Moving 2700+ miles is hard enough. But moving that many hours to a place where you don’t know a single soul—well, that’s really hard.
Twenty-five year Harley knows the feeling. In 2016, she moved to Washington D.C. from Laguna Niguel, CA. “It was hard to be in a new place and only know my husband,” she recalls.
After a friend back home suggested that she try Hey! VINA, Harley decided to download it. She quickly matched with 24-year-old Annie, who’s also from Southern California. “We connected pretty quickly and after messaging back and forth A LOT, we decided it’d be a good idea to meet up,” she says.
For their very first VINA date, the girls decided to meet at a restaurant for a drink and food. “The time ended up flying by as we talked about California, moving to a new place, and just life in general,” Harley shares. “It was very comforting to talk to someone about a place I used to call home while in a new place.”
Annie agrees: “It felt like we were long lost friends who finally found each other.”
That was back in August 2016—and today, the two besties are still going strong. In fact, they’ve added more vinas to their squad. “Annie and I have started our own brunch squad (yes, we actually call ourselves that!) in which we have included friends from the Hey! VINA app, and friends we met in other ways,” Harley says. “We always share when we get matches on VINA because we tend to match with the same people! If she meets with a girl she clicks with, she introduces her to me since we have the same taste in friends.”
When they’re not brunching, you can find them on sushi dates, shopping, visiting wineries, at bar crawls, exploring their city, laying by the pool, looking up recipes on Pinterest, or actually buying the exact same clothes. “We tend to copy each other a lot, intentional or not,” Harley tells us. “For Halloween, we wore both unicorns!”
Annie is so thankful that Hey! VINA brought Harley into her life. “We pretty much talk on a daily basis about life, friends and fashion,” she says. “I don’t know what I would do without Harley!”
Harley feels the same way. “We’ve built a wonderful friendship,” she shares. “We are really inseparable—I cannot imagine what the last two years would have been like if I had not met Annie. She has helped me become comfortable in a new city.”
So if you’re nervous about swiping right on Hey! VINA, the girls agree to just go for it!
“Almost everyone is as nervous as you are,” Harley says. “The VINA app is a new territory in this technology-driven world we live in. I often find that being honest and upfront on VINA is most beneficial because it helps break the ice. For example, I find myself laughing away the nervous jitters with a fellow VINA as we discuss the similarities between VINA and Tinder. It’s hard to meet people and make friends in this day and age, but VINA can help!”
Want to start your own brunch squad, just like Harley and Annie did? Start swiping here! Or want to tell VINA your friendship story? Follow this link to share it with us!
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