Shawna's Story: It was winter break for me, as I had just finished my first semester at grad school in New York City. For YJ, it was just a weekend trip up to NYC from Northern Virginia. The friends YJ had come to NYC with were also my friends from high school, and so naturally I went out to Ktown that night to meet them. When both of us were asked to be wingman for a potential couple, what better way to do it than beat them to the race! I called YJ to the bar, bought him shots and shots of whiskey, got him drunk, and took him home! Youngju's Story: Shawna went out to meet this chick from high school she once knew, who was part of the group that went to New York City with me one weekend. She was dressed in sweats, no makeup, looked like she hadn't showered... and showed up on a weekend night in New York City. I was out hunting for someone to marry coincidentally in NYC. We met at Ktown, she bought me a shit ton of Jamo, we got drunk, then I kissed her. Now I'm gonna marry her. I am a winner.

After a year of dating and around the time Shawna was about to graduate from grad school, we had to decide if we were serious about our relationship. Upon graduation, Shawna was planning to move back home to Korea and YJ had never lived outside of Northern Virginia. Korea. Virginia. These places were on opposite sides of the globe, 13 hour time difference, and a 14 hour flight. Relationships are all about compromising, right? So, we decided to compromise. Instead of choosing either Virginia or Korea, we chose neither, looked at the map, chose the location that lay right in the middle of the two locations. Korea to Hawaii is 4,662 miles and Virginia to Hawaii is 4,690 miles. We both knew noone there, didn't have jobs, and had never been there. How fair. Thereafter! We flew to Honolulu, got a place, got a job, got 2 cars, and got married!