I remember going to craft fairs as a kid and seeing the pieces of paper that had the meaning of your name, its origin, and a little “fun fact” printed in a beautiful, fancy script. Mine went a little something like this:

Brianna. Origin: Celtic. Feminine of Brian. Meaning: Strong.

Falls in love at the drop of a hat!

Whoever ran the booth at that fair knew me much better than I did, for I remember seeing this, scoffing, and thinking to myself, “Ha! As if. Love is gross!”

Ah, to be 10-years-old again.

Little did I know, falling in love at the drop of a hat would be something that I would do constantly in my teenage years (and now), but not just with people. Books, food, movies, and most importantly, places, are all things that I instantly can find a connection with.

So, in my Writing for Digital Media class, our assignment was to “hack” a Web 2.0 site and to insert a narrative into said site that normally wouldn’t be there. As I thought of what site I could possibly manipulate, and realizing that it was Valentine’s Day, the idea of love floated all around my head. When I started to think of the things I loved, though, I realized that the items coming to the top of my list were places, cities, or restaurants–all of them having a very special attachment to me in terms of love.

This is when I decided that Google Maps was my site to hack. The idea of physically mapping out places of love really stuck with me, and instead of filling the map with my personal places of love, I wanted to get a broader scope and to collaborate with others; hearing other people’s stories felt, to me, much more powerful and interesting. And thus, “Locations of Love” was born.

The only thing left to do at that point was to collect the stories! I learned how to create a Google Forms document, which laid out the general idea of what my project was and emphasized the fact that all of the responses would be anonymous–even I wouldn’t know who wrote what.

I then posed the question, “What place holds the greatest connection to you in terms of love in the Johnstown/Altoona, PA area?,” never once expecting to become floored by the number of responses I received after only a few days. I shared the link to my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts, hoping to inform as many people as possible.

Once I received the responses, I opened up my map, searched the place, added it to the map, and copied/pasted the text right into the description section. Some of the locations were tricky to pin down, especially if they were a little bit off the beaten path, such as Devil’s Rock in Johnstown. With a few quick Google searches, however, finding the places turned out to not be a problem.

One issue I ran into was figuring out how to artistically make my place icons stand out from the others; for example, restaurants have an orange fork and knife symbol, shopping centers have a blue handbag, etc. Once I played with the settings and learned how to customize my icons with colors and shapes, I knew they would become easily recognizable, since magenta hearts seemed to be an icon not often used.

All in all, this project, and the way it tells love stories through a visual and interactive nature, is one that I really, truly believe is so different, powerful, and yet sentimental all at once. Reading all of the responses moved me in ways that I was not expecting, and it made me realize that, at the end of the day, people aren’t so different after all. And I think a large part of that comes down to love–a love that we share, value, and remember deeply.

Love: it’s something that eludes many, happens to most, and yet confounds us all. “Falling in love at the drop of a hat” seems like a derogatory statement, and it could be a phrase that a 10-year-old can easily resent, but the more that I live, I’m realizing that finding love, accepting love, and giving love are some of the greatest actions that people can foster–and are ones that people will remember most.

So here’s to love, and here’s to all of the ordinary and extraordinary places that we will find it in. “Locations of Love” is just a tiny fraction of all of the love in the world, but I think it’s a great reminder to see and know that love is here. It’s all around us. And I have a feeling that if you look, you’ll see it, too.

To access “Locations of Love,” simply zoom in on the map below and click on the pink hearts to read the place’s story.