When someone mentions the dating app, Tinder, what is the first thing that comes to mind? A hook-up site for young teens and 20-year-olds, right? At least, that’s what most people have told me. I have never been one to seek out a relationship through secondary sources, as I have always found it easy to meet people on my own. I cracked and downloaded Tinder while hanging out with friends one night, kind of as a joke, but mostly because of my interest in the type of people who were using it and what exactly all the hype was about.

After a few nights of swiping left and right, I found it entertaining, and pretty ego-boosting at that. The messages approached, and many “dtf?” and “you’re so hot” memos were evident, but, to my surprise, decent conversations arose with men and women who, like me, wanted to make friends and see what Tinder was all about. Sure, there were many men and women on there just looking for a hook-up, but it’s pretty easy to weed out those just looking for a lay.

When I headed home from school for the summer, I didn’t log on as much because I didn’t think much of it. I eventually found myself swiping about one bored night. I was staying at my mother’s house, which is a very rural area in North Carolina. There was a vast difference in the variety of people being displayed, the app went from familiar faces around campus, to working class country folk.

I traveled to the beach about a week later, and opened the app again. It was this weekend that I decided to meet up with my first Tinder date. We met on the beach beside my hotel, it was a very public place. We laid on the beach and talked about our lives, he was a cross-country sponsored skateboarder who was in town for the month working to make a little money before his next endeavor. Conversation and endless laughter were the only things exchanged that night, and, when it was over we went about our separate ways. I still keep in touch with him.

It was then that I realized, I could use this site to make friends in unfamiliar places throughout my summer travels. Tinder was no longer a “hook-up” site for me, but a connection to peers wherever my explorations should take me.

About a week later, I found myself in San Francisco and opened the Tinder app. There is much more diversity on the West Coast, the amount of educated, talented young adults with respectable careers was also abundantly clear, compared to the East Coast. I learned much about the culture here, through my swiping of Tinder. A few days later, I was treated to drinks at a local rooftop bar. A bar in which I would have never discovered on my own.

This common misconception about Tinder being only a "hook-up" app kept me from downloading it for a long time. My experiences through Tinder have brought new friends, and incredible adventures that would not have transpired without it. It is now a key tool in the way I explore new destinations and meet locals.