By Isabel Cleary

For The Diamondback

This article is part of The Diamondback’s annual sex guide. Read the rest here.

As college students, many of us think of this as a time for experimentation and maybe even the chance to meet “the one.”

In reality, most students have more than their fair share of terrible first date stories — some will make you laugh, others will make you cringe, but all are entertaining. We’ve gathered some of College Park’s worst first date stories.

Junior Theresa Harkleroad, an early childhood education major, was expecting a nice evening out; instead, she found herself babysitting.

“This first date that I had with this one guy, he put his feet up on my side of the booth,” Harkleroad said. “He put his head down on the table. He was asking to take the sushi boat home with him from the waiter.”

She said she never saw him again.

Others have had better luck after terrible first dates. Junior Emma Jablow, an economics and government and politics major, said her costly mistake turned into a relationship.

“On my first date with my current boyfriend, I filled up my car with diesel by accident and it’s not a diesel car and the car broke down on the side of the highway,” Jablow said. “It wasn’t that awkward but it was a $500 fix.”

Although first impressions are important, junior Josh Hernandez, a public health science major, said some dates deserve a second chance.

“I was supposed to meet this guy for coffee, and he ended up forgetting about it,” Hernandez said. “He texted me that he wanted to come meet me again the next day, but I was being real petty and not messaging back. Then two days later he found me and brought me coffee. It was OK in the end, and we saw each other for a few months after that.”

Senior Julia Ringel, a bioengineering major, also said she didn’t let first impressions get in the way of her relationship. Ringel and her boyfriend have been dating for six months now after meeting at a party.

On that fateful night, the two were talking and glided over to the dance floor, where disaster struck.

“The first thing he did, he slipped and fell on his ass within five minutes of me meeting him,” Ringel said. “[But] the date went well after that.”