September 9th, 2020, Ziad and Maura were both beginning MBA school at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Ziad had been a Rollins Undergrad for the last 4 years, whereas Maura was coming back to the Orlando area after spending a year in Lakeland. Both spent a year after college to gain experience in the working world before coming back to secondary education.
December 12th, 2020, Maura thought the best way to get to know her peers was to throw a holiday party and invite everyone over for a white elephant gift exchange. Little did she know, Ziad thought she was throwing the party just to get to know him (what confidence). Shortly after, Ziad asked her to get together for coffee the week before Christmas, and after receiving a tennis racket from her parents for Christmas, they spent nearly every day together from December 26th onwards.
Ziad and Maura became fast friends and then companions in a short few months, and have been falling in love with each other ever since.
See Maura and Ziad's selections here.