Story

Smitten and smile-stricken, gluttonous love addiction runs rampant through college campuses.

Familiar to the love bug, Lagrange sophomore Sara Holmblad and Boone County sophomore Stuart Kenderes lounged on the lawn.

“We spend a lot of time together,” Holmblad said.

“I would estimate at least five hours of every waking day, not counting the hours we’re asleep,” Kenderes added.

The two have been dating for a year this month and plan to celebrate their anniversary along with Valentine’s Day.

When calculated, 365 days and an average of five hours a day equates to 1,825 hours. And that isn’t including sleeping hours, extended hours or the six-day road trip to Michigan they took last summer.

“One fight after six months of dating isn’t too bad,” Kenderes said.

Both admit that sometimes they just need a few hours apart.

“We get sick of each other all the time,” Holmblad said with a laugh.

A song they used to play music along with, “Existentialism on Prom Night” by Straylight Run, befittingly includes the lyrics: “There are moments when, when I know it and the world revolves around us. And we’re keeping it, keep it all going . this delicate balance, vulnerable all-knowing.”

That “vulnerable all-knowing” is something they agreed to when they decided to be entirely honest with each other.

“I had never been entirely honest with any girl before,” he said. “I was getting over a terrible break-up when I started to like her, but I knew she was special and everything turned all right in the end.”

Holmblad, too, was recently single when she fell for him.

“He was hilarious and I really needed to laugh at the time,” she said.

The two disagree when it comes to most music and food, but agree on the goodness of bacon, Gushers and the superiority of Nikon cameras.

“She had an impulsiveness that I admire, she’s undeniably beautiful and she’s Swedish,” Kenderes said of meeting Holmblad when she, according to him, stole his stuffed buffalo.

They didn’t meet again until she moved into Minton Hall six months later.

Since then, they’ve spent many hours together and have no plans for tandem schedules.

“I like to escape to her at the end of the day,” Kenderes said.

Both plan on doing separate study abroad programs during the summer when they will have to bear five weeks apart.

When it’s love, they said, there is no such concept as too much of a good thing.

Science

Overindulgence in love is manifested in what psychologists call “symbiotic relationships,” Psychology Professor Sam McFarland said.

“It’s an artificial love and an immature love,” he said. “Symbiotic relationships take place when a person sacrifices to the point that they lose their personal identity.”

The opposing type of love, and most mature form, is an individuated love that takes place when both parties maintain their own interests, aspirations, concerns and desires McFarland said.

“We thrive when we know someone cares about us,” he said. “Love is what sustains us all.”