I first met Matilda in Old Main during a Freshmen event the first week of school.
Favorite place on campus: Patterson/pool table
Anniversary: 11/08/2015
I met Matilda my first week of school through another South Korean student named Merry. I originally had no intentions of dating her, but as fate would have it, we kept ending up together hanging out, grocery shopping, etc. We officially got together at the end of September 2013–not thinking about the future, living just for today. Our relationship was in jeopardy after Andrew College told Matilda that there wasn’t enough financial aid funding to keep them at Andrew the entire year, and that they would have to leave in December. With a lot of phone calls, emails, and an amazing financial aid officer by the name of Blake Coty, we were able to secure her another semester’s tuition. Fast forward to spring 2014. I decided I did not want our relationship to end in Cuthbert, so I studied hard and applied for a South Korean education scholarship with the help of Pai Chai University and the amazing Ms. Knight. I received the award and was able to go to South Korea for six months where I had the greatest fall/winter of my life.
I spent a lot of time with Matilda and her family (even extended family) and they loved me and I loved them. Come November 2015, time was running out again. Refusing to let any bureaucratic/ government nonsense keep us apart, Matilda applied for a visa to work in Auburn, Alabama. She got accepted on her second attempt. The next morning upon her arrival in Auburn, I talked to Dr. Lattimer about what had happened and he said, “Man why are you still here? Go!” So, I made those long drives many weekends.
I finally transferred to CSU just to have a shorter drive. Fast forward to October 2015, and we were faced with our second biggest dilemma. Matilda’s visa was going to expire that next spring, and there was only option left. We had a long talk, realized we were going to be together no matter what, and decided to get married and go through the exhaustive and expensive green card process. With the help of my parents and sheer determination, we were wed November 8th, 2015 and passed the green card process later the following April. We have been happily married three years now and live in Atlanta.