The Wildest Place I Met a Fellow Terp

You never know when you might bump into a fellow grad on a dormant Guatemalan volcano or a recent professor on a beach in Crete, so toss that Terrapins T-shirt or University of Maryland ball cap into your suitcase when you’re packing for your next trip.

More than 430,000 alums are scattered worldwide, and when adding in professors, parents and post-docs, it’s not hard to find someone who’s  eager to trade a “Go Terps!” or reminisce about their favorite Maryland moments. 

Nearly 200 people responded to our call on Facebook and LinkedIn to alums to share their most unexpected encounters with fellow Terps (and their comment sections have already spawned new connections). Here are some of Maryland Today’s favorites, lightly edited for length and clarity:

Carlie Bloxom ’04

In May 2005, on a layover in Paris, I recall my father pointing out a lady around my age wearing a University of Maryland hoodie. It belonged to Christy Zlatkus ’06, who was also on her way to Rome with her family. We spent the next 12 days together on the same tour and became instantly close through our shared undergraduate experience, passion and plans for law careers, and of course, Italy. I have so many wonderful memories of that trip, almost all of which involve Christy. 

After we returned stateside, we stayed in touch and often spent Sundays together, attending Mass at Memorial Chapel and then having lunch around College Park. I helped her prepare for the Maryland bar exam when her time came, and we both wound up practicing family law. Christy went on to found Z Family Law LLC, where I work today. 

We have been close friends for 20+ years now, due to a chance encounter in Europe. 

Miranda Hope

I was on the rooftop of my tiny hotel in Sorrento, Italy, in June 2024, drinking a bottle of wine with two friends and watching the sunset when two girls also came up to the rooftop and started taking photos of each other. They asked me to take a few photos of them together, which I did, and then we chatted for a few minutes. They explained that they were cousins who were treating themselves to an Italian vacation to celebrate their college graduations. One had just graduated from Maryland and the other from WVU. I screeched, "I'M A TERP, TOO!" We exchanged numbers and took a few pics together, too.

Caryn Schulman Karger ’88

For the last 5+ years I wear my red Under Armour “ISO Chill” Maryland hat every day on my walks, to the beach, on my vacations, etc., and I always hear “Go Terps” regardless of where I am. But the most unexpected was on the pool deck of the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship Joy, when two Terps and their high school son walked by me and started chatting because of my Terps hat. We ended up having dinner together several nights and going on a couple of excursions together. 

Ping Lin ’98 

On our girls’ vacation with my best friend Shreya Hessler ’96, M.A. ’98 last summer, we went to a winery in the Berkshires, Massachusetts and met the owner of Les Trois Emme, John Wayne Eline ’60, who named it after his three granddaughters. He had so many stories! (Photo)

Chantel Nicole 

On Cable Mountain in South Africa.  They were wearing Terps gear so I had to say hello! 

Omar Tarabishi ’13, M.A. ’21

We were heading into a restaurant in Istanbul to grab a bite, and someone from the class of ’92 was wearing a UMD shirt. Small world, go Terps!

Jasmine Boykin ’22

Earlier this year, I ran into a fellow Terp while hiking up a dormant volcano in Guatemala for my birthday! 🌋🇬🇹

Jeff Grim ’15

Madrid! I ran into these fellow Terps as they were finishing their study abroad experience and I was celebrating the end of my research leave.

Nile Fossett ’20

I was hiking Elephant Mountain in Taiwan while wearing a Terps shirt, and an alum spotted me and yelled “Go Terps!” 🐢 Currently living in NYC and run into Terp alums all the time.

Samantha Barnhart ’27

While in Denmark this past semester, I was at the bus stop in a UMD sweatshirt. A passing biker stopped and told me she’s from Denmark but studied abroad at UMD!

Elliott Rosengarten ’77

I was with my wife and grandson on an elevator in Vegas when a  couple got in on another floor. As we descended, I noticed his Ravens shirt and showed him my Maryland flag telephone case. “Where did you go to college? When did you graduate? Where did you live?” He said Chestertown B, third floor. I said I did as well. I asked, “Keith??” He asked, “Elliott??” 

Keith and I, two years apart, had lived four or five doors down from each other and played basketball together in the athletic complex behind the Cambridge Community. We had not seen each other since 1977.

Hadi Prawoto

Jogging through Golden Gate Park in the early 1990s, I ran into an old classmate from business school. It had to be 20+ years, we barely recognized each other. (I noticed first, he was wearing a Terrapin shirt). We sat on a bench and reminisced about the Rendezvous Lounge, talked for hours, and swapped phone numbers and email addresses. 

Tim Andreadis ’81

My wife started a conversation with a young woman on a remote beach in Crete, who mentioned that she and the young man with her lived in College Park, Maryland. It was then that he and I exchanged our first looks. He was one of my students who received a low grade for the semester just ended. He groaned, but we laughed at the absurdity of the encounter.

Randy McPhillips ’91

My CHEM103 lab partner and I ended up on the same double decker bus in London, about 10 years after. I'm quite tall, and she is the opposite, so we easily recognized each other. I remember in the lab I was kneeling to "read from the bottom of the meniscus," while she was standing on a footstool to see hers better. 

Jacob Myers ’20

At a synagogue in Tokyo on Rosh Hashanah, I met a Terp who did the same master’s program as me at Georgia Tech and knew my friend from high school.

Michelle Lessard ’91

After I graduated, I moved back home to Maine and opened three dance studios. I was shocked when another alum (and ΔΓ sister) came in to sign her daughters up for classes. It was an awesome reunion!

Chris Bryant ’84

Several years ago, I was on an overnight train in China from Shanghai to Tianjin. It broke down during the night, and the passengers were thrown into complete darkness. While staring out at a dark abyss under a moonless sky and asking myself why I had not flown, I heard a voice in the rear exclaim, "This reminds me of the time the power went out in Denton Hall." I replied "Go Terps!," which was echoed by the mystery passenger behind me. The train, like life, rattled on, and I never did find out who it was.

Karen Suls Gillespie ’87

I was at a thrift store in Montana and found a shirt that had Testudos all over it. I told the workers there what it meant, and it was as if I solved their biggest mystery.

Rick Franco

Randomly at a waterfall near Helen, Georgia. He is from Maryland and I am from Missouri! A couple of old men! Both of us are Terrapin Club members and about 6 months later I ran into him again at a Terps basketball game, the one game I could get to that year.

Felipe Harman

Outside the Taj Mahal, I randomly ran into a couple from Maryland who graduated in the ’80s. The funny part? I was wearing my gray Maryland Basketball T-shirt, and they were both sporting Maryland hats. Talk about a small-world moment—halfway across the globe!

Mary Pappas Otto  

My son is a graduate and we went to Europe as a graduation gift and we ran into the women's basketball team with coaches in Vienna!