International Convention: the magical time we look forward to every year. A convention hall piled with thousands of other Jewish teens while you act as a small fish in a big pond, overwhelmingly trying to branch out and meet new people. 

My room key wasn’t ready till around midnight and I had walked across the street lugging all of my things and all I needed was support. I had walked into my hotel room dropping all my belongings right at the door. And I heard exactly what I needed to, “want any pizza?”. Meeting Simone Nied from Eastern Region was one of the best things that had ever happened to me. That one question led to us sharing pizza and staying up talking like we had known each other for years. We went to every scheduled program throughout IC together starting with Shabbat services and BBG separates. I could never forget the long walks around the convention center and taking part in every activity as a pair. We had also eaten every meal from there on together when I had discovered something so special about her: her favorite food is strawberries, my strawberry lover. I had given her every singular strawberry on my plate from then on, becoming a friendship bonding tradition. Right then and there I knew we would be good friends. Later I had expressed to her how I’ve never heard anyone have as much excitement in their voice when screaming along with Mike Posner and Josh Richards. Afterward, when she could barely speak, she got a fruit platter with many strawberries, and tea, making her able to scream as happily as before.

The next day I was accompanied by her walking to dinner and the concert since she had waited for me to get speed-dressed coming back late from international elections. This was when we snuck into the very front of the mosh pit and were almost touching the stage. Three days after meeting her we had shared drinks, food, and now sweat being tightly surrounded by the most people I had ever seen during my lifetime. We had finally gotten out of the mosh, somehow holding hands the entire way out. Then we went to the back of the convention hall, talking each other's ear off while sharing the most delicious ice cream. As we eventually walked out of the convention hall laughing louder than before, we had successfully dodged the throwing cake from Steve Aoki’s performance and made our way to the zen zone to take a quick power nap together along with many games afterwards. Saying goodbye at our last breakfast was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. 

Two months later was Eastern Region's Spring Convention. As we live many hours apart I was overjoyed to see my best friend again. Facetiming and texting with her was the only thing keeping me sane until this point. As I stepped off the convention bus onto Camp Weaver grounds, she was right there waiting for me with open arms. My arms were just as open while greeting her with strawberry earrings. We then walked to services together when she later took photos of me chanting the Shema and V'ahavta. She congratulated me as we walked to dinner and ate together. The next morning I was happy to see her eating strawberries with breakfast and to see her in my camp shabbat audience. Later that Saturday we had color wars (as team red of course) and I loved working together the whole way through it. When my glasses lens fell out she even helped me walk back to get an adult to screw it back in. I spent lots of moments of the last convention day with her, yet saying goodbye was much harder than our IC goodbye, knowing I wouldn’t see her again just as soon.

I’ve only seen her in person for eight days total but they were some of the best. From eating every meal together to the many tiktoks and photos, I'm happier than ever that Simone is in my life and I cannot wait to make more memories and eat more strawberries together at our next regional convention very soon.