We're getting married!

Before embarking on my solo study abroad trip to Taormina, Sicily, I studied all of my paperwork closely to give myself an idea of what to expect from the start of my new adventure. I specifically remembered that I would be having 3 roommates over the course of my 6 weeks there; 1 from the US, 1 from Hungary, and one from China. I rolled my giant suitcase over the cobblestone pathway, past a bakery with a faded mustard awning and the sweet smell of baking bread, through a back alleyway that led to a shaded porch surrounded with greenery. My program director let me get settled; I met the 1 American roommate who was there already for a few days, and after a quick tour of the town, we returned to the apartment and knocked to enter again. The door swung open and my program director and the stranger inside exchanged excited greetings in quick Italian. This stranger was tanned, with a scruffy brown beard and bare feet, and my mind was racing trying to place who this could be. My itinerary did NOT state that I would have an additional Italian roommate. Eventually they switched to English, and as we hastily were introduced and this stranger replied in perfect, American English, my mind was still whirling. Was I supposed to have 2 American roommates? In my confusion my program director disappeared, and I slowly walked back into the house as this stranger asked me a few questions, first in Italian, and when he saw my deer-in-headlights expression he quickly switched back to English. "Where are you from?" "New York." "Wow, me too! Where?" "Long Island." "Wait, me too!" "What?! Where are you from? I go to LIU Post!" The stranger cracked a huge smile. "Hold on." He returned from his bedroom holding up a Molloy t-shirt. I couldn't believe the coincidence, and instantly felt a wave of relief for this small piece of home and familiarity.

We chatted a bit and Nick shared some tricks about our quirky kitchen, lighting the stove with a piece of scrap paper. He showed me how to make black coffee in the macchinetta, which I took one sip of and let the bitter coffee get cold on the table in front of me. It turned out that Nick was leaving for home the following morning. He showed me a small, hidden market a minute or two away from the apartment, and he invited me to dinner with his friends that night. Unfortunately I had dinner plans with my program director and another American student who was also just beginning the program. We said a quick goodbye. Later that night, walking down the one main road in the little town of Taormina, we bumped into Nick and his friends. The girls I had met that night had some mutual friends with his group, but it was a quick passing hello and that was it. The next morning, I woke up at 1pm; I completely overslept due to jet lag. Nick was long gone, probably on his way to his layover in Dusseldorf. I thought about him a few times during my 6 weeks in Sicily; I even mentioned in passing how funny it would be if I ran into him in a random bar. I said to my friend; "If I somehow reconnect with this guy when I go back home, I'm just going to have to marry him." A day after my return home, a Facebook message pinged on my phone while I was in a coffee shop with a friend. It was a message from Nick, asking if I'd like to grab a coffee (or a tea, which he would try not to judge me too hard for). We did meet for coffee, and dinner, and cheese plates, and home-cooked meals. Nick continues to make me dinner and coffee to this day (and most of the time I don't let it go cold). More often than not, we forget that this is our story. Neither of us were looking for love, but the universe had other plans. The universe pretty much hit us over the head with this one. The universe conspired for us to be together and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

What she said.