It all began in college: Luther College in Decorah, Iowa to be exact. In 2008, Jens was a freshman living in the same dorm building in which Erik, a sophomore, was an RA. Jens thought Erik seemed really fun and likable, but they didn't spend significant time together until five months later, when they both took a French class on conversation skills and pronunciation (spoiler alert: it's hard). Luckily, they got placed in the same small practice group (shoutout to Jason and Junette!), and got to know each other a bit more. This turned into regular homework nights, spontaneous group hangouts, and a burgeoning friendship (yes, just friendship) until Erik graduated and moved to northern France in 2011 to teach English. But Jens was soon to follow, and based on his own desire to have a similar experience he moved to southern France in 2012. However, by then Erik was over France (jk never!) so he headed to Scotland to continue educating himself and befriend some hairy coos. They stayed in touch, and Jens kept the friendship alive by traveling roughly 24 hours by train and bus to see Erik in Edinburgh where they had a lovely time.

They both made their way back to Minnesota in 2013, where they lived a couple blocks from each other in Uptown, and then Northeast Minneapolis, getting to be even closer friends by attending trivia nights, hitting up dance clubs, watching British Bake Off, and doing other fun stuff around town together. In early 2018, Erik planned a trip with friends up to a remote cabin in Ely, and Jens quickly realized that he had feelings for Erik. Turns out, Erik had had feelings for Jens for a while. And the rest is history :)