As most of you know, we met at Nipomo High School in 2010 where Massimo was studying abroad as a foreign exchange student during our senior year. A series of *fortunate* (and entirely coincidental) events brought our paths to cross: First, on Massimo's application to study abroad he simply put down that he wanted to go to the "USA," and somehow managed to get sent to our tiny town of 16,000 people. Then, Massimo was originally going to only spend six months in California and Kiawna was debating graduating early--we somehow didn't meet during that first semester and both decided pretty last minute to stay at Nipomo High that last semester. Who would have known at 17 years old how a single decision could change your entire life! Anyway, we met on the lunch quad on a sunny February day. Kiawna was so excited to meet a "real" Italian and was subsequently disappointed when she asked him what his favorite "real" Italian dish was and his response was "pizza and pasta?." (Fun fact-- this is actually true). Our first months getting to know each other consisted of Kiawna and Brittney (her best friend) making Massimo read Italian cookbooks aloud just to hear his accent, showing him serious American traditions such as dipping your fries in your milkshake, and having him teach us random Italian words so we could sound cool. After we met, there was not a day (well maybe just one) that we spent apart until the end of his time in California, and our acquaintance quickly blossomed into one of those intense teenage loves that led us to embark on what literally everyone said would be impossible: a relationship across 6,000 miles and two continents. Fast forward! Our stubborn selves not only did long distance, we did it for 10 years! (Don't ask us why or how, we really don't know). In the meantime, Kiawna learned Italian, lived in Italy two times, taught Italian, got her Bachelor's and two Master's degrees, began her PhD, and travelled back and forth to Europe as much as she possibly could between semesters to be with her other half. Massimo completed his Bachelor's and Master's, embarked on three different internships (one of them Ferrari!), and ended up landing a job in Berlin, where we *finally* closed the distance in 2020 and have been happily living together with Zorro ever since. We are so excited to finally have this moment we have dreamed about since we were teenagers, the moment where we can finally unite our Italian and American families and have all of our loved ones in the same place as we celebrate all that we have overcome and all that we have ahead of us. 12 years later, we will be getting married right across the street from that tiny high school where we first met, and we are so grateful that you all will be a part of that moment.