One of the best decisions I believe I have ever made was getting a pen pal. My pen pal's name is Beril, and she lives in Germany. Having a pen pal, without a doubt, comes with some struggles, but it also comes with an amazing friendship. To explain what I mean by that, I've put together a list of what having a pen pal is actually like.

1. Having a pen pal is a great way to learn about foreign culture.

The most recent cultural conversation I had with my PP was regarding the differences in the German and American school systems. I learned that, on average, the cost for university in Germany is $500. I also learned that their version of high school is very work based, where they choose a career to shadow for an extended period of time. In turn, my PP was very interested to learn that American students are typically in school for 12 years and then move on to college for an additional four, and she was stunned by the average price of college as well.

2. A huge part of having a pen pal is exchanging language.

I was very lucky to find a pen pal who already had been studying English for many years, as I do not know a lick of German. One of the fun parts of having a PP is that we use an app called WhatsApp to text each other, and on this app you can trade voice messages. When we want to trade language and pronunciation, we just send a voice message to each other!

3. Time zones make sending each other text messages an entertaining guessing game of when you'll receive a reply.

4. Receiving packages in the mail is a long-awaited event.

Both mine and my pen pal's favorite activity is sending themed packages to each other. Last winter our theme was vacation. Since we both traveled to different countries, we both sent a package filled with things from the country we visited. Our next package was filled with things from our country; mine filled with things like Pop Rocks, Silly Putty, and Big League Chew. It takes about eight weeks for the packages to arrive.

5. You can't wait for the day you go shopping to put together yet another package to send to your pen pal.

6. The two of you always fantasize with each other about what it's going to be like when you meet.

7. When either of you accidentally says "If we meet..." they are automatically corrected to "When we meet..."

And it's going to be the best day ever. Period.