Name: Eduardo Solaeche
Age: 19
Major: Architecture
Hometown: Madrid, Spain
Relationship Status: Single
Hobbies: swimming, paintballing with friends, surfing
Are you involved with any organizations on campus? “I’m on the swim team. I like to get involved with anything sports related. I’m part of Gator Grind, which is a group of people that work with all the athletes, and we do different stuff for UF.”
Favorite sports team: “I have a favorite soccer team — Real Madrid; It’s really big back in my country. I also like the Ravens for football, and for basketball, I like the Spurs.”
Favorite spot in Gainesville: Ginnie Springs
Favorite Music: Rock and punk rock
Favorite Foods: “I love Asian food. I don’t know why; I just really like it. Also, love Hispanic food… The Mediterranean diet is the best; it’s really healthy.”
What’s your favorite dish? “Paella; it’s Spanish rice with some meat and seafood.”
What’s your favorite song? “Hmm… That’s a hard question. I’d say ‘Under the Bridge’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”
Favorite movies: “These are kind of weird movies, but I like ‘Inception.’ I like ‘Donnie Darko,’ and I like ‘Romeo and Juliet’”
If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be? “Probably that I’m too sensitive… Sometimes my friends make fun of me because of that, so I guess that would be it.”
What is your idea of your perfect date? “Something fun; something where you can talk and get to know the person. If it’s a first date, I like to start with something casual — maybe get coffee, that way we have some time to talk a little and then maybe go for a walk through a nice park.”
What type of girls do you like? “I like funny girls with a cute smile. And I guess that aren’t too tall. I don’t know.”
What are some things you don’t like about girls? “I don’t like if they bite their nails. I like when girls have really nice hands. Also I don’t like when they wear really weird clothes like Lady Gaga style. Personality wise… I don’t like girls that talk too much, especially when they gossip — I really don’t like gossip.”
Who is your celebrity crush? “I’m not really into celebrities, but I mean… I have no clue. When I was younger, I always had a crush on Elsa Pataky — she’s also from Spain.”
Have you had any embarrassing moments here on campus? “Oh yeah… a lot of them. Since my English isn’t very good, people talk to me, and I say ‘yes’ and they are waiting for me to give them an answer, and sometimes I didn’t even understand the question, so it’s awkward.”
What is your dream job? “Being an architect. Just having my own company and working in a studio designing stadiums for like swimming pools for the Olympic Committee.”
Have you been told you have a celebrity look-a-like? “Hmm… not really. I mean sometimes I’ve been told I look like a Spanish celebrity, Mario Casas, but its not really known here. But I don’t think I look like him at all.”
How did you get started with swimming? “I’ve been swimming since I was 7 years old. It’s kind of a funny story. My brother was a little bit overweight, but then he became a pro in rugby and went to play in France… so I just kept swimming in high school. I was lucky enough to have really good results back home, and then I got an offer to come to the US to study so I decided to do it. After I came here, I improved a lot. I broke my national record last summer and being in the Spanish National team was really helpful for me.”
Are you thinking about the Olympics anytime soon? “I miss the cuts last year by point three, which is like nothing but I had NCA’s before so I was kind of tired. This year, my federation didn’t take me to Worlds because I didn’t go to try outs because it was the same time as the NCAA. But with my time at Nationals, I would have been 10th in the world. I’m just looking forward to 2016… I’ll definitely be around for that.”
If you could be anyone in the world for a day, who would it be? “Oh man, I would love to be Kelly Slater — just to be able to go and surf everyday… Beach waves… That would be perfect.”
Where would your dream vacation be? “Probably somewhere in the Caribbean.”
How did you feel when I asked you to be campus cutie? “I was really surprised. I never heard about it before, but I definitely never expected someone like me to get asked, so thank you.”