When I see couples holding hands and passing me on Hofstra University’s Unispan, I think of my bank account. Right now, I have about in my checking account, so I wonder: where are these people going out? Through my research, I learned, even an inexpensive date can lead to a beautiful moment.
Mac N’ Cheese “Mamma Mia” movie nights
When freshman television (TV) and film major Michael Anastasio first started at Hofstra, his parents took him to Aldi to buy cheap snacks for school. A $2 box of mgot his attention.
Early in the semester, Anastasio asked freshman TV and film major Savannah Miller to make mac n’ cheese with him on a random Tuesday night. Surprisingly, delicious off-brand boxes and cardboard-flavored powdery cheese soon dotted their movie night dates.
Over bowls of mac n’ cheese, Anastasio and Savannah curled up on the uncomfortable tower lounge couches and opened Max to pick something to watch. Savannah picked “Mamma Mia.”
“I’m going to sing through every song,” Savannah had said with utter seriousness.
Self-consciousness about her voice ran through her body, but she sang the whole movie anyway.
“You’re such a good singer,” Anastasio said.
Anastasio, being a musician, knew she lacked knowledge on the technicalities of music but somehow, without knowing what the right pitches were, she hit every note.
Misguided HofUSA run
Freshman film studies and production major Madalaine Miller and freshman TV and film major Stuart Young met at a birthday party and also lived across the hall from each other. Their little interactions morphed into prods for a date.
“Do you know where Dutch Treats is?” Miller said.
“No,” Young said.
“We can find it together.”
The next day, Miller purposely did not remind him of their potential adventure, but Young still asked if they were going together.
Young used Apple Maps to find the store and insisted that walking on the side of the road was the fastest way to get there from the Netherlands. They ended up at the Student Health Center before making their way back down to their intended destination. The first-years discovered HofUSA is the place where students sit down and eat.
Young paid for both Miller’s and his own brownie sundaes with his dining dollars. When she added whipped cream for 81 cents, he shot her a side-eye.
“Eighty-one cents? You owe me.”
Since then, Miller and Young have been connected at the hip. They recently chose their anniversary date as Sept. 10 since they never had a concrete date for the beginning of their relationship. One of their friends noted their house in the Netherlands would not be the same without them.
Adventures around campus events
Freshman music education major Noella Sexton and her roommate, freshman television production and studies major Riley Buck, are like sisters. So when Sexton’s boyfriend, a computer science major at Stony Brook University, Maxwell Furrer, came to visit, it was a given they would all hang out.
The Hofstra men’s hockey team played Fordham University on Feb. 1, and the group spent their time laughing and cracking jokes in the stands despite Hofstra’s loss. Sexton did not mind the third wheel, in fact, she encouraged it.
“I want my friends to see that I like someone who is like them,” she had thought to herself.
Sexton embedded Furrer into her life of friends and her life of faith. In December, they attended Hofstra Newman Club’s Sunday Mass. A Christmas party ensued afterward, but instead of dancing, they wrapped presents. Amidst talks with the priest about the New York Islanders, they wrapped gifts for children in need. Furrer, a Lutheran, eased into the crowd like butter. Sexton, a Catholic, felt grounded in her faith, her friends and the man she loved.
No-cost and low-cost dates are abundant and merry in college. Save some money and make some memories.
