Feature

Couple plans life together

Marissa Barnes
Staff Reporter

Photo provided by Kelli Klein NIACC students Mike Unwin and Kelli Klein enjoy the holidays in England. Unwin proposed to Klein while visiting his parents in England over the holidays.

Getting married at a young age is hard enough in itself, but when one of the soon-to-be spouses is from another country, it can throw a curveball into the situation.

This seems to be the situation for NIACC students Mike Unwin and his fiancé Kelli Klein.

Unwin is from Yateley, England and plays soccer for the NIACC men’s soccer team.

Klein is from Clear Lake.

Unwin and Klein have been engaged for about two months following the proposal that took place in England around Christmas time.

Over winter break, Unwin flew back home to England to be with his family. About a week after he arrived, Klein flew out to spend the holidays with them.

“He had a little time to spend with his family and friends before I came out,” Klein said.

On New Year’s Eve, the two had made plans to spend their evening enjoying dinner at a French restaurant.

After dinner, Unwin had planned to surprise Klein with his proposal. Klein agreed that it was definitely a surprise to her.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Klein said. “He was really calm about it so I had no idea it was coming.”

Although Klein had no hint of the proposal, Unwin said he had been thinking about it for a long time.

“I went to dinner with her parents and asked them if it would be alright,” Unwin said.

Right now, the two are finishing school at NIACC. Unwin’s concentration is on soccer and Klein is on finishing up her business management degree. She also wants to go to a cosmetology school and eventually own her own salon.

After this semester, the couple will be transferring to the University of Central Florida in May, where Unwin has a full ride to play soccer.

His plans are to play college soccer and hopefully make it to a professional league in the future.

They still haven’t decided on where they will live once they are done with school because of the obstacles involved in moving to a different country.

“The biggest complication is citizenship,” Klein said. “We have to fill out all the paperwork and go through the whole process, and that takes a while.”

Contrary to a popular stereotype, the couple believes that although they’ve decided to get married at a young age, they will be able to overcome any obstacles along the way just like any other married couple.

“There’s no point in getting married if you’re just going to get divorced 10 years down the road,” Unwin said. “We’ll work through our problems just like anyone else.”

As for the families, Klein and Unwin both agreed that their families couldn’t be happier for the both of them.

“My family loves him,” Klein said. “They know that we’re happy, so they’re happy too.”