HOW I MET MY FRIENDS

A note to my non-Finnish friends: in Finland, Valentine’s Day is known as ystävänpäivä, friend’s day. It’s a day when you can celebrate your friendships, not just your romantic relationships.

“Right, it’s that time of the year again…” //
“According to the theme of the day I’m going to tell you…” //
“…how I met my friends. About, the way I remember it. Some of the people mentioned here I haven’t met in years, others have been my friends to this day. I’ve changed the names in this comic.” //
“First off, I’d like to apologise to those friends of mine who don’t appear in this comic. You are important to me but I don’t remember how we first met!” //
“And then to the point.” //
I met my first friend Elli when I was a couple of months old and she was a couple of hours. Our moms are old friends. And no, I don’t actually remember this!

“The first time I really remember making friends was in kindergarten. I was maybe five…” //
…and I had just gotten into a new group. (My hair started to curl when I was something like ten.) “Are you new in this group?” “Yes.” //
“My name is Katja.” “Kati.” “We have almost the same name!” //
“I guess we have the same name day, too.” “Yes! You want play with me?” We were the best friends for years. //
“The there was this boy, Ben, from the neighbouring house…” //
I don’t remember how we met but I do recall we didn’t get along… //
“This went on for some time, until one day…”

“Boo-hoo! Why did you bump into me?!” “You ran there yourself!” //
Our mothers came by: “Enough with that bickering!” “Indeed! Behave and be friends.” //
“Well, then…” “All right.” //
It led to other good things, too. “This is Mikaela from my building. Is it okay if she comes to play with us?” “Yeah, sure!” //
“Some of my best childhood memories are my adventured with Ben and Mikaela, and Mikaela and I were the best of friends for years…” //
“I don’t remember the first time I met Wiivu. I’ve been told we’ve met in some club when we were but toddlers…” //
“…but I remember very well how we really got to know each other on third grade, the first day after Christmas holidays.”

“Locked?” //
“Hey, get in from there!” //
“You can get in from the backyard in the morning, so you have to go there.” “Oh, okay.” //
“I didn’t know, I’m new in this school.” “Yes, you must be that Wiivu who’s coming to our class.” //
“How did you know my name?” “It says so in your bag.” “Oh.” //
“Wiivu and I ended up in the same middle school, too, and there we got to know new people… The first day I was still feeling a bit shy…” //
“That girl is sure good at drawing horses…” //
…but then, on about day four: “What are you doing, Snowhorse?” “This is Wiivu’s friend book.” //
“”—and kill all the bad guys with the light sword.” Shouldn’t it be lightsaber?”

“It’s a different thing but it could be lightsaber, too. Do you like Star Wars?” “Sure, Star Wars is the best!” //
“What other movies and books do you like?” “At least A Tale of Redwall…” “I like Redwall, too!” //
“Some of the greatest stories begin with other great stories. Then I went to high school.” //
And made quite a few new friends. “Were you on that concert?” “Yes, I was.” “Me too!” “Cool!” //
During my first week in high school I also got to know Mr Brony (who, at the time, had short hair). //
“You’ll pay for that!” “I know this guy. He means what he says.” “Oops.” //
So, I let him push me into the lake. //
“Mr Brony still claims that the threw me off the dock as a revenge, but believe me when I say this: I LET him do it!” //

“The most unbelievable meeting happened in the summer of 2011 in a workshop where we made owl dolls. I started talking with the person next to me…” //
“What was the next step again…?” “I think you need to glue that…” //
“Have you seen many owls in the nature?” “No, just a couple of tawny owls.” “I’ve seen an eagle owl once.” //
“But maybe I’ll see more of them soon as I begin studying biology at the university.” “What? You’re starting in biology at the university this autumn?” “Yes, how so?” //
“Because I’m a biology fresher, too!” “No way! Awesome!” //
“That really was the craziest occurrence ever – and that we started to talk about out studies! A couple of years later I went to St Andrews as an exchange student, and I really didn’t know anyone.” //
On the first night… “They said there’d be free pizza here…” //
“Hi, I’m Rikku. Who are you?” “Huh? I’m Kati, an exchange student from Finland.”
<a
“Cool! This is Ezra, we just met each other, too.” “Hello.” “Hi. (All I wanted was to get some pizza and then go to bed…)” //
“Luckily though, I met Rikku and Ezra again later on when I wasn’t quite so tired…” //
On the second night… “The word is there are free hamburgers on the backyard today.” //
“Should I try and get to know people? I don’t really know anyone yet, and I’ve forgotten the names of the people I met yesterday…” //
“These people behind me look like they don’t really know each other… Maybe…” //
“Hi, I’m Kati, an exchange student from Finland and I don’t know anyone.” “Awesome! We’re exchange students too. I’m Sunshine, from USA.” “And I’m Whale, from Germany. We just met each other.” //
“We talked and went to see stars together – there is a comic from autumn 2015 about that in this blog.” //
I met Mudkip a couple a days later when my corridor had a kitchen meeting. “Hi, I’m Topi.” “I’m Mary.” “My name is Mudkip.” “I am Kati.” //
href=”https://gaiverruksia.sarjakuvablogit.com/files/2018/02/Gaiverruksia172h_n.jpg”>
Nothing very special happened there – maybe the fact that we both were nerdy biologists just drew us together. “This guy has a nerdy aura…” “Do you like sci-fi?” //
“And then there was Jimothy. I think he was a friend of Mudkip’s first, they had started talking on some lecture or something…” //
We had been sitting in the same table over meals for weeks without really paying attention to each other until one day… //
“Thanks to whoever said the magic words! If there’s anything I’ve learned it’s that a friendship can begin almost anywhere…” //
“To all my friends, both those who appeared in this comic and those I can’t remember how we met… Happy friend’s day! And THANK YOU for being my friends. Without you there’d be something very, very, very important missing from my life.”