A penpal can become one of your best friends. (Penpals)

Member Name: gsparkle

Product:	Penpals
Date:	16/11/08 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can make new friends, meet people with similar interests and it takes your time up.

Disadvantages: You can get people writing to you who aren't who they say they are.

I got my first Penpals when I was 13 years old I was reading through a magazine and there was a page with people wanting to find Penpals. So I looked through there likes and dislikes and chose one to write to. I have always loved writing and enjoy hearing about other people's lives in different places and love sharing my interests. A few days later I got a reply and we regularly started writing to each other. After a few weeks I got a FB in the post with her letter which stands for Friendship Book. What you do is write your name and address and what you like doing on it then send it on to someone else then when the book is full you send it back to the person who started it then they will write to you. I only had one Penpal at the time so I sent it back to her for her to forward. I looked through the book and looked at other peoples interests and wrote to anyone that liked things I did. After that I used to get mail all the time I literally got about 6 letters a week and was always busy replying and sending on more FB. I used to try making my FB stand out more then others by adding stickers on it etc.

I wrote to about 30 people in the end some I felt like I knew really well others I decided weren't really that interesting so stopped writing to them. I know a stamp isn't much but it adds up when you're 13 and not working. So we used to try and get away by sending it for free. To do this we would buy a stamp cover it in sticky tape then tape it onto the envelope so when it got stamped by the post office it went on the tape rather then the stamp. Then when the person got the letter they would take the tape off and be left with the stamp protected by the other tape, and they would use it again in the same way. This actually worked for sometime. Another thing we did was on the front of the envelope we would write freepost and say it was a competition to see how many times the letter could be passed round you add your name and send it on for the and we were trying to do a world record. But instead we would put our own letter in and it would be free this only worked a couple times.

In the end I realised that I was writing to many people I had friends from all round the UK. Most of them were from Birmingham though I don't know how this came about. So I just selected a few that I got on really well with and carried on writing to them. One was the girl who I wrote my first letter to the other two who were best friends who lived near each other. We sent lots of photos and letters. Then for some reason we lost touch with each other. I can't actually remember how this happened but I remember we were 15 years old so we had been writing for two years and then lost touch..

That was until a couple weeks ago I was on Facebook and I was bored so I typed in there names on the search bar for people you may know and they came up. I wasn't sure if it was them at first but I looked through there friends list, and noticed the other girl who was her best friend was on there so knew it was her. The girl I first wrote to was also on there she looked just like the photo she had sent me 8 years ago but obviously older. I wasn't sure if I should get in contact but I decided to and sent them a message explaining who I was and straight away they accepted me as a friend on there. Now we message each other most days. Its mad looking at all there pictures of them all grown up and it really good to hear about how there lives have changed. Mine has changed loads since I wrote to them I am now married and have twins I think this shocked them as I'm only 23. One said she had looked for me before on Facebook but in my old surname. The other said she still has all my old letters and said she missed writing to me as could tell me everything. So I'm definitely going to stay in contact via Facebook, as it's a lot quicker then writing letters. One day I do hope to meet up with them but first it's nice getting to know them again.

I think having Penpals is a great way to meet new people and have someone to chat to. After a while you find yourself telling them a lot of secrets that you wouldn't tell no-one else and it's nice knowing they don't judge you. It is also interesting hearing about other peoples lies and what they get up to. You do have to be wary when you write to people as some aren't who they say they are but I haven't had anyone like that write to me. I don't think I would go back to writing letters to people as I don't have the time. But I' am happy with the friends that I have made through it.

Summary: Overall a great way to meet new people.