The Dream Together Master program connects the pieces of a global network
DTM brings people to one place for 17 months. Together, in Seoul, they spend all this time sharing the daily routines, excitement, and stress of studying, celebrating their achievements.
Would it be possible within that period for two hearts to fall into each other, to end up as one soul? Time has proven that it is indeed more than possible.
DTM is not just a network. It is also something of a blossoming love story.
Seven years in, DTM can count as part of its legacy the creation of three families: Maria from Colombia and Rodrigo from Mexico, Tatyana from Belarus and Nicolas from Ecuador, Deandra from Indonesia and Derrick from Ghana.
These love stories started thanks to DTM. This is – there cannot be any other word for it – destiny.
Indeed, life works in mysterious ways.
Maria and Rodrigo came from Latin America to study in the DTM. But from very different parts of Latin America, he from Mexico, she from Colombia.
Could Maria, who was focused only on studying, imagine that after seven months of day-by-day communication, of spending all her spare time with Rodrigo, she would fall in love with him?
And Rodrigo?
There were a lot of things they had in common before coming to Korea. Their mother tongue is Spanish, they both love sport and discovering new places – and they love coffee. Yes, they loved to go to coffee shops to study and talk about everything.
But there was some more magic. For one, there was Maria’s hair
Rodrigo had a good friend from Mongolia who could make braids for his daughter. Hmm. That gave Rodrigo an idea. He asked Maria about the idea, the notion, of lessons of making braids for his future daughter. Maria had long hair at that moment, and she agreed.
“Since that moment,” Rodrigo said, recalling the moment he touched Maria’s hair for the very first time, “I was like, Oh my goodness! I have a feeling for this girl, which I can’t stop and DON’T want to stop.” In turn, Maria said she felt the electric impact, like butterflies.
After the next lesson in making braids – and a follow-up kiss – it took about a month to realize what was what. They were in love. Two. A couple.
Being a couple proved highly beneficial at DTM
“We worked together all the time,” Maria said. “We were partners in every project we had during the whole master. And we could understand each other and produced a great result.”
In inspiring and supporting each other, and then graduating from the program, they went back to their countries.
And then.
They needed time to decide what to do. And how to make things work.
Each stayed for an entire year with their separate families. Maria worked in the Colombia Ministry of Sport, Rodrigo, at the National University in Mexico.
While they were in Korea, Rodrigo had decided that he wanted this woman as his wife: “I asked her if she would want to marry me. And she said yes.”
But an official proposal Rodrigo made way later – in Colombia and very originally.
He decided to spend his vacation with Maria and meet her family. Rodrigo came to Colombia two days before Maria expected. Maria’s friend worked as a co-conspirator, bringing Maria to the proposal place. It was a park where he made the most beautiful picnic.
“We arrived with my friend to the park,” Maria recalls now, “and she said to me to get out of the car. I did not understand it because we were going to the supermarket. But I listened to her, and in the park, which was full of beautiful tulips, I saw him. He bent on his knee and proposed a ring. I was crying and could not hear any word. Plus, I had the worse flu ever. But I remember – I was happy over the moon.”
Of course, her answer was “Yes.”
A year later, they had a wedding and moved to Mexico to live.
In Mexico, they are successful experts in their own sport development organization. They are a happy family and parents of a beautiful girl, Aurora, who was born at the end of 2018.
The interesting fact is they picked the name because of DTM and Korea
“Whenever you are in Korea, one of the first questions they ask is – how old are you, and what your name means. But we never kept attention on meaning.” Maria said.
“So, when we were in Korea, and people asked us about the names, we had no idea what to answer. And we decided to give our kid a name with a cool meaning. We came up with Aurora, which means a new day and a new life.”
Is it not amazing how the legacy of DTM can be not just global but so much more?
The program gives the world newly educated experts in the field of sport. With this together, there is now the joy of new families and lives. In the case of Maria and Rodrigo, the joy compounds with a name for their daughter, the meaning of which will make her life brighter like the glowing dawn after sunset with the promises of making our world just that much better.
This is so inspiring. We may still have more of these love stories unravelling in this year as well…Please let me know how to reach you guys..I am currently studying in this years program in DTM
Thanks a lot, Mohamed, for such kind words. You can reach us out through any social media. You can find links in the ‘About us’ section.
Amazing and so touching! Don’t have enough words to express my feelings after reading this article. Really great job! Thank you for finding right words to tell the story of Maria and Rodrigo!
Thank you so much for such warm words! We are trying our best to enlighten the global community about sports management and the international sports movement (besides sport as well)
This is great indeed! All the best and good luck with the project!
P.S. I’ll be glad to read stories of other couples too 😊.
Thank you, Kamila, for your comments. I also would love to read other couples stories:) And write about them, if I will have a chance to interview guys:) But, if someone else provides us with the material, we would publish it.