We met my senior year of high school. At first, I didn't think anything at all, we were just sitting together at lunch, plus I could hardly understand anything you were saying, due to your thick Portuguese accent. But there was something about all the stories from Brazil and your life there that interested me. I started to talk to you more, learned what you said and meant the more I had actually had conversations with you. Before I knew it, we were best friends, I was the one clarifying what you were saying to other people around us and hugging you while you cried. We had soon become inseparable. I had never expected to become best friends with a foreign exchange student from Brazil, but here you were. I thank you for being there for me whenever you could.

You started to hang out with the group of friends I was a part of and we went on crazy adventures. We had fights, yes. We cried with each other, yes. We did so much with each other and got past it all. Towards the middle of the school year, I had begun to learn Portuguese to be able to communicate with you and your parents, who knew very little English. It was hard, yes, but to me 100% worth it. We were so different, so very different. But we were from two different countries, so it made sense. You did things that confused me, while I did things that made absolutely no sense to you. But we became used to the things the other said and taught each other as time went on. I taught you words like "artsy" and "lame". While you taught me easy Portuguese words such as "obrigada". You invited me into your culture with you, showed me things on your camera roll from your home I thought I would only see on the internet. We had a text chat with your parents, which we communicated on quite a lot. I love your family, they acted as if I really was their daughter. I thank you for involving me.

You went to Florida, I went to Florida, and we seemed to drift apart after I got home. You were dating, I was dating, and we were happy with our lives, we were still best friends so what did it matter if we didn't talk every day. But despite the distance created between us, we still happened to be there for each other. We weren't connected at the hip anymore since we both had our own lives to live. But as the school year went on, we still stuck together, nothing really had to change. We went to senior banquet with all our friends, and we graduated side by side. Well with like 6 people between us.

After that is when things became weird. You had to go back home, to Brazil. I was heartbroken of course, but I knew it was not forever. You were gonna come back for college. But you were still in a different country, with your old friends, old best friends. We drifted the farthest we have ever drifted.

We skyped when we could, but we were both busy most of the time. You came back for 2 weeks, but there was so much tension during the visit for some reason, it seemed to be awkward. Those 2 weeks ended, and you went back home again. We talked the most we could, salvaging what we had of our friendship so it wouldn't turn to ruins. I missed you, my best friend. Now we're in college, I'm pretty far away from everyone too. We seem to still slowly be drifting due to the distance and lack of seeing each other, but it's okay, because we don't HAVE to talk every single day. And there are visit days we make. I love u minha melhor amiga.

Thank you, though, for all the memories we have, and all the memories we will make.

"Best friends, No matter the distance"