Thanks to Karina Rodríguez, ESIA MA '15, and Andrew Wisniewski, ESIA MA '15, for sharing their story!
In the summer of 2013, I moved to Washington, DC all the way from Mexico to start graduate school at GW. On my second day of class, I met Andrew. I remember thinking how cute and smart he was but also a little intimidating. This was the only class I shared with Andrew during our time at GW and we barely spoke to each other. He would tell you that he tried to talk to me a couple of times but that I turned him down (that is not true!).
During my second semester, I was trying to get more involved in school activities and decided to start going out and socializing. It was the first week of class and there was an event on Facebook called “Movies and Pasties.” (This is now our private joke. I thought it said “Pastries,” but turns out it was a show involving short films and burlesque.)
That night after everyone else was gone we talked for hours at Hill Country Barbecue Market. He was trying to show me he knew 300 words in Spanish (spoiler alert: he did not. Most of the words were numbers or different conjugation of the verb “lavar”). After seeing each other at multiple events, we finally had our first official date!
It’s been almost four years and a lot of things have changed. After finishing graduate school, I had to go back to Mexico because my student visa was expiring and we decided to try a long distance relationship. I visited Andrew in February 2017 and he popped the question at the Navy Memorial right outside the theatre where we had our first unofficial date of “Movies and Pasties.”
We have applied for a K1 visa (fiancé visa) and are getting married in August 2018 at the Westin Georgetown!