2023 Anteater Love Stories
For Valentine’s Day, we asked the UCI community to share how they met their significant other. Whether you met standing in line for $2 boba, studying in Langson Library or relaxing in Aldrich Park, thank you for sharing your Anteater Love Stories! #UCILove
Olivia & Andrew: A match made in Anteater Ballpark
My husband Andrew Thurman and I met in undergrad, he played for the baseball team and I was the Sports Editor at The New U. We didn’t date until years after college, but UCI is and will always be such a special place for us! Forever grateful to UCI Athletics & the newspaper for our meet cute. I never would’ve imagined I was writing about my future husband when I covered the team all those years ago! Now the article I wrote about Andrew as an undergrad is framed in our home.
Aileen & Alejandro: From dorm mates to family of three
My husband and I met in Mesa Court in 2002. We both lived in Sierra Hall. We were dear friends all throughout undergrad and eventually started dating during our last quarter at UCI, a month before he left for grad school in Indiana. We started our relationship long distance but managed to make it despite the distance. In 2008 he returned to UCI to get his PhD in engineering. We married in 2015. Our wedding coordinator was our former RA from when we lived in Sierra Hall. This past November we welcomed our first child. This photo is of us visiting Mesa Court while I was 5 months pregnant. We can’t wait to take her to visit the campus now that she’s here! Forever thankful for UC Irvine, Mesa Court, and Sierra for leading me down this path to find my life partner.
Darlene & Emily: Love above all
My spouse and I are class of 2001/2002 and we’ve been together for 26 years now 🏳️🌈. Of course to our very Asian parents, all they knew was that we were “roommates.”
Nora & Asem: A campus romance that went the distance
My husband and I met each other our freshman year at the Cross Cultural Center. We spent all four years of college together and tied the knot last May!
Jana & Brian: From Facebook Dm’s to IRL Love
My husband Brian and I met as freshmen on Facebook, two months before starting our first year. I friended every cute guy who was class of 2009 and we started a conversation that never stopped. We met up in person the weekend we moved in and we’ve been together ever since. We started dating in 2005, we married in 2012 and we had our son Wesson in 2019.
Kaela & Bryan: Thankful to UCI for their love story
#UCILOVE: My husband and I met in our freshman dorm in Middle Earth in 2013! He lived on the 2nd floor and I lived on the 3rd floor. We became best friends and started dating at the end of freshman year. We were together throughout our time at UCI, and we got engaged in 2019. We finally tied the knot last summer (after a long 8 years!). We owe it all to UCI for bringing us together. Attending UCI was the best decision I’ve ever made, since it led me to him! 💙💛
Emily & Joe: Romance blooms in Aldrich Park
My now husband and I met in the middle of Aldrich Park at quidditch practice. He almost asked me out while he walked me to campus Village for my RA shift, but ended up doing it a week later. We’ve been together for move than seven years and are happily married, both pursuing different grad school degrees, and now have a puppy! We often talk about how crazy it is that if either of us had picked a different college, that our lives would be completely different. So happy with my #UCILove 🤍🫶🏽
Kyle and Anaselia: Greek Love at UCI
I graduated from UCI in 2011 and met my now fiancé, Anaselia, in the Greek system during her freshman year. I’m a Sigma Chi alumnus and she’s an Alpha Phi alumna, and we developed a close friendship during our time as undergraduates that blossomed to a romantic one after graduation. We’ve been together for eight years now and just got engaged over the holidays in San Francisco! We’re currently living in Seattle and are looking forward to getting married and perpetuating our anteater love story. ZOT ZOT!!! 💙💛
