Jan 15, 2015 4 min read

To: Those Who Have Decided To Read My Blog Post

Subject: Something Most People Don’t Know About Me

Hello wonderful readers,

Three years ago this May, I made a friend who became very close to me. I suppose the term ‘best friend’ would be an appropriate title, considering we know pretty much everything about one another. He changed my perspectives, opinions and thoughts. He helped me figure out what I want to do after high school and even after college. He’s listened to every word I say in the only way possible for him to listen right now. That, my readers, is probably one of the most interesting things I could tell you about myself that not very many people know.

Okay, I’m sure questions are beginning to pop into your mind. What? How? How is having a best friend who has made an impact on your life an interesting fact about you? How is that something a lot of people don’t know? A lot of people in this world have best friends.

Well, if you would have been patient, I was getting there.

Yes, I have more than one best friend, and each of my best friends has made an enormous impact on my life. However, there is a big difference between my other best friends and the one I was talking about initially. I see and talk to all of my friends rather frequently if not daily, but with the friend that began this discussion, I can only hope to meet him one day. His name is Axel and he lives an entire ocean away from me – in France, to be specific. When we started talking, we were strangers wondering what it would be like to correspond with a person from another country, and somehow, some way, a friendship was formed.

I don’t know what compelled me to want a penpal, and I didn’t think I would get a friend of three years out of it. I just wanted to know what it was like to live in another country, so I asked my teacher if she knew of any secure websites where I could find a correspondent and – voila – she did. He messaged me through the website (that I honestly don’t remember the name of), and I got to choose if I wanted to email him back (therefore, anyone who messaged me wouldn’t have my email unless I decided to contact them, just incase you’re still a skeptic of safety). I went out on a limb and decided I would respond to him, and there you have it.

Now, since we established how all of this occurred, I think I should say I got way more than I bargained for when it came to learning about living in a different country. I learned so much about France and he so much about the United States that we each hope to visit the other’s country one day. I even developed a desire to learn how to speak French. Overall, there is so much I’ve learned about the world and other people because of my friendship with Axel. I think we became such close friends because of what we taught one another.

It’s an amazing thing when a person can live so far away – in a different country, with a different culture and different customs and even a different language – and still be so similar to you.

I don’t know. Maybe I sound utterly crazy talking about how I’m best friends with a person I’ve never even met face-to-face. I’ve only ever communicated with through email in a format similar to how I wrote this post. Then again, maybe it isn’t so crazy after all; I’ve talked to him for three years and heard such personal stories that only a person I truly know could have written them. I guess my point is that a person is a person, and regardless of the way you communicate or how often, a friend is a friend, and I wouldn’t trade any of my friends for the world.

I’ll write again soon.

Sincerely,

Jenna Campbell