International Love at IE
St. Valentine’s Day. Today, there will be roses, chocolate, wine, Fifty Shades of Grey and whatever that comes next. But I am not here to discuss clichés or sexual habits, because today I want to write about the original reason of this world-famous day: love. And not any love.
It is funny that even after one year and a half of being in a relationship, my relatives and friends from my hometown are still kind of amazed by the fact I am dating a Russian. It sounds… exotic. I was born and raised in Spain surrounded by Spaniards, but none of them actually convinced me, so why not broaden my horizons? And I have good and calming news: I am not an isolated case. Our university always encourages an international environment and open mindsets. Honestly, I cannot think of a better way to put that into practice. Let me introduce you to some couples who met at IE and continue their romance after classes, including some editors and writers of this newspaper itself.
Bárbara Gómez & Sebastian Arnold (Mexico & Austria)
“We met the first week of Uni last year, through friends in common. During the second semester, Sebastian went on exchange, but still sent me letters every week from the US so it was great! Then we met in Mexico and traveled around. He got to taste all my grandma's food and Micheladas (beer with lime, chilli and tomato juice), but a rape to beer, in his words. We had to adapt to each other, so he now has to eat a lot of chilli and speak Spanish and I had to learn how to ski and speak German. Both of our families love each other, although mine thinks he is too quiet and his family probably thinks I am way too loud!”
Andrei Mataix & Alix Heugas (Spain & France)
"We both lived at Reyes Católicos Residence and we met at the cafeteria, which turned out to be the dating hotspot on campus. Who would have thought? I remember being so confused between his Russian name, French surname, British accent and perfect Chinese. “What kind of a Spaniard is he?” I thought. We both speak English and Spanish, but I can’t say my Spanish is quite there yet. Like the time I went to visit his family in Valencia. I nearly referred to myself as “embarazada” instead of “avergonzada”. His mom would have had the shock of her life upon
hearing that.”
Andrea Trevisan & Nicolás López (Venezuela & Ecuador)
“We met at the Factory the first year of university, but we were also in the same volleyball team and French class. We got really close as friends first, but Andrea was initially in a long distance relationship. Once that finished, we started dating a bit later.”
Gonzalo Coronado & Giulia Camargo (Spain & Brazil)
"I'm an Architecture student so I don’t get much time for socialising, at least with people in other majors. Giulia approached me by sending me a message with an article that talked about the 10 most beautiful architecture projects. I found it funny because I never had much contact with her before. Immediately after, she suggested for us to grab a drink so I could have a break from work. I couldn’t reject such an offer and I guess it all went uphill from there. The funniest thing is that even though we had completely different cultural upbringings, we hit it off very quickly because we both share the same goal of living in the USA in the future.”
Lupita Prada & Santiago Fernández (Colombia & Spain)
“We met through Santiago’s best friend, who was also my mentor. She organized a party so we could meet more people and we just kept talking during the night. As days passed, we went out more times, made more plans together and we saw each other a lot in University… until September 25 became the official date. The funny thing is that he is Spanish and I am Colombian, so we use very different words and we usually play with each other when we say words the other does not use. I also like to imitate his accent. Expressions like “me cago en la leche” are too graphic for me!”
Laura Martínez & Felix Naerger (Spain & Germany)
“We met at a friend’s birthday in October 2015, when I [Laura] was studying Architecture. I spent so much time in the studio that we had never seen each other before even though we both lived in Factory! We were kind of on and off since that moment until we started officially dating in February. I find it really funny that he watches Narcos and when he speaks Spanish he likes to talk with that accent.”
Cancan Demir & Claudia Núñez (Germany/Turkey + Venezuela)
“We met in the Reyes Católicos residence and we became best friends. We used to do many things that we loved together like walking in the nature or going to the mountains. Then, in the Spring Ball everything changed and we started dating a bit after. What we love the most about dating each other is that we have learned a lot, and it is quite surprising that two people from such different countries can be so similar. It is super nice to learn to get along and to see other cultural perspectives. Something special about our relationship might be that we love to make everything an adventure: a simple thing such as going to the grocery store can be exciting and we try to keep things spicy and fun. And probably, doing the same things with another person would be way more boring.”
Happy St. Valentine’s Day from The Stork! And remember: open your mind, be international ;)
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