Josh and Flávia met in Berkeley, California (USA) way back in 2016. They first laid eyes on each other on February 23rd, which happened to be the first day of the linguistics class that they were both taking at UC Berkeley Extension, but the story didn’t start there. Flávia was working as an Au Pair in Lafayette and as a part of this program, she needed to take a class to round out the “cultural immersion” that she was getting while taking care of two young children. The first class that Flávia signed up for was not actually that linguistics class, but by a twist of fate the original class was canceled, and, scrambling to find a spot that was still open and relevant to her future teaching career, she unknowingly signed up for a class that would literally change her life. Thanks to the Golden State Warriors and Flávia’s courage in asking Josh if he had a Facebook (even though she totally already knew he had one), they set up a first date to watch Game 2 of the NBA Finals at Pappy’s in Berkeley and then spent the rest of the evening talking and getting to know each other. During their first year together, Josh and Flávia explored all around the Bay Area, including eating Brazilian food at Brasil Café in Berkeley (Flávia gave her approval!), going to San Francisco Giants and Cal Bears games, searching for swings and spots for photos, watching the sunset at Grizzly Peak, hanging out with friends, and cooking (and eating) Brazilian (and many other) cuisine(s). Soon enough, they took their first trips together, including a weekend down in Capitola, a roadtrip down to SoCal, and an adventure to New Orleans, their first flight together. When it came time for Flávia’s au pair program to end, they decided to give long distance a shot (thanks to FaceTime!) and soon enough, Josh was on his way to Brasil to see Flávia and meet her family for the first time. Armed with the knowledge from working through Portuguese for Dummies (that Flávia had given him as a present), Josh knew roughly enough Portuguese to understand that he didn’t understand much Portuguese. Upon arrival, Flávia brought Josh around to meet her immediate family and then to a party to meet all of her friends. Josh, jetlagged and lacking a solid foundation in Portuguese, somehow was able to make it through the initial impressions, and Flávia and Josh’s relationship has grown ever since. Over the past 8 years, Josh and Flávia have bounced back and forth between California and São Paulo and they have been fortunate enough to have many adventures along the way, including to Rio de Janeiro, all around Europe, Curitiba, and roadtrips all around the US. On January 6th, 2023, on the one day in the season that had a break from a historic amount of rain, Josh and Flávia got engaged at Grizzly Peak overlooking the Bay Area, a location where they spent so much time with each other (and one of the few places in the Bay that Flávia showed Josh!). Exactly a year and a half later on July 6th, 2024, the happy couple will be married in Catanduva, Brasil to take the next step on their journey together.