Well, where to start? Two people growing up on different continents, miles and miles apart (9.803 km / 6.092 miles to be more exact) and still ending up at the right place at the right time.

In 2019, Carina and (her dog) Chewie crossed half the world, moving from São Paulo to Berlin, that was just the beginning of the adventure of their lives.

In 2022, Carina was still struggling to learn German, battling bureaucracies, looking for their 6th house in Berlin and the winter was just too long for this Brazilian. So, she decided to leave Berlin and to look for a new job in another country.

What she didn't know was that all her plans were about to change...

Whereas Carina traveled across the globe to find her love, Etienne "only" needed to travel 600km east, to the neighbor country. Growing up in the south of Netherlands and living there almost all his live, studying and working in the region. His current employer (ASML) gave him the option to work in other factories. He chose Berlin and he had to move to there. After two months of traveling back and forth, ASML provided an apartment to live in and it was ready at the beginning of January, 2022.

Modern as the world nowadays is, and especially in a big city, the easiest way to meet new people is by online dating. End of March Carina and Etienne became a match and the first connection was made. The start was a bit dubitable. But they decided there was enough in common to plan a first date, a sunny Sunday in the beginning of April'22. As Carina was also looking for a new place to live, it would be a rather short one and as Covid still had some restrictions, they decided to take a walk in the park and would get to know each other. Even Chewie joined the walk and eased the first meet. Although it was rather short, the spark was lightened and a second date was planned swiftly. This time an Italian restaurant. A bit noisy, but the food and company of each other made up for it!

Time went by. They traveled around the world, got to know each other very well, as well as their friends and family and they knew that it was a match made in heaven.

After moving in together, the next step was to lift their relationship to the next level. As they travelled already a lot, it wasn't a surprise that this proposal was done during a travel, this time to Tokyo. Etienne carefully prepared the event. Time and date were chosen (exactly 2 years after their first date). Even a photographer was arranged, to have a digital memory of this precious moment. One thing he couldn't plan, the answer of Carina. Fortunately, the only hoped-for answer was given: Yes