The college dating scene can be treacherous at times, but the lucky few seem to figure it out. Seniors Max Mantych and Elizabeth Grout share their story to encourage others to not give up on the possibility of love.
How did you both meet?
Elizabeth: “Through our mutual friends, our individual friend groups started to merge and then at hangouts and stuff I kind of zeroed in on Max. Before I knew what Max’s last name was, I called him ‘Hot Max’ behind his back to people. Then I told him to his face once that I called him ‘Hot Max’ and he got all bashful, it was really funny.”
Max: “Obviously Marquette is a small place in which come around sophomore year I think networks start to grow, Elizabeth and I met each other through some mutual friends, and we were friends for quite a while. We met through some mutual friends and friend groups colliding, and eventually we found ourselves just hanging out one-on-one.”
What was your first official date?
Elizabeth: “I love the sunrise and I’m a morning person, I think it was my idea to watch the sunrise. I also love Star Wars and on our first date, Max had found a little Star Wars figurine at an antique store and he gave it to me.”
Max: “The first time we hung out one-on-one was just a walk, and it was one of those walks that just kept going and going because neither one of us wanted it to end, and by the end of it both of us left thinking, ‘That was kind of date-y.’ But for the first real date that we went on, I’m not a morning person at all and I got up at 5:15 in the morning to watch the sunrise with her.”
When did you first know that you guys loved each other?
Elizabeth: “I knew I was in love with Max over the summer after we started dating. Towards the end of the summer, I drove down from Milwaukee to visit him in St. Louis, and I’m like a man-hater, so I was thinking to myself, ‘The fact that I’m driving six hours to visit a man, I must love this man.’”
Max: “For me, I think I started to feel like I loved her pretty much around that same time. When we started dating in April, we knew we would be confronted with an untraditional college relationship timeline because I was going home for half the summer and then we would be together for six weeks for the second half of summer. Then I was actually going to Spain for the semester in the fall and then winter break we had one chance to interview each other and then she was going to Washington D.C. for Les Aspin in the spring. I think it was like I would not and she would not be putting this much time and energy into someone else had it not been seen as potential longer term, so for me that’s kind of when I knew I loved her.”
When did you say “I love you” for the first time?
Elizabeth: “We were just hanging out in Max’s apartment but then he paused and said, ‘I’m falling in love with you,’ and I said, ‘I am in love with you.’ It was a slam dunk and like really funny.”
What’s your favorite date that you’ve been on?
Elizabeth: “A really good date that we had when I was visiting Max in St. Louis, he planned this date where he packed a table, two chairs, a picnic table, candles, plates, we ordered takeout from a burrito place and we set up a table and chairs in this very public place and like, tablecloth and all, we had dinner.”
Max: “This was kind of an unexpected date. So Elizabeth and I had an inside joke about trying to hitchhike on a sailboat. This was in the middle of the summer, right when I got back to Milwaukee, we made a sign that said, ‘We’ll trade cookies for a boat ride.’ We made some burnt cookies and we walked around the marina holding up the sign and asking people. Eventually, we found an older couple, named Ray and Tracy, and at first they weren’t going to and then Ray took a look back and said, ‘That’s pretty good, I’ll consider it, but you guys have to work.’ So we ended up getting on this sailboat with two strangers and they took us out on the water, and neither Elizabeth nor I had sailing experience but they were teaching us along the way.”
This story was written by Izzy Fonfara Drewel. She can be reached at [email protected].
