Tinder is sweeping the online dating world among college-aged and young adults. It’s a fairly simple app where you create a profile based on your Facebook page and go through peoples’ profiles and swipe right if you like them and swipe left if you don’t. If the same person swipes right on you, there’s a match. Pretty simple stuff, right? That’s the reason 50 million people use the dating app every month. According to an article in Psychology in Action, despite the immense number of swipes, “Only about 12% of these swipes result in matches on a daily basis.” And, of these matches, not many of them will result in a conversation, let alone a date. I guess I am the outlier.
I matched with my boyfriend, Tyler, on October 21, 2014, in the wee hours of the morning. Yes – I know what you’re thinking: Why on earth do you remember the exact day? That I can not answer; I just remember that day pretty clearly. We talked all night [okay, morning] about normal things: interests, hobbies, major, etc. Throughout the day we talked nonstop about more in-depth and random topics. Around 11 p.m. that night, Tyler texted me and asked me if I wanted to go on an adventure. I knew it was crazy (and extremely risky), but I didn’t want to say no. So I took the risk and said yes. (Of course I told my roommates where I was going and who I was going to be with. It helped that Tyler also went to CNU).
Tyler picked me up around 11:30 p.m. from my residence hall and we started our adventure. We just started driving down 64 and eventually got to Virginia Beach. When we got there, nothing was open because it was a Wednesday morning at 12:30 a.m. by the time we arrived, so we decided to walk the boardwalk. We talked about everything and anything. There was definitely chemistry between us and neither of us could stop smiling. We ended up walking up and down the boardwalk twice. When we got to the very end of the boardwalk, he leaned in and kissed me. Right as this happened, it started raining; such a cliché “kiss me in the rain” moment, but it was amazing. We ended up staying out until 6 a.m. talking and laughing. We listened to so much music in the car, which is one of Tyler’s passions. Being able to share a passion with someone on the first date made us feel very connected. The date could not have gone any better than it did.
Our relationship is unique in that it started after both of us had recently ended our previous relationships. Getting back into dating wasn’t easy for either of us but we took a chance. We didn’t become “Facebook official” until January 6 of this year. In the period from becoming more serious to becoming official, Tyler said we were in a “relation-boat,” not quite a relationship but almost there. On January 6, Tyler invited me over and played three songs, one of them being “You and Me” by Dave Matthews Band, one of our favorite bands and our song. He sat me down and handed me this blue wooden model ship and asked me if I would be in a relationship with him. It was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. Since our first date, we have gone on many more adventures, including two Redskins games, a trip to Vermont, a trip to Anna Maria Island, Fla., a trip to Hilton Head Island, S.C., and countless others.
I am a complete advocate for Tinder and I always recommend it to my friends. Yes, you will get the creepy older men and the annoying users, but you never know what could happen. You could find someone with whom you are absolutely in love, just with like me.