For us it was clear, right from the start when I decided to move to Austria, that Thomas and I were in it together, that the end goal was to spend our lives together.
It was quite a stressful though adventurous way to start a new relationship, but we very quickly realised that we were highly compatible and could definitely make it work.
Though I knew that Thomas would eventually propose, I had no idea when it would happen. We’d talked about such things and we knew we didn’t want to get married ‘just’ to get a visa, though we did keep it in the back of our minds as an option. I’d mentioned vaguely the kind of ring I had in my head, but as I said to a friend only a few weeks before the proposal: “I don’t think he would have enough information to actually buy one yet.” Unbeknownst to me, he’d bought it three months earlier!
Thomas knew that I didn’t want one of those obvious proposals – on a holiday, on an anniversary or birthday etc. But he still wanted it to be a good day. Finally the weather had warmed up a little and we’d planned a long hike on the upcoming weekend. So we decided to end the day with raclette on the balcony.
I do remember thinking that Thomas was acting a little bit strange that morning. He disappeared to go and buy something and came back with nothing (turns out he was buying flowers), but I was oblivious. I must admit it crossed my mind very briefly when we were hiking, but I thought that if he was going to do it, it would happen on the top of the mountain, so when we started our descent I shrugged my shoulders and stopped thinking about it.
We came home, had a nap and then prepared dinner. We enjoyed some wine on the balcony and it was a really pleasant day. The perfect day, I’m pretty sure I said to him at one point. He’d been getting around in boxers and a t-shirt (which he’s inclined to do) and at one point he came into the kitchen with pants on. And not just his usual daggy trakkies, but nice pants. I asked him why he was wearing pants and he said he was cold. I thought it strange but didn’t think anything of it. By this point we were inside, I was finishing my wine and playing on my phone and he was… well it turns out he was preparing.
He entered the kitchen with a dozen beautiful red roses and recited a well-practiced speech, which I don’t remember because I was too busy thinking: “Oh my God is he going to propose???” And then he got down on one knee and did. And it was perfect. And the ring? Also perfect. What a man!
an aussie in austria 