We met in the US in June 2022 and took no more than 3 weeks to realise we were meant to be! Does it sound crazy? Maybe yes, but here’s the story of how we felt in love in 3 steps:

1)       We were gathering poolside with the group of friends we made in the US, absorbed in small talks on a hot Texas summer night with ice-cold beers at hands, when we “accidentally” sat next to each for the first time. It still seems odd to us, but for a strange twist of fate, we both immediately left the small talks aside and plunged into a 1-hour one-to-one discussion about life-lasting commitments, engagement in emotional bonds, love and even marriage (!). Again, it sounds crazy (and, clearly, we had no idea of what was coming ahead), but it was already since then that we realized our minds were connected;

2)       We were out clubbing in Austin with the rest of the group when Alberto worked up the courage to approach Belén and asked her to dance. Yes guys, you understood correctly: a European managed to conquer a Latina dancing! Did Alberto dance incredibly? Probably yes (check this out for a tutorial on his unique technique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2mmgB0OKTA). Was Belén a bit drunk? Without maybes (haha!). That was our first dance, and it was since then that we discovered our bodies were connected too;

3)       But it was only after Alberto cooked his carbonara, that Belén realised he was the one! And after a second deep talk about our lives, it was during that dinner that we discovered that it wasn’t just a matter of chemistry or intellectual affinity: our souls were truly deeply connected.

So deeply connected, -Alberto thought-, that it seemed like a brilliant idea to him, not even a week later, to ask Belén to be his girlfriend on June 18th, 2022, while she was serenely swimming in the Caesars Palace pool. But, as absurd as it may sound, Belén clearly said “no” at first (haha), complaining that it would have been the shortest relationship ever as in 2 weeks we had to go back to our countries. Let’s be “boyfriends-for-two-weeks” -he immediately replied-, but it goes without saying that Alberto, the stubborn, had different plans…

Long story short: 6 weeks after, Belén was already in Puglia sitting on the table with Alberto’s family to celebrate his dad’s 60th birthday, and 4 months after that, Alberto was in Mexico celebrating Belen’s dad birthday too, and after less than 2 years we were already living together in Rome.

As you can see, a lesson we learned is that a relationship doesn’t really depend on “steps” or time, and for sure not only on physical presence, but on the depth of the connection and that, -exactly as we said during that first conversation-, the willingness to make it work can trump everything.

We are now sure that our souls recognized each other since that first night, and that -after having overcome time zones, cultural differences and language barriers and having crossed oceans just to be next to each other- what we thought it was going to last 2 weeks, will last a lifetime.

We cannot wait to celebrate this special moment with you!

Belén & Alberto