A match made in Surrey

How did you meet? 

At the start of my second year, I wanted to expand my social circle, so I went to a maths social- I thought it would be a great way to meet like-minded people. I was chatting away and approached a guy I’d never seen before and told him “You must be a first year”. Embarrassingly, he had been sat behind me in lectures for a whole year! After some awkward giggles, we soon hit things off and became friends on social media.

And then what…?

Over the following weeks, we met up a few times on the pretense that "I really needed help on my Invisicud fluid dynamics coursework". Soon enough, we were an item.

What were your favourite memories from Surrey? 

We had our first kiss at a Halloween night in Rubix, so it’s become a special event for us. Now we always plan matching Halloween costumes! As well as our time in halls socialising and playing cards, I liked the Thursday market in Rubix, especially the homemade fudge. Overall, the lake was our favourite place to relax. It was a beautiful place to walk around. 

Did you stay together throughout your time studying?

Second year was plain sailing as we were on the same course and lived close enough to each other, but in my third year, Lee undertook a Placement Year. He moved back home to Reading and travelled back to Surrey to see me most weekends. 

The real test of distance was yet to come. Two years later while Lee was completing a Masters, I returned home to Gibraltar. 

Despite all the ups and downs, Lee made a huge decision and moved overseas with me. From there it was a whirlwind! We were engaged by July 2020 and married a year and a day later in the summer of 2021. In November 2022, we welcomed our beautiful baby boy.

Any advice for current Surrey Students? 

The moral of the story is: go to your socials! 

Have you got a Surrey love story? We'd love to hear it! Email us at alumni@surrey.ac.uk