Lee Vigil, who owns the burrito stand by Mitchell Hall with his wife, Stella, says he knew she was the one the first time he laid eyes on her.
"She was across the hallway, and I told a friend, 'You watch, I'm going to marry her,'" he said. "My hands started sweating. It was pure magic."
The Vigils, who got married on Valentine's Day 28 years ago, recently shared their ideas on love along with other campus couples.
They met while working at the Village Inn together in 1974.
"The best thing is knowing you can look into your sweetheart's eyes, hold hands and not say a word but know you are deeply in love," he said.
Many say college is a great place to meet the love of your life. In the case of Ryan and Kristie Goetzner, it's a great place to reunite.
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Goetzner said she first met her husband Ryan about five or six years ago at a church camp, but it wasn't until they met again years later at UNM Campus Crusade for Christ that the sparks began to fly.
"When I saw him later I was like, 'This guy's cool!' And it was pretty instant after that - it was ridiculous. I fell madly in love with him." Kristie Goetzner said, with a gleam in her eye and a blushing smile.
She said being a newlywed isn't easy.
"It takes a lot of maturity, which I am barely growing, in the areas of giving and compromise, sacrifice - stuff like that, that you need to make a marriage work," Kristie Goetzner said.
But she added that married life is fun and that this year she is in charge of making the Valentine's Day plans, which will likely include sleeping in, spa couple's massages and dinner Downtown.
Freshman Melissa Garcia has been dating her beau Jesus Estrada, who goes to the Technical-Vocational Institute, for two years, but they have known each other since the second grade.
She says that you know you are in love when you can share your emotions, trust somebody and they can be your best friend at the same time.
"Valentine's Day is a day of appreciation to show somebody you appreciate them, sometimes you take that for granted," Garcia said. "It's a day to show through gifts and emotions."
Graduate student Bethany Muller and her husband, Carlos, have been married for two and a half years and have an 11-month-old son.
Though they met while going to school in Texas, Bethany said they didn't become serious until he sent her a letter from New Mexico asking her to move to the state for him.
Not knowing what would happen, Bethany left Texas and came to New Mexico.
"I took the chance and I came - it was the best thing I ever did," she said. "The way I know I love my husband is that I am comfortable with him in any possible situation. There's no one else I'd rather spend my life with, he makes me laugh a lot and that's important."
Sophomore Alex Mariano, who has spiked hair that is a foot tall and wears a spiked collar around his neck, said he knows how to make a long-distance relationship work.
Mariano's girlfriend of more than two years is stationed in Denver with the Navy. But, with weekend drives twice a month and $500 phone bills, Mariano says he keeps his girlfriend, Shanell Yazzie, very satisfied.
"I just try to be the best person that I can, and I make sure that I give her enough attention, respect, caring, love and phone time," he said.
Senior Leland Maestas and junior Veeta Criner were playing basketball when they met at Johnson Gym and have been dating for more than two years.
Maestas shyly described how he knows he loves Criner.
"When she is gone there's an empty feeling in my belly," he said of Criner.
Saint Valentine's Day was originally the Roman feast of Lupercalia. It was christianized in A.D. 270 in memory of the martyrdom of St. Valentine, who, in medieval times, was associated with the uniting lovers.
cial valentine greeting cards in the United States in the 1840s.
