Like so many modern romances, ours began on a dating app. We clicked (that's a dating app pun) immediately and within a few short messages, I knew I had to meet this amazing girl in person. Our first date was at my favorite bar in Chicago, a historic tap house with a fun, boutique vibe. We spent the night laughing, sharing, and bonding over our shared love of travel. Gretchen was very impressed when I told her I had also ridden camels—a reference to her profile picture of her riding a camel in Egypt! As the night continued, we grew hungry, but didn't want to leave each other's company, so I invited Gretchen back to my house, where I made my world-famous chocolate chip pancakes. To this day, we celebrate our "pancake-a-versary" and enjoy a romantic pancake dinner together.

Noam and I met the old fashioned way...on a dating app! Once the texts got to be a few scrolls long, we knew we had to meet. It was my first dating app experience so I was a bit nervous to meet up with a stranger, but that nervousness was quelled when Noam recommended a hole-in-the-wall dive bar that my friends and I frequented (probably too often) - Halligans! Noam was of course 20 minutes early and I was of course 20 minutes late but once we both got there, we had so much fun getting to know each other. We connected over our experiences with camels (I talked about riding one in Morocco and he told me how he hated them ever since one had bucked him off into a pile of poop). I felt weirdly comfortable with him despite a few blabbering fun facts I told - including Canon McMillan being the longest school district in the state of PA (crucial facts on a first date). We talked until we were starving, and without a food option close by, Noam offered to make pancakes for us at his apartment. To this day we still celebrate our pancake-a-versary every year!