"It's a love story, baby, just say, Yes"
Like all good love stories, ours starts with some good old government intervention. In 2012, Camila was awarded entrance into the highly competitive Ciência Sem Fronteiras study abroad program. Though Camila listed Portugal as her country of choice, luck would instead send her off to study in the United States in the small city of Spokane, Washington. She would officially be a "Zag" as she studied English and Computer Engineering at Gonzaga University.
Unlike Camila, Maximilian only had to travel 5 hours (with traffic) from his home in Seattle to Spokane, Washington. He would start his Freshmen year at Gonzaga University and quickly got involved in student leadership. Within the first year, he would find himself hired as the Resident Assistant for Corkery apartment's international student building.
Maximilian became good friends with the international students, especially the Brazilians, who seemed to host the best parties. The first time Maximilian and Camila met was at a mutual friend's birthday party at FastKart go kart track. Though their interactions that day were brief, as Maximilian was unfortunately too preoccupied in taking first place in the tournament, this day would sow the seeds that would blossom into a great friendship.
Though at first, Camila and Maximilian would only hang out at the occasional friend get togethers, it was Camila's humor, quick wittedness, and intelligence that would catch Maximilian's interest.
This interest would push Maximilian to work hard planning events, barbeques, get-togethers, and anything else within his power as an RA to get to hangout with Camila. Though all of his residents were impressed by his involvement in hosting student events, selfishly he was using his power to pursue his crush.
Throughout the year, Maximilian and Camila would become great friends and create unforgettable memories.
Their friendship gradually transformed into love, yet neither of them voiced those feelings to the other. Camila did not want to be tied to the United States and wanted to return to her family while Maximilian did not want to pursue a long distance relationship knowing the difficulty of this endeavor. So on December 21st 2014, Camila left Spokane and returned to her home in Bauru, Brazil.
...But they stayed in touch...
Despite being more than 10,000 miles apart, they would keep in touch as friends. Over these five years, it would be clear that there was still a special connection between them. At some point, it had become too obvious that they had to see each other again.
So on August 16th, 2019, Maximilian traveled down to Curitiba, Brazil, to see Camila. Together they adventured to Foz do Iguaçu, Recife, Olinda, São Paulo, and Bauru, sight seeing, visiting their friends from college, and meeting Camila's family. When it came time for Maximilian to leave, Camila promised that within a year she would go visit him in the United States.
Keeping her promise, Camila left for the United States on March 14th, 2020 with the intention to visit Maximilian for one month.
...then the world shut down...
As soon as Camila landed in Spokane, the United States closed its borders because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Rather than staying for one month, Camila would be forced to stay in the United States for a year. 2020 ended up being a year filled with countless experiences, growth, and memories as Camila and Maximilian endured the pandemic together. That year they would adopt a dog, build a pond, remodel a house, make new friends, travel around the country (with masks on), and develop a loving relationship with eachother.
As the year came to an end. It had become evident that with the country reopening, Camila would have to return to Brazil. After a year of being together, neither could imagine living their lives apart from each other again.
So... we got married!
On January 8th 2021, Camila and Maximilian got married at the Spokane Court house. Maximilian's parents could be present in person, but Maximilian's brother and Camila's family had to attend virtually.
Then we moved South
The following week after the wedding, Maximilian was offered a job in Phoenix, Arizona. Within three months, on March 15th 2021, Maximilian and Camila had moved down South and purchased a little piece of land.
On January 1st 2022, after waiting for a year, they finally moved into their newly completed home in Litchfield Park, Arizona.
Ever since then, the two have lived happily together, discovering new friends, making new memories, and experiencing what life has to offer. Growing together, pushing each other to be their best, they are ready to conquer the world by each other's side.
