Guest Writer From a simple housing algorithm to a remote wedding in the heart of Bohemia, Danny & Karolína’s love story is a testament to the lifelong connections forged on campus. Below, Danny shares how a first-day encounter at York became the foundation of a new life abroad.
“Karolína and I met on my very first day at York, but on her second, because as an international student she had arrived one day earlier. We were assigned to the same first-year college flat in Constantine and we had been made aware of each other already through the flat’s group chat.
“In that chat, I had expressed a preference for beers and board games over nightclubs, and Karolína recognised a kindred spirit. After meeting in person, we bonded over quizzes, and it took only two months before I asked if she’d be interested in being my girlfriend. We must’ve been somewhere out in Osbaldwick when I nervously suggested the idea.
“She said yes, and the amount of life experiences I owe to that answer is incalculable. Of course, that answer itself I owe to York, for making it possible at all.”
“After completing our BAs at York and then master’s degrees elsewhere in the UK, Karolína headed back to Prague, only now with a boyfriend (me) in tow. Six years later, we’re still based in the Czech Republic. During that time, I’ve graduated from being her boyfriend to her fiancé, and then to her husband.
“We got married in September last year, and the contingent of Brits who we dragged out to a remote Bohemian village included four old friends from the University. It was a suitably Anglo-Czech wedding for an Anglo-Czech relationship, through which we’ve well and truly got stuck into each other’s country.
“It’s now impossible to imagine my own life without the Czech ingredient, but it only happened because York’s algorithms put us into the same flat. Who would I be if it had been the flat next door?”
Feeling the love? Read more alumni love stories this Valentine’s Day.
