Two Fridays ago, the event that was Cairn Mingle unfolded before those who were brave enough to come. As you walk in into Chatlos chapel, to your left was two tables full of food and drinks and very festive decorations.  In the far corners were areas for friends and couples alike to take pictures to commemorate the evening. The rest of the chapel had chairs up front for the blind dating game to come and an area behind that to facilitate the board games. What we all did not realize coming into this was how surprisingly awkward some of the interactions on stage and off would become.

As the night started we all removed our shoes and separated them into to two piles, one for the boys and one for the girls. This led to a roulette of tables with different games. While some games were fun, the tables were often split into two games rather than a combined one. I started at one of these split tables and I can say it would have been better to have everyone participate in one game. These table top game tables often left you feeling slightly unsure of what you were doing. Let’s face it everyone loves a good game of Sorry! but I don’t know if anyone was really sure if this was a real date or just a board game night. Looking back, most will realize that this portion of the night was the latter.

After these interesting games, the crowd shifted up to the stage to start the blind dating game. Three participants would get up on stage while one member of the opposite gender was escorted out of the room. We met the participants while the lucky guy or gal figured out questions to determine which of the three they would be winning a date with. All participants were determined by a random draw from a deck of playing cards to keep things fair. Redeeming factors for the portion of this event were

the hosts Billy Holland and Rachel Woods who did a great job keeping up some banter for those watching. During this portion of the show, one answer to a question stunned the crowd, a winner of the date merely shook her head at who had been picked and Billy did a classic joke about bears. One of my friends sitting next to me had a deal to switch cards if he were to get picked which I obliged but never had to make good on. This awkwardly executed version of the dating game had all the pressures of a real dating game with all the unwillingness of college students worried by the audience and those they were set up with. While the evening definitely offered a way to meet other students, this evening was not a speed dating success and left many people wondering what exactly the point of the event was. The organization of the event was fantastic, the volunteers willing and prepared, but what  was left to be desired was the point of the whole evening.