As Valentine’s weekend comes to a close, couples around Baldwin Wallace celebrate and reflect on their relationships. 

First-year Kaitlyn Smith has been dating her boyfriend for almost two years. They met while attending a performance program together in high school. Smith’s boyfriend lives 35 minutes away from campus, where she resides.  

“The hardest part is not being able to see him when I want to or when I need to,” said Smith.  

“I see couples around campus that are together every day, and I think that it must be so nice to see your person every day.”  

Smith said they started dating when Covid-19 restrictions and quarantining first began, so they 

 are used to finding creative ways to spend time together.   

“We have started to do things more virtually,” said Smith. “We like to play games online and facetime.”  

Smith said communication is vital in her relationship since her and her boyfriend’s schedules are constantly changing.  

“A lot of people have anxiety, and that can put intrusive thoughts in your head,” said Smith. “If you don’t have trust, you don’t have a relationship because you shouldn’t constantly be worrying about what the other person is doing.” 

First-years Renee Long and Venska Caburao have been dating for five months. They initially met through social media and found each other in person while waiting in line for food at the Union.  

Caburao is taking off the spring semester, and the couple said they are adjusting to the distance.  

“The best part about when I was there was that we both lived in Heritage,” said Caburao. “So, seeing each other was very easy.”  

They said one of their favorite date nights was visiting Otani Noodles in Cleveland and walking around the city.  

Long said a date idea that she enjoyed was visiting Edgewater Park to watch the sunrise.  

“If you go to this park on Lake Erie,” said Long. “You have a really nice view of the city skyline and the sunrise over the lake, which is a really pretty view.”  

Long said her advice to anyone at BW looking for a relationship is not to search for or force it.  

“It sounds so cheesy,” said Long. “But the best things come when you’re not looking for it.”