Romantic Tales from the Tay

In February of this year, we got in touch with you all to find out who you met and fell in love with here and as always we ended up getting a fantastic response via email and social media. What follows are stories of romance in different aspects of University life.;

Through our course

Mike Rogers, MBChB Class of 1971, credits the Medical School for helping him meet the love of his life. He had just started his third year when he met Sue who had just started her second year. They soon became an item and the couple got engaged in 1969, marrying in 1971 when Mike had passed his final exams.

Following Sue’s graduation in 1972 the couple moved to the Peterborough area and eventually both worked in general practice. They also went on to have two sons, one of whom became a GP.

The couple were married for forty years until Sue’s sudden passing in 2012. Mike remains grateful to the University as “had it not been for meeting at Dundee Medical School we would not have had our life together.”

Through a dance

Anne Graham met Bill when she bought tickets for a Valentine’s Dance from him in the Interior Design Studio of Duncan of Jordanstone. At the time, Anne was studying Jewellery and Metalwork. While it was instant attraction for Bill, he had just split up with his girlfriend and Anne already had a boyfriend. However they danced, chatted and remained close friends for nearly a year before they finally got together the night before Bill left for his Interior Design trip to Milan.

Anne was due to stay in Dundee for three years after Bill graduated, so he would come through to Dundee most weekends whilst working in Glasgow and the couple became engaged during this time. After Anne graduated, she married Bill in August and set up her own business in September. The couple went on two have two boys, Graeme in 1985 and Stuart in 1998, both of whom went on to study Animation in DJCAD and are now successful artists.

Bill suddenly passed away in October 2010 – just four months after Stuart had graduated. Anne still holds strong ties to the local area and to the University.

Through studying abroad 

Coming to the University for a Study Abroad year led to a whirlwind romance with lots of twist and turns for Linnea and her now-husband& Seyi. Originally from the United States of America, the two met the Sunday before Freshers’ Week at a game of rounders hosted by the Christian Union. Within a month of meeting, the couple were ‘official’ and by Christmas knew they wanted to get married, eventually getting engaged 11 months after meeting – not before Seyi meeting Linnea’s family.

Whilst planning their wedding due to be held in the UK, Linnea was denied a visa so the couple rushed to change plans to get married in Montana with only 3 weeks to plan the day. Ten days after their wedding, Seyi had his second year final exams so the couple had to immediately come back to Dundee, with a marriage celebration being held in June for their friends and family in the UK.

Their first year of marriage was spent apart with Linnea travelling back and forth to Dundee whilst trying to get a settlement visa but as of June 2019 she is now here as a resident, hoping to get citizenship in a few years. “It was not a straightforward path, but our faith in God and each other grew exponentially; and for that, we are thankful.”

Through student accommodation

It all started at a flat party Verena, an Economics graduate, organized at the first night in Seabraes in the autumn of 2011. She got to know a few people prior to her arrival in Dundee via the student board at the University of Dundee website and so she invited the folks over to her flat to meet in person once everyone had arrived in Dundee. It was Saturday when Konstantinos made his way from Greece to Scotland to begin his studies in Biomedical Engineering. On the plane he got talking with his seat neighbour- it turned out he was heading to Dundee as well and was also invited to Verena’s party. Later this evening the party had already been full on for a few hours when unexpectedly the doorbell rang. Verena opened the door and saw Konstantinos- the spark began! The two spent the coming days and weeks together at ;Freshers’ Week, induction, trips all around the highlands and fell deeply in love with each other.

Everyone and not just their friends could see! Even the owner of a beautiful Italian place in Dundee City Centre couldn’t help but let the couple know “every time you are here in our restaurant we are so happy to see you, you are the most romantic couple in town!”.

Konstantinos and Verena got married in Greece in 2018 and celebrated their love with their closest friends and family. They enjoyed a beautiful honeymoon in the Seychelles and settled in their new lives in Switzerland. Konstantinos now works as a biomedical engineer at a multi-international diagnostics company and Verena works as a project manager at a renowned Swiss bank.

Through Freshers’

It was during Freshers’ Week 2003 when Cherry, a first year Human Biology student, met Jason who was at the time not only an Interior and Environmental Design student, but also one half of the then Union-famous Gigolo and Chickboy – both of whom ran all the pub and club nights at Dundee University Students’ Association. Cherry joined the Freshers’ Team the next year and got to know Jason more as he was in charge of training the teams and the pair then worked together through the Events and Entertainments Team. The couple left Dundee in 2008 for Edinburgh to move in together.

The pair have an exciting year ahead with their upcoming wedding in June 2021 in South Queensferry – Chickboy being Jason’s best man. “We’ll be sharing the day with some of our closest friends who me met while at Uni in ‘The Dee’.”