Austin and I met in Spanish class our freshman year at Clemson. We first spoke during the classic icebreaker assignment where you awkwardly walk across the room and ask strangers if they own a dog or have travelled outside the US to get them to sign their name on a piece of paper. A few days later, I received a Facebook friend request, and I didn't think much about adding the random cute guy from my class. Austin later messaged me on Facebook, asking an incredibly random question as a way to start the conversation. While we would constantly talk over Facebook messenger, being only two months into my freshman year, I was definitely playing hard to get. Austin messaged me and had asked me 17 times (we later counted) to play volleyball, go to FCA, or just hang out, and I rejected him with every activity he proposed. After using my best friend Katherine as a way in, we finally exchanged numbers. We went out with a group of friends on Halloween which included visiting an abandoned and supposedly haunted mill, breaking into Death Valley (the first of many times) and ending with Austin and I sitting on the beach at Lake Hartwell. It was an absolutely magical night where we talked about everything and laughed over Austin's dorky yet remarkable impressions for hours. We went on our first "official" date a few days later, and have been making each other laugh ever since. I thank God that Austin pursued me as a freshman, and that over the past five years, he has been pursuing me ever since. -Sam

In March, we took a trip to Barcelona with our friends Steve and Alyssa. I brought along a family heirloom ring given to me by Sam's aunt that Sam's grandfather and father had used to propose, and I waited for the perfect moment. On the 22nd, we planned to take a train to Montserrat, a monastery built on top of a mountain that Sam had been dying to visit. This was definitely going to be the place. As usual, the four of us were running late and wound up sprinting through a train station in Barcelona, hopping onto the train as the doors closed. It was about that time that I realized that the ring was still at the Airbnb. Awesome. The monastery was incredible and perfect for a proposal. The cafe sold mini bottles of champagne. The hiking was incredible, as were the stunning views of everything from the ocean to the city to the Pyrenees Mountains. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Despite Steve attempting to auction off Alyssa's ring to me, it was clear that it was not going to happen there. (I was so exhausted when we reached the summit, I wouldn't have been able to get back up if I'd dropped to a knee there anyway.) That night, we had dinner on Tibidabo, a mountain overlooking Barcelona with the intention of hiking up to the top afterwards to see the beautiful Barcelona cityscape (and to propose, having this time remembered the ring). Naturally, it started pouring during dinner. The hike turned into a cab ride. On the way up, I noticed that the lights that normally illuminated Sagrat Cor church on top of the mountain at night had been shut off. The driver let us out a good bit from the top and warned us to watch out for wild pigs(!). The four of us hiked the rest of the way up in the rain. We couldn't see anything. I passed off my camera to Alyssa and walked in the rain with Sam in front of the church, told her I loved her, dropped to a knee, and asked her to marry me. She said yes. Nothing went according to plan, but in a way, everything did. -Austin