In May of 2019, Mark and Claire embarked on a two-week study abroad trip to Rome through Loyola Marymount University to cover art and Christianity, a theology requirement. Claire had made it her mission to have one meal with each classmate to get to know them better. On the day the group visited the Vatican, the two sat down for a pizza lunch together. Claire asked Mark questions about baseball, his brother, and everything in between, and they quickly discovered they had a lot in common. At the time, Mark was still dating someone back home, and Claire had sworn off dating for the foreseeable future, so romance wasn’t on their radar just yet. Instead, they became great friends and spent the rest of the trip enjoying time with their group, lovingly nicknamed the “Romie Homies.” Summer passed, and in August 2019, Mark moved into his senior apartment while Claire moved into her junior-year RA housing early. One night, Mark sent a message to the Romie Homie group chat: “Hey! I’m doing a Disney movie and wine night at my apartment tonight. Who’s coming?” Naturally, Claire jumped at the opportunity to say hi again (and she couldn’t resist anything Disney related). That night, she learned Mark was single, and something shifted. She realized she really liked him. The two stayed up all night talking, and soon after started spending even more time together: study dates, late night walks on The Bluff, and Mark slowly converting Claire into a country music fan. Before they were even officially dating, Claire flew to San Jose to meet Mark’s family. That weekend, Mark took her to her very first country concert to see and meet Justin Moore. Claire thought she was just filling in a seat meant for someone else until Mark stood up, shook the hand of Nate Deaton (GM of KRTY), and said, “Hey man, thanks for that ticket on such short notice.” That’s when Claire learned Mark had specially asked for her to come up and meet his family. That weekend, she already knew he was The One. Mark officially asked Claire out on their first date on 10/10/2019 for Italian food at La Marina Trattoria in Marina Del Rey. Since then, Mark and Claire have loved building their home together in Idaho, becoming proud “pawrents” to their Boxer puppy Otto (named after James Otto, who serenaded them the night of their engagement), and are so excited to start their happily ever after.