Minnesota: A Grand Finale to Summer 2018

That's a wrap for summer programs at the Language Villages! After our frustrating start to the summer waiting on a visa and "administrative processing," we are thankful to say that the end has been much better than the beginning. All in all, it was a fun and successful summer, and now it's time to transition into our next adventure. Currently we are piecing together our travel itinerary, and in a few weeks Emi and I will embark on our first international trip as fiancé and fiancée...

Yes, you read that correctly! He was going to wait until we were in southern Spain to pop the question...or perhaps somewhere in London...or on a Greek island...or maybe in Italian wine country, but he knows me too well than to trust that I wouldn't find the ring in his luggage before then. "You're just so good at packing suitcases," he claimed. In all honesty, that is a totally valid argument. So one August night on the shores of Lake Bemidji (or Lake Bermidji, as Grandpa Ray used to say) Emi surprised me with a ring and a question. After I said YES, we both shared a round of apologies: me for the mascara stains I left on Emi's shirt from my happy tears, and him for not having organized a fireworks display or something extravagant like that. Afterwards we celebrated with a bottle of wine and shared the news with our families.

We don't know exactly what the future looks like, though we do have some ideas. The wheres, hows, and whats will all come together. They always do. Most importantly, we know that we will have each other.