As part of “Love Is … ” week, hosted by Alpha Chi Omega sorority and the Student Activities Council, the Dating Doctor visited campus on Feb. 16. Some students, like me for example, were excited for this particular event. Who doesn’t love to learn about relationships and how to make them better? I was also excited because I enjoyed a similar show immensely last year, and I was expecting much of the same this year.

Unfortunately, it was nothing like other students and I were expecting.

SAC hired professional dating coach Ryan Clauson, at least that’s what the campus wide e-mail advertised. Clauson has been a “dating coach for over 10 years and lectures all across the country on healthy attraction, dating and relationship practices.” The promotional text also said that students would leave the event feeling more capable of finding a great relationship with the help of the tools and secrets Clauson would teach us.

Well, if you were at the event, you will know that is not what happened. I’m still not sure what exactly did happen. But for those who did not attend, here’s the run-down.

Where to even begin? I suppose I’ll start at the very beginning, with the presentation of his physical self.

Clauson was dressed casually, in a Hawaiian shirt, baggy ill-fitted pants and tennis shoes that were falling apart. His hair was long but pulled back in a pony-tail, and he had a scraggly beard. Basically, he resembled a homeless person, not an accomplished dating coach of 10 years. I mentioned the shoes and that’s important because after he had been talking for a few minutes, he randomly took them off. That’s right. Clauson just took his shoes off and kept them off for the rest of the performance. This should have been a warning sign for what was coming.

Now that he was comfy and roaming around Rice Auditorium in his white socks, he started talking, and the things he said raised some eyebrows. Several times he made jokes that just left me confused, and I would turn to the person behind me, wide-eyed, asking, “What just happened?” or “Did he really just say that?”

The longer he talked, the more it began to feel like I was attending a comedy show rather than receiving advice from the Dating Doctor, as was made apparent by the lack of dating advice. Clauson did, however, reveal that he was trying to solve the problem of homelessness by letting a bunch of homeless people live in his house. He even told us specifically about one guy, Doug, who is currently sleeping in Clauson’s bed and looking after his dogs. Clauson also brought along his Uber driver to the performance.

Now, I can’t say that Clauson didn’t teach us anything about relationships because he did touch base on the power of the 20-second hug and had the audience participate in two games, forcing people into social interaction with others they might not have talked to before. So that’s a plus.

He stressed that when you hug others, you should really hug them, not just a quick squeeze and then be on your merry way. According to Clauson, hugging a person for 20 seconds allows you to feel closer and more connected. This may certainly be true for someone that you actually know and interact with every day, but what about just random people on the street?

Clauson had freshman Miranda Carey get up on stage and participate in a 20-second hug with him. Can you say awkward?

My takeaway from the 20-second hug is that it’s great for using on your significant other or anyone you’re close to, but don’t start hugging everyone, especially people like your boss or professors, unless of course you have that kind of relationship with them, in which case hug away!

Clauson also stressed, many times, to actually talk to people and try to connect with them, which is some good advice. Take it from someone who is somewhat of an introvert. Sure, I like having alone time, but hanging out with friends boosts my mood and generally provides a good time. We humans are social creatures, and we need social interaction, preferably the non-awkward kind.

This show, sadly, was the awkward kind of social interaction. Awkward because Clauson himself admitted that he used to be socially awkward (not sure if he has outgrown that) and because no one knew how to really react to the things he said.

Clauson ended the show by having the whole audience get up on stage with him, put their hands in the middle and count down from three to shout, “World Peace!”

Where did that come from? World Peace? We’re college students, man. We just wanted some advice on how to get a boyfriend/girlfriend so we don’t have to “Netflix and Chill” alone, not take on a major issue like world peace.

We were all expecting to learn to woo someone, but not in a creepy way . We wanted to learn how to be better at dating and interacting with others. That is not what we learned. Instead we learned that Clauson lets homeless people live in his house (Are they really homeless now that they live in a house? A question to ponder …) and that he’s an advocate for world peace.

In fact, Clauson has a website (ryanclauson.com) and the screen pops up saying “We Can Create World Peace” with a grainy picture of him looking unkempt and holding up a peace sign with his fingers. How classy. The website goes on to talk a little about his cause but doesn’t have much else and is only that single page.

It does give information so that anyone can contact him, though. I also searched for him on Facebook and what I found was interesting. He posted the night of Feb. 16 that he was “Getting ready to talk to college kids about world peace.”

Um, no. That is not what you were here for, buddy.

The night of Feb. 16 wasn’t anything like I expected. It was strange, but also still gives me a good laugh when I talk about it with my friends.

I can’t wait to see what happens at next year’s Dating Doctor event. Some of us here at Baker still need some advice on dating and interacting with others.