We first met in the Fisher Bowl, the student lounge inside the Blocker Building - the statistics building at Texas A&M. It's funny how a place meant for homework and coffee breaks ended up being where our story began. The table in the photo is the exact table, and that chair is where I was sitting the first time Jack saw me. Through mutual friends, he asked to be introduced to me. He later proposed to me at this table on September 11th, 2025. There were many moments during my degree when I questioned whether pursuing statistics was the right choice for me, but meeting Jack along the way made it impossible to regret it.

During my first semester as a PhD student and Jack's second year of his master's program, one of the courses he had signed up for was cancelled because too few students enrolled. Around that time he asked me how I liked my probability class (one of the notoriously difficult core courses for first-year PhD students). I told him the truth, that it was incredibly difficult and I wouldn't recommend it, especially not for someone at the master's level. He signed up for it anyway. (Looking back, that should have been the first sign of how stubborn he was.) We struggled through homework together and somewhere between late-night problem sets and probability proofs, we started falling for each other. I remember being more and more impressed by how excited he was by challenges and how quickly he learned. By the time finals came around, we had already planned our first date with a bet: I had done better on the first exam, he had done better on the second, so we agreed whoever scored higher on the final would pick the restaurant and the loser would pay. Of course, I won (44 to 43, we both failed), and I chose my favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrel. The victory was sweet.

This photo was taken during my first visit to California to meet Jack's family over the holidays in 2023. We had only been dating for about six months, and the idea of spending an entire month with his family was honestly terrifying. But from the moment I arrived, everyone welcomed me with so much kindness. I moved to the United States when I was in seventh grade. My mom and I were living in a country far from home where neither of us spoke fluent English. There were years of learning, adjusting, and sometimes feeling embarrassed by cultural differences. As an international student, I've always felt like I had to live carefully, constantly worrying about doing everything right so I didn't jeopardize my visa. It was a long and lonely fight being so far from family. But spending the holidays with Jack's big, lively Italian family, full of laughter and children running around, made me feel at home. For the first time, I could really imagine what it would be like to settle down and belong somewhere. Also during this visit we hiked Big Sur for the first time (and of course dined at Nepenthe after), met some cows, rode a tractor, saw Brussel sprout stalks growing in the field, and I even had my own stocking waiting for me at Christmas!

Jack traveled to Korea during the holidays in 2024 to meet my family for the first time. He quickly picked up a few Korean phrases and proudly used them everywhere he went. We also discovered that he can handle spicy food better than I can. With his Korean phrases and the way he enthusiastically ate everything offered to him, he honestly looked more Korean than me. One of the highlights of the trip was playing golf with my grandparents, who, even in their eighties, are unbelievably good at golf. They absolutely destroyed us, but it ended up sparking Jack's interest in golf. Now he's going on his bachelor trip to Scottsdale to play with his friends. He's even set up a golf net in his backyard so he can practice his swing (he's still bad). During the trip we also traveled to Busan, where I lived for a few years when I was young, and to Gyeongju for a bit of history. It was special to show him places that were part of my childhood while also exploring new cities together. We tried plenty of foods he probably never would have tried otherwise.

This past July, Jack moved back to California to work with his family on their farming business. After graduating in May 2022 with his Master’s in Statistics from Texas A&M, he worked as a data scientist at Toyota Financial Services. Although he worked incredibly hard and took on many different projects, he often felt that the work lacked the sense of purpose he was looking for. What he really missed was working with his family and contributing to something that carried a legacy. He wrestled with the decision for a long time. We spent a lot of time praying and thinking carefully about what the right path would be. One of the main reasons he hesitated was because moving back to California would mean being far away from me, and once he made the move there would be no turning back. In the end, I encouraged him to follow what he truly felt called to do, even though it meant that I would eventually be moving to California as well. Now that it has been a few months, I can see that it was the right decision. I truly believe God has plans to work through his hands, and it has been amazing to watch him combine farming with his statistics background, coding models and analyzing crop yields based on weather, irrigation, and planting conditions. Meanwhile, I am still working on my statistics PhD and expect to finish in December 2026 (or possibly May 2027, depending on the job market). It has been really fun sharing our statistics work with each other - him telling me about the regression models, code, and databases he uses on the farm, and me telling him about my dissertation.