When senior SFS students Lawrence Pullman and Olivia Farley met their sophomore year, they didn’t have much in common. From opposite coasts and with completely different family backgrounds, they struggled to find any similarities. But eventually they became infatuated with each other, bonding over their mutual love of hiking and realism.

In an interview with The Heckler, the couple explained how they got together by focusing on their shared enthusiasm for exploring uncharted patches of forest and the theory of international relations that says that states are undeniably power hungry and that there is no overriding institutions that can keep them from warring with each other.

“Y’know, I thought she was cute and we went on, like, two dates, but nothing really clicked,” Pullman said. “And then I saw her on the front lawn, and we just got to talking about how we both love being outdoors on the weekends and how the international order that governs relations between countries is inherently anarchic, and then it just clicked.”

“As soon as that happened, it just felt like this was a person I could really bond with,” Farley said. “I remember after that on weekends, we would just go off and walk around Glover Archibald Park and look at the trees and then debate whether or not states go to war out of a desire for security or misperception or simply because of the structure of the international system. Also, they have my favorite type of tree in that park.”

“We’d find a nice quiet spot and just lie on the grass, and I would read to her from Hans Morgenthau’s ‘Politics among Nations,’” Pullman said.

“It was just so romantic,” Farley said. “He gave me his copy of the book and wrote an inscription in it. Do you remember?”

“Do I?” Pullman, putting his arm, gingerly, over Farley’s shoulder, repeated the inscription: “Olivia, you’re the regional hegemon of my heart. All states may be rational actors but I’m not when I’m around you.”

Farley was noticeably moved. “I mean, seriously, what more could you want?” she said.