What’s it like to have an hour-long conversation with a stranger over coffee?

Hillel’s eight Campus Engagement Interns know! Their internship revolves around meeting uninvolved UD Jewish students over coffee and getting to know them.

But in early November the tables were turned on them and instead they were taken out to coffee by Rob. Rob Lawless started a project called Robs10kFriends, and the goal is to eventually meet 10,000 different people for an hour each to learn their stories and share it with others. After each meeting, he posts a picture on Instagram and a caption.

Hillel staff member Nicole Wasilus introduced her cohort of Campus Engagement Interns to Rob’s project one meeting hoping to provide them with some inspiration for their work. From there intern Danielle Eisenman began following Rob’s Instagram account. After seeing that he once met with a University of Delaware alum and began meeting with students from Universities in Philly, she decided to message him to see if he would meet come to UD and meet with them.

Danielle shared that meeting Rob reminded her of how important it is to demonstrate active listening during her coffee dates by being engaged and interested in what the other person is saying. "Rob was very easy to talk to and didn't interrupt what I was saying, even when I found myself rambling," Eisenman said.

Our interns anxiously awaited their meetings with Rob, wondering what he will ask them and what he’ll decide to share after their conversation.

Josh Nachlis said, “As a CEI I enjoy taking students out for coffee, but it was really nice to experience what is like from the other perspective"

“What I took away from this experience,” Becca Kaplan said, “is to focus on finding out why people want to be what they want to be”.

Here are their stories:

Jordan: