Had A Whole Year And Did Not Find A Date For Valentine's Day? Try To Get 10 Dates In 2 Weeks!

Warning (contains spoilers): This is not a love story.

I came to Riga a few months ago to work on my Phd paper, change setting (read: be away from my ex) and, frankly, because it's pretty cheap. Even if the weather here can be kind of depressing, I love the city - made friends soon enough and feel like fitting in pretty good.

One night out with guys after some third or probably fourth glass of beer, they came up with a challenge for me, which was meant to get me right in the middle of Riga dating scene.

I had to go on 10 dates in 2 weeks.

After two more beers this originally completely crazy idea started to shine like a diamond and after two more… Well I don't remember a shit.

Next morning I woke up with the most horrible hangover and vague memories about previous night. What I found out - first, I have accepted that crazy challenge and even made some serious bet on that (3 dozens of beer is a serious bet, right?). Second - now I had an account on a dating app called Mint, which is supposedly my billet d'or to the glorious victory. I will skip detailed report about all stages of pain I went through and go directly to the dates (check 5 stage lethal illness acceptance plan, if you want to know how I felt).

*Kristine - sleepy party girl.* We had a short online chat, and she was keen to meet for a coffee. I was nervous and impatient, could not wait for this crazy trip to start, this is why this date was one of the strangest. Have you ever tried to convince a girl to go on the first date at 9AM on Sunday? I was lucky - apparently people in Riga don't oversleep, as they simply don't sleep. At least Kristine did not, and came to meet me after having been out with friends all night long. She was really cute, but smelled of alcohol, which is not the biggest turn-on in the early Sunday morning. She was also very sleepy, and started to space out (even dozed off for a bit), so I walked her to a tram stop pretty soon. But - for real - she was indeed very cute.

*Olga, Ieva and Sabine - horrible triplets.* Don't misunderstand me - I did not go on a triple date with sisters! These dates did not even happen on the same day, in the exact order and were not actually blood-related. All three, the same as my first Riga date, were coffee dates arranged online, who might as well have been weird sisters. Olga just could not shut up - I don't think I had a chance to say more than 3 sentences during our 2 hour meeting; Ieva, as I found out soon enough, could not actually speak English and filled conversation with loud, and frankly - not too pleasant laughter, but third one… I don't remember what she said or in which language. That chick has used so much perfume before our rendez-vous, that it made me slightly sick and I just could not think of anything else, but a breeze of fresh air.

*Anna - the most romantic… and weird date.* I've met her previously at friend's party, she had dreamy eyes and a mysterious smile. So finally I had a very good reason to find my guts to ask her out - she seemed more than happy to agree, and even said I don't have to make any plans - she knew exactly what she wanted to do. And she did… we spent about 3 hours in Central market and different super markets, looking for blueberries, which have disappeared from the face of the earth. As did Anna after this cold, equally beautiful and strange day.

*Sandra - looking for escape.* This started a bit old-school. My Latvian friend Maris gave me a number of “this hot chick from Uni”. So we decided to go out with him and their fellow students. I was promised a real treat - we went to one of so popular escape rooms… And, boy, a treat did I get. Sandra was absolutely terrified by being locked in the room, so she just sat there quietly, huge tears running over her cheeks. True to the name of place - I could not wait to escape that.

*Rita - noir désir.* When I saw her for the first time on Mint, she took my breath away. So she did when I met her in real life - being nothing like her profile pictures. I mean - her face should be as pretty as on pics under all those piercings, heavy layer of cosmetics and badass attitude, but… We had a beer in alternative music club in the old town and parted our ways - she stayed there with friends, I walked away… to another date in fact.

*Laura - can you see the sea?* I borrowed friend's car and followed detailed instructions to pick her up in some Soviet time suburbia, on our way to Jurmala (coastal town close to Riga). After some waiting in the car, she asked me to come up to help her with something. I was greeted by curious smile of her elderly mum, excited snoring of a very fat pug and hysterical request to take apart an old cupboard. We never made it to the sea, but at least breakfast pancakes next morning were super tasty.

*Sasha and Olesya - not every ticket wins.* Sasha was a really sweet girl, who even spoke French - I do think that I was more of a training possibility - we still chat online sometimes. But Olesya… She asked to meet at Laima clock and then send me a message “sorry, I just don't think it will work”. Oh well, some people apparently can resist French charm.

Aftermath of this - I had a blast. Maris and Eriks decided that I won the bet, even if Olesya did not came (they figured she might have came to see me and found not to her taste). So I've drunk that beer, decided to write it down and ask Laura out again - but that's another story.