I’d met a guy in a hostel in America. I was about to finish second year of uni and we heard about this work abroad program, so we did it for the summer and I met him when I checked into a dorm room at the end of the trip. We had a little fun, and then I flew home.

Six months later and we had the odd conversation on Skype, it seemed like there was still some chemistry there. During half term break, we talked again and he suggested meeting up again to figure out if this was more than a fling. So we looked at dates and I realized my final year’s exhibitions and exams blocked pretty much everything for the foreseeable future. We hung up the call and I carried on browsing flights and then I saw it. $250 for a return flight to California, leaving in 48 hours.

He’d already gone to bed, so I couldn’t call him back to discuss plans. So fuck it, I put in my card details and my finger hovered over the buy button. It’s now or never, so I clicked the button. BOOKED. I sent him a message and started packing for my trip. Yikes.

I’d got a message back that he’d pick me up from the airport, and as the plane touched down in San Diego I was freaking out that the spark might not be there or he might decide he doesn’t like me anymore, it’s been six months and our initial fling was a drunken party at a hostel.

But he was there waiting at the bottom of the elevator, and my heart absolutely flipped its shit when I saw him. We spent the next seven days inseparable, it was one long date, and it was incredible.

Fast forward six years and we’re saying our vows in the park where we took our first romantic walk. We posed for wedding photos in the hostel room where we met. Fast forward another seven years and I’m laying in bed typing this, while he does a conference call in the office next door. Our spark is still there, and I love him so much.