When parents hear the words “social media” they instantly think of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Some parents have no issues with their children having social media apps, whether it’s to stay in touch with family or to try to make a profit off of it. In my case, it was the total opposite. My family/parents are terrified of social media. My parents don’t like the thought of me being exposed to older strangers and catfishes; that’s what my mom thought was happening to me when I met my best friend Sarisha, who is located in the Netherlands.
I met Sarisha through a Twitter group chat; we were put in it together along with this other girl named Carolina. Carolina was from Newark, New Jersey. All three of us broke off into a separate group chat and started talking everyday. We had group FaceTime calls together and had a lot of fun doing it. Sarisha tried to teach us Dutch and both of us failed horribly. After six months of communicating everyday, Carolina lost touch and it was just me and Sarisha. We started to become each other’s shoulder to lean on. Since we didn’t know each other in real life, at that point, we could just talk about anything that was bothering us and we would both listen and give feedback. This is what made us good friends over the Internet.
No doubt about it, there was conflict between my parents, me and my international friend; my mom believed Sarisha was being held hostage by an older adult to get information from me. I wasn’t able to FaceTime her as much as she would’ve liked because my mom didn’t trust her or me, plus the timezones but that was just a minor problem. I asked my mom to come meet Sarisha on one of our FaceTime calls but she declined. At one point I had to tell my mom that Sarisha isn’t the hostage that she believes her to be. I tried to explain to her that Sarisha is a good person, not a catfish, and sometimes Sarisha was my only friend I had and vice versa. Sarisha and I continued to FaceTime and talk over social media secretly, then unexpectedly my mom booked a trip to Amsterdam for my graduation gift. I immediately contacted Sarisha and told her the news, she got so excited. We talked about the possibility of meeting up and all I can think is, ‘Is my mom going to allow this?’
Five months later, we were able to meet up at Amsterdam Centraal. Sarisha was able to take a train from Overdinkel to Amsterdam Centraal to meet me. We couldn’t find each other immediately and all I could think was, “My mom thinks I’m talking to a psycho over the Internet who now stood me up.” So we all went searching for her. 10 minutes later, she yelled my name and she ran to me and hugged me. It didn’t feel any different from hugging a friend, perhaps it’s because I felt like I knew her forever.
My mom met Sarisha for the first time. She finally was able to see that Sarisha is a 16-year-old girl and not a hostage. Sarisha was intimidated to meet my mom but once she actually met her everything went smoothly. We were even able to break off alone, never thought that would’ve happened. Sarisha and I did a lot of shopping, walking around, talking and had many laughs. It was crazy how fast those eight hours passed. She had to catch the train at six so we had to say our goodbyes. It was definitely an emotional goodbye but I felt like I was going to see her again, so I wasn’t as upset as I thought I would’ve been.
This was the first experience I have had where social media was more than just getting “likes” on the pictures you post. This time social media created an unforgettable friendship. I would have never thought I would actually be friends with a girl from The Netherlands and be able to meet up with her.
Crazy enough too, my mom absolutely adores her and we told her to come stay with us for a week over the summer. This year she was able to come stay with us! I took her to New York City, went to High Point Monument, shopped and went to the movies. Never in a million years did I think we would have that opportunity.