Hi! I’m Nicolas and I used to have quite a lot of pen pals since I joined this app. Sadly they never lasted very long and it took me much patience to actually meet the “right” pen pal – or friend.
Being curious about Finland, I looked for interesting people from there and sent a letter to two of them but never got any kind of reply. After some time has passed, I started another attempt – and found Mari’s profile. She really seemed like a person I could have much in common with, so I sent a letter to her but didn’t expect too much.
But my letter to Mari turned out to be the beginning of a wonderful, unique and mindblowing friendship! I can’t describe how magical our vibe felt, all I can say is that exchanging letters with Mari was the best thing about summer 2025. We could talk about anything and also shared a lot of interesting thing about our countries, such as food, music and culture. It just felt right and our letters became so long that eventually it took us two, three or even four letters for one single message to fit.
We quickly found out that we had many things in common, shared some interests, passions, including similar lifestyles but also similar struggles. Mari and me supported each other in dark times and kept talking almost every day. At some point we started to chat on WhatsApp and to have (video)calls, sometimes even for an entire night to feel less alone. Despite of the physical distance, we became close friends and talked whenever it was possible.
In July 2026, after we had been talking for more than one year, we started to plan our first meet-up in person. At this time, we already knew nearly everything about each other, even some of our darkest secrets we wouldn’t reveal to anyone else. Even though I’m not that adventurous, my Finnish friend convinced me to book a flight to Helsinki, so that’s what I did.
Only a few weeks later, I traveled more than 1,500 km to meet Mari, my Finnish friend that used to be a pen pal from Slowly, in person for the very first time. It was such an exciting day and when I finally saw her at the airport, we immediately hugged, unable to say anything in that moment.
I immediately felt more than welcomed in Finland. Mari was a wonderful, caring and considerate host and thanks to her I got to know her stunning home country in a very authentic way. We discovered Finnish nature, picked berries to make a pie out of them, went to some beautiful lakes and also cooked together. She introduced me to Lohikeitto, a Finnish national dish, and I made her try the first German Currywurst for the first time ever. I especially loved that one night we had a campfire – ironically, in my bio of my profile I said that I’d love to have a pen pal whose company feels like sitting around a campfire together!
But we also had lots of fun together as friends. Playing cards, creating new insiders and laughing about them, but also listening to our favorite songs in the car and singing along (let’s just hope the other drivers didn’t hear us) are things you can only do with your closest friends. Also, Mari also kept telling me that I would act “so German” which I never realized before.
The week in Finland is definitely unforgettable to us and it was extremely hard to say goodbye at the airport – we already miss each other very much and can’t wait to meet again, maybe in Germany so that next time she can be my guest.
I am so thankful that I got the chance to meet such a genuine, empathetic and loyal friend! Of course you never know what the future will bring, but I’m pretty sure this could be a life-long friendship, regardless of the fact that we life in different countries and don’t speak each other’s native language. But this won’t stop us from caring for each other because that’s what Slowly has been made for: To make friends with people from other countries you would have never met at all.
By bumping into each other, Slowly changed our lifes a lot, and I wish all of you that you will have the same sort of experience on here because if you really fight for a friendship, physical distance won’t be a problem anymore.
Thank you, Slowly, for creating such a brilliant way of getting to know people from all over the world. Without you, this journey would have been impossible!
I really hope our story could inspire some of you guys to look for real, authentic and sincere friendships because if you believe in them, you will find them.
