![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/11\/ColgateLoveStory.jpg\")
\u201cHe showed up to every class with these festive socks with different animals on them,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was a conversation starter, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The classmates quickly became study partners and then, fast friends. They grew even closer that summer, when they completed internships in New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole, who was commuting from her family\u2019s home in New Jersey to her internship with an insurance company, helped Jack, a Virginia native working in ad sales, explore the city. They frequently met for dinners and \u201cjust hung out,\u201d says Nicole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back on campus in the fall, their friendship was a source of well-meaning jabs from friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJack taught me how to golf at Seven Oaks, he\u2019d take me to breakfast at the Colgate Inn, and all our friends thought I was leading him on,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d say, \u2018No, he knows we\u2019re just good friends!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jack says he did know Nicole considered their relationship a friendship \u2014 but he also knew he wanted it to be more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His patience paid off. By the winter of Nicole\u2019s junior year and Jack\u2019s sophomore year, the couple\u2019s frequent study sessions in Case Library helped her realize her feelings for Jack had become romantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was so easy to be around and talk to, and the time I spent with him was always the best part of my day,\u201d she says. \u201cI told my friends it was like I had a revelation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She shared her epiphany with a (thrilled) Jack just before leaving campus for winter break, and they were off to the races \u2014 literally. The new couple began training for the Philadelphia Marathon. Though running had long been a hobby they pursued individually (Nicole had led the Colgate Running Club as a junior and senior, and Jack helped plan their routes), it was Nicole\u2019s idea to start running with a goal in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNicole is probably the only person who could force me to run outside in the sleet in Hamilton, N.Y.,\u201d says Jack \u2014 who finished slightly behind his girlfriend and training partner in the Philadelphia Marathon in fall 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduating, they moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Nicole worked as an occupational therapist and Jack in wealth management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A surprise proposal at a hotel resort in Connecticut kicked off nearly two years of wedding planning \u2014 and an unexpected choice of venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe knew the city would be a good middle ground for our families and friends, so I was looking at venues in New York Magazine <\/em>one day and saw something about the Central Park Zoo. It just clicked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only were they both animal lovers (their favorite dates were visits to zoos and wildlife preserves), but Nicole also thought the locale was the perfect nod to the quirky critters on Jack\u2019s socks that sparked their very first conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their celebration at the zoo in June 2022 featured plenty of Colgate friends \u2014 including Jack\u2019s groomsman Jack Galvin \u201915 and Nicole\u2019s \u201cman of honor\u201d Alex Fisch \u201914 \u2014 and a sea lion show during cocktail hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe wedding was exactly what we were hoping for,\u201d says Nicole. \u201cA really fun party with our families and friends, and no stress. I was just so excited that I finally got to marry my best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Animal lovers Nicole Hawkins \u201914 and Jack Metelski \u201915 married at the zoo in June 2022. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1272,"featured_media":13765,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[321,1222,916,1797,879,99,103,1144,1195],"coauthors":[1720],"class_list":["post-13198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-updates","category-colgate-love-stories","tag-animals","tag-case-library","tag-colgate-inn","tag-colgate-running-club","tag-love-story","tag-psychology","tag-running","tag-seven-oaks","tag-wedding"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3qS","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/11\/ColgateLoveStoryFtr.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13198"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13767,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13198\/revisions\/13767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13198"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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