I met Violeta for the first time in January 2007 when I was working as a consultant for a friend’s new coffee venture in Cluj. I had only been there for a week at that point and was still finding my bearings both with the new language and the role I was to play in business.

We struck up an immediate friendship that also quickly grew into a romantic relationship. After only a month-and-a-half, I proposed to her, and she accepted. We spent that spring planning our wedding for the same summer and were wed in July.

Since then, we have been back and forth between San Jose, California, and Cluj both for ourselves and for friends and family, and the city has become part of who we are. Cluj’s official nickname is “Treasure City”, which was bestowed in the late 16th century and referred to the wealth amassed by the citizens. We’re using it as a reference to the trove of memories and relationships that we have made in Cluj over the past 7 years and the many more to come.

This journal is an account of what is to come.