According to a poll in USA Weekend Magazine, Madison is ranked the most romantic city in the nation. Peter Greenberg, Travel editor for the 'Today Show' and UW-Madison alum, selected Madison because it 'lends itself to cuddling.'
As a Valentine's Day cynic and 16-year Madison resident, I had to laugh. Madison is great for a lot of things, but romance never topped my list. With time to kill and only bad TV on, I set about to discover the love Greenberg saw in his travels to Madison, and maybe find a little bit of my own.
I started out with the book. My mother gave it to me a few weeks ago and it was quickly stashed away in my room to get dusty. But embarrassed or not, I needed it for research. The gifting of the book went like this:
'Love Smart'? I said in disbelief.
'Yeah it's that new book by Dr. Phil,' she told me with more enthusiasm than she had when I won the spelling bee.
'Oh,' I said, trying to mimic her excitement. 'Cool.'
Needless to say, it did not work. My mother bought a book with the tagline, 'Find the one you want, fix the one you got.' I wish none of you the embarrassment of having a parent purchase you self-help guides to love and romance. However, it did place me in the right mindset for the search romance in the Mad city.
With this book in my hand, and a new chip on my shoulder'both courtesy of my mother'I started my quest. Dr. Phil suggests learning more about yourself and what you want out of love in order to find romance. So first I went online to check out the Union Mini-Courses to see if all of this Madison romance stuff was just a course people were taking. It turns out the course is called 'Five Secrets To Lasting Love.' I tried to enroll but the course was cancelled. I guess those tips will remain a secret.
Since I had no skills to work with, I figured I would just give the dating scene the old college try. I was invited to a speed-dating event on campus, but I was nervous. I have the tendency to get tongue tied when I think there is a time limit on something like a speech, let alone a date. I knew if I went, something like this would happen.
'Hi, I'm Jim. I'm a junior chemistry major who loves animals and playing basketball, how about you'?
'Uh, I'm uh, Erin. Major, um, oh gosh, I, um, shoot, journalism, crap. How much longer do I have'?
Luckily for me, and all of the guys at the event, I had class anyway and couldn't make it. But could Madison's romantic side be found in a speed-dating event in a campus building on a Monday night? I have an inkling Greenberg didn't consider Gordon Commons one of the many hot spots in town. Though I have seen love connections over an 18-Wheeler Dealer.
Madison may be the hotbed of romantic activity for this country, but I sure as hell don't see it. I guess Greenberg was saying you can't truly see the feeling of romance and passion we have in this town, but you can feel it, kind of like gonorrhea. Or if he could stop cuddling long enough, he would see he might have let his loyalty to UW-Madison sway his better judgment.
