How We Met
& Started Dating

Tania's Story

John's Story

As you may know, we met in Poland, where we were both assigned through the MBA Enterprise Corps.

I’m not really sure the first moment I met John. It was either on the plane from Chicago to Poland, or maybe it wasn’t until we were in Krakow. I remember some nice guy who helped me with my bags on the plane...but was that John? If it was, he didn’t make that big an impression at first.

The first time I really started to notice John was on the bus doing some tourist thing, he was sitting in the seat in front me and amusing a group of us. I think that same day on the bus we talked about wanting to go the Bob Dylan concert. He organized tickets...but for only four of us - John, his roommate Adam, myself and this young, cute blonde American who was also living in our „dorm"!!! So then I figured I was just a potential friend. But I loved being around John, he was so cheerful and made me laugh. I also thought that he was easy to hold a conversation with (only later did I realize that was because he does all the talking).

The real romance started in Zakopane „the city of love" in the mountains of southern Poland. A group of us rebelled against the planned hike starting at 8:00 am one weekend and went on our own, only starting at 11:00 am. We spent six hours hiking that day and the two of us talked a lot of that time (we weren’t in as good shape as some of our friends who seemed to be running up the mountain). The next week we went to our Polish classes as normal and I remember trying to make sure I sat at the same table as John did at lunch and dinner. The next weekend the same group of us took an alternative hike and we got to talk even more -- this time over a 12 hour period (thanks to a map-reading mistake we ended up a long way from home when it was starting to get dark).

One day the following week John mentioned he was going to pick up his pictures during lunch and I so smoothly volunteered to keep him company. Not long after that, he asked if I wanted to go to dinner at the Chinese restaurant rather than eat the Polish food they served us, which was never substantial enough for John. It wasn’t until we actually met that evening and started walking into town that I was certain that it was going to be just the two of us and not another group thing. I remember that I was embarrassed when we ran into Laura, another woman in the Corps, on her way back to the hotel...I still didn’t know her well and worried that she’d spread rumors that we were going on a date! I later learned she keeps a good secret. After dinner we took a stroll along the main street and then I treated for ice cream. Finally we started back for our hotel and at the last minute decided to go look at the stars. We climbed up a hill and through a farmer’s back yard to have a great view, John getting stuck on the barbed wire fence and tearing his shirt on the way there. We sat down, looked at stars, talked some more and then....John asked if he could kiss me -- I almost laughed....wasn’t it obvious - YES! Well, that’s now history and soon I’ll be saying yes to a much more important question.

We first met in Chicago, at MBA Enterprise Corps training, when I saw Tania in a lecture and thought two things: (1) She looks like a lot of fun, and (2) She's too damn tall! I don't think we even talked until we had arrived in Krakow for language training.

A few weeks after arriving in Krakow, I met a cute blonde American named Lynn, who was a little young (21) but seemed interested in me. Hey - When in Rome,.....! Anyways, I asked her to a Bob Dylan concert, but I had also talked with Tania about it, so I invited her too. My roommate Adam rounded out the group. At the end of the night (the concert was rained out, but we saw the warm-up singer Kasia Kowalska) I realized that I had had a better time talking with "intelligent, fun-loving" Tania than "young, starry-eyed" Lynn.

I had developed a definite crush on Tania by the time the entire group moved to Zakopane (in the Tatras - the Polish Alps) for two more weeks of language training. Unsatisfied with the Corps-planned mountain climbing trip (it started too early and wasn't dangerous enough), seven of us formed a group (we called the G7) to climb a steeper mountain beginning at a more reasonable hour. Tania & I talked practically the entire trip up and down (or rather, I talked at Tania for the entire trip). One week later, the same group climbed an even more dangerous mountain, and Tania and I talked again for probably 8 of the 12 hours up and down.

That week, my friends Michael Sasina and Diana White from Tuck visited us, and the four of us went out for Chinese. Both gave Tania the thumbs up, though they conceded she was damn tall. A few days later, Tania and I went back to the same restaurant alone (part of my Master Plan), and then for a walk in a field with a great view of the mountains and stars (not part of my Master Plan). All was going well until I accidentally overlooked a barbwire fence and tripped mid-sentence, ripping a huge hole in my only good shirt. Very impressive, I'm sure she was thinking! ( I still have the hole in that shirt!)

We stopped to sit down and look at the mountains, when I decided to make the big move. It was a tough decision: on the positive side, she was fun, easy to talk with, and bright, but on the negative side, she was tall, which meant that, if we ever got married and had kids, the hockey playing ones (read: all of them) would be defensemen. Every defensemen I've ever met was a little bit wacko, so, as you can see, it was a difficult decision.

Anyways, I had planned on saying something really suave (like "Hey, babe! I went to Notre Dame!"), but instead "Can I kiss you?" or something equally stupid came out of my mouth. Whatever it was, it worked, because the next thing I knew, we were attempting to roll over every blade of grass in the pasture. Score!