I had been invited to miss Ivana's for dinner by a friend who closed by saying, "You haven't met Ivana? Oh you're going to like her!" So naturally I had a predisposition not to! When I arrived for dinner I recognized her from almost a year earlier, where we had met in passing through another friend. As the evening went on, we had a very nice conversation, and I was already searching for my way back to that kitchen. We quickly became friends, but since I was leaving for New Mexico that summer, I didn't want to start a "long distance relationship." We stayed in touch (or so I thought), but upon returning to Atlanta and knowing she would be leaving, I thought to myself, if you thought New Mexico would be a long distance, how's Croatia!? Fat chance I thought, and kissed my Hrvatica goodbye...Or so I thought. The first time we saw each other after that summer she thought she was playing it cool and quickly "had to go." But we saw each other 3 times that week, and couldn't understand how we had made it that far without going out. Ivana and I started dating in September of 2018. We were hesitant to start a relationship, knowing that she would have to leave the States at the end of that year. After a few dates and quickly got to know each other, and a few months later, we started to realize this was it, and knew that we couldn't let each other go. We decided to work through the distance, not knowing where we would end up, or what situation we would find ourselves in, but knew that the kind of love we shared was special. I found myself in Croatia 3 times the following year (2019), and I couldn't have been welcomed my a more loving family. Seeing the environment and culture Ivana grew up in, and the family values that we shared, I knew. Without a doubt in my mind, I had found my person. I am so excited to begin my life with the woman I love. <3

I know it's absolutely silly to expect the love of your life would just knock on your apartment's door one day, and that's how you meet...right? Well, he did! And he was hungry, luckily I could feed him, so that guaranteed there would be another encounter. First we became friends, and then despite the resistance we both put forward, we felt strongly drawn to each other, so the cracks in our tough guard started to show... Sam did take his sweet time to act upon it, so when he left to New Mexico for the summer, I made a firm decision to forget about the handsome Texan...I was leaving my American life behind any way, and had my plan (with a ticket in my pocket) to go back to Europe by Christmas... And then one hot September evening he decided to show up to a friend's party, but I was chill...super cool...didn't care, just like I promised...so much that I went on a date with him not even a week later, and he hasn't left my thoughts not even for a second ever since... Once we started dating, I felt for him fast and I felt for him hard, which sounds pretty scary but the craziest part was it wasn't scary...it felt good, and it felt right, and I knew I found the One! <3