every one good first date, we all have one (or ten) awful experiences that has us debating whether or not it would be easier to devote ourselves to God and join the convent.

First dates are, unfortunately, a necessary evil every single-ton must go through. After all, they’re the only way to get to a second, third, and forth. But, wouldn’t it be nice if we could skip over #1 completely?