A guy emailed 247 women named Nicole in an attempt to find one he met at a bar — and instead they met up without him

• In an attempt to find a woman he met at a bar, a University of Calgary student emailed 246 women named Nicole.
• Carlos Zetina, a first-year student at the school, emailed the Nicoles after the one he met at a bar gave him the wrong number.
• Naturally, all the Nicoles banded together to create a Facebook group and met up without him.
• It turns out the Nicole he met is an exchange student and didn't receive the email.
• Nicole and Zetina are "planning to hang out maybe next week."

Dating can be hard — especially in college. But on the rarest occasion, life imitates rom-com. 

Just take it from, Carlos Zetina, a first-year student at the University of Calgary. On September 7, he sent out a mass email to every single woman named Nicole at his school to track down the woman he'd met at a bar the night before who had given him the wrong number.

"Hi this is a mass email to all Nicoles. If you don't fit this description then ignore and if you are the one and just want to talk to me that's ok as well," he wrote. "If your name is Nicole and you're from Holland and you think Nietzsche is depressing then text me [phone number redacted]."

So, what exactly was their meet-cute?

"I'm Carlos btw I'm the guy who took you and your friend home last night," he wrote.

The email was sent to 247 women affiliated with the University named some variation of Nicole — some were students, faculty, or even deans, per BuzzFeed News. 

The Nicoles on the email chain quickly formed a community.

"Almost immediately Carlos was cut out of the email chain and it was just the Nicole clan going back and forth," NicoleDuGraye, a commerce and arts student told INSIDER. "However, I think everyone was pretty tickled by his attempt to find the real Nicole but moved on pretty quick to this new girl group that had formed as a result."

Nicole Manaog, a third-year communications studies student, told INSIDER that people's responses to Zetina were funny. She said a few people suggested that everyone reply claiming to be the Nicole From Last Night. Other people just ran with jokes of their own. "Will the real Nicole please stand up? Please stand up?" one person wrote. "I’m Nicole call me at 555-5555," someone else said.

Shortly thereafter, they formed a Facebook group called "Nicole From Last Night."

And so the Nicoles met up without him.

Eventually, the real Nicole From Last night came forward.  In a post in the Nicole From Last Night Group, she identified herself, per BuzzFeed News.

"I'm the exchange student from Holland who got brought home by Carlos las night and thinks that Nietzsche is quite depressing!" she said.

As it turns out, she didn't receive the email because she doesn't have an account affiliated with the university. And as for giving Zetina the wrong number? It wasn't on purpose, as some of the Nicoles had feared. She just hadn't memorized her Canadian number yet. 

"Didn't get the beautiful email myself, but the powerful network of Nicoles helped me get in touch," she said, per BuzzFeed News. "Would love to meet all of you sometime in the future."

And she might just get a chance to do that — as the rest of the Nicoles plan to meet up again this Friday.

Nicole Sparling told INSIDER that the community gained out of the Nicole Network is rare and special.

"Our focus is on showing that a huge group of girls can be friends and have a great time," Sparling said. "It's all about being positive and supporting one another! We've been presented with a unique opportunity to be friends with over 200 fun, witty, intelligent women with the same name — who wouldn't take advantage of that?!"

And while female friendship is the strongest force of all, Zetina told The Star Calgary that he and Nicole From Last Night are "planning to hang out maybe next week."

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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