How We Met
I am from San José, Costa Rica and my wife from Cúcuta, Colombia. We were born more than 800 miles apart. Somehow, we managed to find each other, even though I had never before heard about Cúcuta or Carolina abut San José.
In 2013, my boss suggested that I should start looking for an MBA degree in order to have greater professional opportunities in the company. Since I was working for a Colombian company, I thought it would be a good idea to find an MBA program in this country. After some research, I found a very interesting program in Unviersidad Externado in Bogota, Colombia. This program was an executive MBA, meaning that I had to travel each month for three days to Bogota, rather than having a full-MBA schedule.
As part of the application process, the dean requested for an interview with the candidates. I managed to schedule a date for the interview and planed a trip to Bogota. About a week before the my interview, the dean’s assistant sent me an email explaining that something came up in the Dean’s agenda and she could no longer see me on the date we agreed on. Naturally, I was furious since I had already reserved a flight, hotel, and transportation for the agreed-upon date. Well I made the necessary arrangements to move my trip. As I learned before, everything happens for a reason.
On the day of my interview, I was told that I had to wait in a boardroom for the Dean. I sat patiently in the room, and a few minutes later, a beautiful girl walked in. The Dean’s assistant told me that she was another candidate, and that we would be interviewed together by the Dean. We hardly had time to speak to each other because the Dean walked in the boardroom moments after. During the interview, the Dean asked us about our professional backgrounds and our goals for the future. After the interview was over, we just said goodbye and wished each other the best of lucks in the process.
About two months later, I received a letter letting me know that I was accepted in the program. On the first day of classes, the university arranged for a meal to introduce everyone in the program. To my surprise, that beautiful girl from the interview was also there. We said hello again to each other and we sat together during the meal. We became good friends however, we were seeing other people. Well, even though we did not planned it, our relationships failed right about the same time (and it had nothing to do with each other). Now that we were both single, we began chatting with each other more often until we had our first date.
Two weeks after that, my boss told me that the Company was planning to move me to Bogota, and asked me if I agreed with that. Although it took me by surprise, I accepted. Little did I know that in Colombia I would meet my other half. At first it was challenging because Cucuta and Bogota are two cities separated by a one hour flight. We saw each other one per month thanks to the MBA program. However, we were perfect for each other.
We share the same goals, we think in very similar manners and that helps a lot to understand each other, share our feelings and be able to communicate efficiently with each other. If it all works and there is respect to each other, a long-distance relationship will work. After all, being apart for a period of time is probably the most challenging situation a couple can face. We thought, well, if we are able to survive a long-distance relationship, then we should be able to deal with any other challenge. After a two-year relationship, we became husband and wife.
how they asked
My dream has always been to visit Santorini. I saw the pictures from this place and fell in love with the beautiful churches and the amazing colors of the Aegean Sea. My boyfriend surprised me one day by telling me that to celebrate our first anniversary as a couple, we would travel to Santorini. I was very excited about our trip but I never thought all he was planning. He told me that on the night of September 26, we would go to a very fancy restaurant in the island, one in which you had to reserve months in advance and that he managed to make a reservation there. He told me that I should wear a long dress and that he would use a suit and tie because the restaurant is so fancy. One week before our trip, he helped me to find a blue dress and suggested that it would be appropriate considering the colors surrounding Santorini.
For the next couple of weeks, I became curious about finding out about the restaurant. I began googling for a restaurant with such characteristics but I couldn’t find anything even close. I asked him more information about it and he sent me a picture of the restaurant. In fact, it looked like a very luxurious restaurant but again, I couldn’t find any restaurants matching the picture. He also said that he had hired a chauffer to pick us up in the evening on that day to take us to the restaurant.
I longed for the 26th of September to come and on that day I put on my dress and makeup. My boyfriend dress up in a gray suit and blue tie.
Soon enough, he told me that the chauffer had arrived and that it was time to go. We leaved the hotel and I was very curious about this fancy restaurant we were going to. After a 10-minute drive, the chauffer pulled over and we got out of the car. Our chauffer pulled out a professional camera and my boyfriend told me that he was actually not a chauffeur but a photographer and that we would commemorate our first anniversary with a photoshoot in Santorini.
I was excited about this because I love photographs. This photographer was Dimitris Psillakis, a very talented artist who managed to take amazing pictures of us in various scenes. For about two hours we moved from one place to another.
After the photoshoot was over, my boyfriend told me it was time to go to dinner but Dimitris suggested we should take a couple of pictures in our hotel because it had an amazing view and he would like to take some pictures of us with the sunset and the balcony of our room would be perfect for that. We came back to our hotel and as I walked into the rooms, I found a trail made of rose petals and candles leading us to the balcony.
On the balcony, a dinner table was set up and next to it a bottle of Champaign, and a singer with a guitar who was waiting for us to give us a serenade. I was very surprised about all of this. The third song the singer played was Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran.
At this point, my boyfriend tells me how much he loves me, and how much he wants to spend the rest of his life with me, he bends over on his knee and popped out a ring. I said yes. Immediately, fireworks began illuminating the skies as the singer continued playing I want to Marry You by Bruno Mars.
