How We Met
The story of how Mike and I met is unconventional, to say the least, but in hindsight it truly was fate. Mike and I both attended Quinnipiac University at the same time. He graduated undergrad 2 years before I did, however, we did not know each other while there. Apparently, he did sometimes see me around campus ;)
It was November 2010 and I was studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain for the fall semester. Coincidentally, Mike and his brother were vacationing there too.
I decided to purchase last-minute tickets to an FC Barcelona soccer match with my school friends. We all bought matching jerseys and hit the bar for a couple of drinks before heading over to Camp Nou stadium. Ironically Mike, his brother, and their 2 friends also bought tickets to this same game. And turns out, we were all sitting in the same section. Mike and the guys were very excited and decided to buy some beers at the game. What they didn’t know was that they only served non-alcoholic beer at the stadium. However, they continued to drink thinking they were getting a buzz.
My friends and I were taking lots of pictures in our cute jerseys and Mike took notice. He thought he recognized me from somewhere but couldn’t place it right away.
It wasn’t until the end of the game when we were all outside the stadium that it clicked in Mike’s head that I was possibly a Bobcat (Quinnipiac’s mascot). With his false “liquid courage” from the non-alcoholic beers, he approached my group asking if any of us went to Quinnipiac University. Of course, I said yes. We spoke for a couple of minutes where he asked for any recommendations in Barcelona while they were there. I suggested a few fun bars and that was the end of our conversation.
Mike told me that shortly after meeting me, he told his brother that he had a feeling we would date when we got back to America. And he bet that it would be something special.
A couple of days later Mike messaged me on Facebook to say thank you for the recommendations. We continued to talk online and eventually, he very shyly asked me for my BBM pin (this was 2010!)
Turns out when Mike returned from his Barcelona vacation, he was starting a new job right near where we went to school. And after my semester abroad, I was returning to school. As all of these pieces fell into place, it became apparent that this was meant to be.
Once we were both in Connecticut, Mike took me out on our first date to Eli’s on Whitney and here we are 8 years later more in love than ever! He was right about us being something special when he met me.
How They Asked
Mike and I knew we wanted to take an epic vacation this summer and I had been itching to get back to Europe for a while. After doing a bit of research, it seemed nearly unanimous that Greece was the place to be. So we planned the perfect vacation to Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini. Little did I know that this vacation would include far more than breathtaking ancient ruins, stunning beaches, and exquisite Mediterranean food.
We spent one day in Athens touring all of the historical sites before jetting off to Mykonos. During our time in Mykonos, we visited the fascinating wind mills, ate fresh seafood on the water, and hit up one of their famous day beach parties.
It wasn’t until the 3rd day that we decided to rent an ATV to visit different beaches around the island. Since I knew we’d basically be going to the beach all day, I didn’t shower and simply threw on a very standard beach outfit. Mike was very casually dressed too, wearing his rubber ducky bathing suit and a baseball hat. I also didn’t seem to think much of it that Mike barely ate breakfast that morning (nerves!). Also, I didn’t take notice that Mike was being very particular about his backpack, not wanting to put it in the back of the ATV. Instead, I had to wear it.
Once we figured out all the ATV specifics from the rental place, we hit the road without any sense of where we were going. Initially, we decided to just drive. After about 15 minutes, we started to see signs for a lighthouse. This seemed like a cool first attraction so we followed the signs. When we arrived, there stood Faros Armenistis, a lighthouse with an incredible view of the water & neighboring islands.
We parked and walked around a bit, taking lots of photos of the view. However, we weren’t taking any photos of ourselves (besides selfies) since there was basically no one around. Mike kept insisting we ask someone to take a picture of us because the view was so nice. Sounded great but there really wasn’t anyone around.
We kept walking around and I was starting to get antsy, figuring we just wouldn’t be able to have someone take a photo of us. I decided that I’d set up a self timer and we’d get our shot that way. Unfortunately, that picture didn’t come out very well.
But fortunately, another couple was now nearby. Mike approached them and asked if they could take a photo of us. I also didn’t seem to fully notice that Mike asked them to keep taking photos and indicated he had “something” in his pocket.
The couple took a few photos of us and then Mike turned to face me suddenly. I was pretty confused about what he was doing. But it all started to make sense as he told me that from the day he met me he knew this would be special and that he couldn’t wait any longer. Mike got down on one knee, told me he loved me and asked me to marry him as he presented me with the most gorgeous engagement ring I’ve ever seen. I immediately said yes!
Mike and I hugged, cried, and thanked this generous couple for capturing our special moment so perfectly (even with Mike in his rubber ducky shorts!).
Since this was the first stop on our Mykonos beach tour, we spent the rest of the day touring and soaking in our engagement all throughout Mykonos together. We didn’t share the news with our parents, family, and friends until later that evening. It was really special to spend the entire day being the only two people in our world to know about our engagement.
The rest of our Greek vacation in Santorini turned into our “engagement-moon.” Santorini is so relaxing, romantic, and picturesque so it was the perfect location for us to enjoy being freshly engaged.
I feel so lucky and blessed to have such a loving and thoughtful fiancé. Mike, I love you with all my heart and I can’t wait for us to spend the rest of our lives together!