First of all, I never thought I would be on Tinder. I don’t know if a lot of people say that, but I honestly never thought I would try it. I used to see friends of mine on the popular app, swiping on pictures upon pictures of hopeful people, and I never thought I would be in that position. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my first week on Tinder- expect the unexpected.

Just setting up a Tinder profile in itself is very nerve-wracking. It automatically connects to your Facebook account and not much can be changed. For example, my Facebook account showed that I was 21 when I’m still 20 and Tinder automatically showed that on my profile as well. So for my first week on Tinder, I was basically lying to all of the guys about my age. Not that the one year lie would make too much of a difference as I’ve learned.

Tinder also lets you upload six photos to your profile with the main photo being your first photo. I was very picky with choosing from recent photos but apparently guys really don’t care. They’ll post selfies, photos from high school where they look much younger, photos that hide most of their face, photos with other guys so you can’t tell which one you’re looking at, photos that look like mugshots, photos showing off only their abs, and photos that make them look like total fuckboys. And if you’re a fellow Tinder user, you’ll understand when I say the amount of fuckboys on Tinder is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes, I understand that Tinder is mostly an app for hookups, but that’s not what I was looking for. I’m that girl who has some hope left that maybe she’ll get a relationship from Tinder, find the right guy who is also looking for a relationship. I was very selective with my choices and though I recall swiping left a lot my first night, I was shocked at how many matches I ended up with. By the end of my first day I had 18 matches, and by Friday I had 40 matches. Sure, it was a boost to my self-esteem but then I realized most of the guys hadn’t even looked at or read my bio. They saw my main photo and that was it. And considering how picky I was, I felt conflicted by that.

Now let’s get into some funny stories shall we.

I should’ve known I’d be initiated into the sexual attempts guys will make when messaging a girl first. Let’s start with #4, he began with the ultimate pick up line: ‘I think I’m in love.’ I was shocked that I got that so soon but I immediately rolled my eyes at the message. He continued with ‘you’re pretty much my ideal girl.’ So I played along to see where this would go and I asked “how so?” And he gave me a few decent points and surprised me with the cheesy line ‘do you have the personality to melt my heart?’ I actually thought that was cute and I attempted to take the conversation into a different direction, just having casual back and forth as we began talking about our dogs. It was actually going well until I asked him what he loved about NYC and he said, I kid you not- ‘getting beautiful girls like you naked.’ I immediately was like c’mon and I told him ‘why did you have to ruin it?’ He responded ‘I love seeing the reaction’ and I was so over it and unmatched him. And maybe I was naive going into this, but he didn’t even look like the other fuckboys.

#5 actually messaged me with the direct question: “what’s your stance on butt stuff?” And I immediately was like ha no and unmatched him. At this point, it was getting kind of frustrating. Would these be the only kind of messages I would be receiving?

Next there’s #17, who immediately caught my attention. A cute, tall Russian guy from NYU who started the conversation with: “Hey Stephanie, I’ll be straight up. I liked you because I think you are cute and I would like to get to know you better.” And personally, that gave me a good first impression of him. Direct, polite and honest. Much to my surprise, he asked me what I was looking for on Tinder and I replied truthfully. The conversation with him went really well for the most part and I was starting to think maybe this could actually work. But then he caught me off guard. He stated, “I wanna say something. What else I’m looking for on here.” My eyes widened and I went oh no. To put it simply, he told me he had a foot fetish and that he was looking for a girl who was into it too. That definitely caught me by surprise. He claimed it had nothing to do with sex but I think he was trying to get me to think that. It wasn’t working. He asked me if I wanted to try it to which I said no. But when he responded with ‘it’s okay’ and then asked me for my number so he could text me, I was very confused. He said ‘let’s text and see where it goes’ and it became evident to me that it wasn’t going to work. After all, not every guy would bring up something like that to a stranger. So I unmatched him.

By the end of the week, I did have a few nice conversations with guys I decided to message first and none of them attempted to make any sexual remarks. It was friendly, polite, casual, and easygoing. Sure there was a guy who seemed indifferent to my responses and another guy who completely stopped responding, but I still have hope that there’s a chance I’ll find a match who actually wants to go on a date and not hook up with me. And then we’ll see how it goes. I know there’s a small percentage of people who end up in relationships after matching on Tinder, but hey I know now what I’ve gotten myself into.

I’m still shocked by how many matches I’ve gotten and how I somehow got two super likes so far. Tinder is not all bad and I don’t know how long I’ll keep my account for, but if you happen to find me on Tinder and want to meet me in person, please don’t be shy and message me politely.