What’s it like to go speed dating?

I hadn’t really on going to the KSA’s speed-dating event, but decided to after one of my fellow single friends suggested that it might be fun to see what it was all about.

Conveniently, she “forgot” to sign up in time so I decided to go solo. I had never been speed dating before, so I was nervous: What if we had nothing to talk about? What if they were all freaks?

When I signed in at the Grassroots Cafe around 4 p.m. on Oct. 21, I was given a name tag, an ice-breaker question sheet and a pen.

Instructions on the ice-breaker sheet ranged from “Find someone who speaks three languages” to “Find someone who has worked at McDonalds.”

Normally, I absolutely hate ice-breaker exercises. They seem like a forced way to get people to talk to each other. In this situation it wasn’t too bad, though. People were friendly and the ice-breaker seemed to relax them.

Once the ice-breaker was over, everyone went to sit at a previously assigned table, which was appropriately decorated with black tablecloths and little candles. The speed dating began.

Each female person was allotted five minutes with spend with each male person. You talked, found out a little bit about the other person, and decided if you had a connection or not. If you thought you would like to see the person you were talking to again, you would write “yes” beside their name in a booklet everyone was given before the dating. If you didn’t really feel a connection with the person, you had to write “no” beside their name.

Once the five minutes was up, the guys would rotate to the next table and a new date would begin.

It was actually interesting to talk to all of the guys. Everyone seemed really down to earth, which was nice.

I had thought that I would be getting the “He’s so creepy, get me out of this situation NOW” thought, but I didn’t.

(Of course, the nice thing with speed dating is that even if you do get that he’s-creepy-get-me-the-hell-out-of-here vibe, you only need to spend five minutes talking to them. You don’t need to have your friend call you and fake a family emergency.)

Not every guy that I talked to was the type of guy that I would date, but talking to them for five minutes was fine. Fun even.

At the end of the event, we all handed in our booklets with the names of the people we would like to see again. It was then the organizers job to look to see if both people felt a mutual connection. If there was a match, they would send out the other’s contact information to each participant.

I got an e-mail from the organizers at the Speed Dating event the other day, telling me that there was no mutual connections for me this time.

That’s fine. I had a good time at the event and don’t regret going.

If your one and only concern is coming out of the speed dating with a date lined up, you may be disappointed. But if you go with the intent to meet some interesting fellow Kwantleners, and maybe get a date in the process, you’ll have a good time regardless of the outcome.

When the next Kwantlen speed dating event comes around, I’ll be letting my single friends know where to go to find a potential date, or, if not that, spend a fun couple of hours.

RELATED: Students turn out for speed dating at Kwantlen