Valentine’s Day
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Valentine’s Day: BSU alumni love stories
Friday, 14 February, 2025Over the years, BSU has been the backdrop for many a meet-cute, with couples graduating university with more than a degree.
Previously named one of the UK’s most romantic cities, and famed for its Roman and Georgian architecture, thermal spring spas, and winding streets, it’s no wonder so many BSU graduates have fallen in love in Bath.
This Valentine’s Day, we caught up with some of the couples whose heart-warming stories began on campus.
Elaine and Jordan
Elaine and Jordan rolled the dice many times to get where they are today, and luckily, they always landed on sixes.
Originally from Germany, Elaine arrived at BSU on a semester abroad.
“Elaine had to swap a module to meet me – we still remember the name of it, Decadence to the Noughties – and all it took to light the spark was an offer to help with coursework. Who knew that writing papers on 20th-century poets could be so romantic?
“We spent almost every day of the next 8 weeks together, talking and taking walks around the beautiful BSU campus. We didn’t want the adventure to end, so when Elaine went back to Germany, we kept in touch. Thanks to the ERASMUS program, I was able to take my own semester abroad, to Magdeburg.”
Not wanting to be apart for long, Elaine moved back to Bath once again and began her MA at BSU. In 2016, the couple moved to Berlin, tying the knot in 2023 and welcoming their first child the following year.
“Every time we visit the UK; we make sure to take a stop in Bath.”
Kate and Kash
Kash met Kate within the first five minutes of moving into their first year flat. Kate, a second-year freshers buddy, walked by Kash and their sister on Kash’s very first day at BSU. In that fleeting moment, a connection was sparked.
In 2018, Kate and Kash came back to the University for Bath Spa Pride and, at an event they had founded together, Kash proposed to Kate on stage.
Kate said:
“I said yes before they’d technically finished asking the question.”
The two describe BSU as ‘the backdrop of our love story.’
“We met, fell in love, anguished that our feelings were unreciprocated, simultaneously. Almost all of our foundational memories of falling in love happened at the Newton Park campus.
“We're both forever #BathSpaProud.”
Beth and Pete
Beth and Pete met in 2018 when they joined Bath Spa University. Peter had enrolled on MA Acting and Laura on MA Directing.
“Our courses had a lot of the same classes and modules together. In one of the first modules we did, Beth directed me in a short scene from The Importance of Being Ernest and we became good friends.”
Beth said:
“It helped that he was from Manchester, and I was from the Wirral near Liverpool. So both being northerners, we just understood each other and got on.”
Pete asked Beth on their first date on Bonfire Night, and they’ve been together ever since. Beth said:
“We've been together for six years now, and this June, we got married! Pete took me back to Bath to propose, which is really special as Bath has always been an important place for us.”
Laura and Connor
Laura met Connor during Freshers Week back in 2014 and were drawn together by a shared love for comedy.
“We actually got the same bus to comedy together for six months before we started dating. But in March of 2015, we were both in the SU and I finally asked if I could buy him a drink.
“We were both standup comics, and we were the joint winners of the 2016 Battle of the Laughs which meant that we both got to perform at Summer Ball that year.
"On our five-year anniversary, Connor proposed to me in Central Park in New York, and we decided to get our engagement photos taken on the Newton Park campus, which is where we first met and fell in love.”
The couple got married in 2022 and, still living in Bath, are preparing to celebrate their 10-year anniversary.
Joe and Emily
Joe, who graduated BSU with a degree in Sociology, donned his graduation cap and gown and decided to get down on one knee and pop the question to his long-term girlfriend, Emily in front of friends and family at Bath Spa University’s ‘after graduation’ party, ‘Gradstock’ in 2024.
Emily graduated from BSU with a degree in Dance and said she had no idea that Joe was going to propose:
“We have been together for almost six years, and he always said he would propose at Graduation, but I presumed he meant mine. So when nothing happened last year, I just put it out of my mind. I had no idea he would pop the question at his own Graduation, but it was such a lovely surprise.”
Keith and Amanda
Keith and Amanda first met in Fresher’s Week in 1992, when BSU was known as the Bath College of Higher Education.
Following in her family's footsteps, their eldest child, Maddy, graduated from BSU last summer, 32 years after her parents first met on the same campus.
“After we graduated, we were so happy in the area that we decided to base our lives there and were married and lived in the city before relocating to Bradford on Avon, where we started our family in 1999.
“It's been amazing to maintain these links, spanning over the next generation, to our favourite city.”