This is Alyona (and I).

We began writing letters to each other over a year ago toward the end of 2018, on a language exchange website. She was studying in Russia at the time and had dreams of one day visiting America. I told her we had to meet if she actually visited.

Neither of us anticipated the day would come so soon. A few months later she was accepted to study in the U.S. through something called the YEAR Program. Fast forward several more months and here we are in Boston, two individuals who share a fascination for the human experience, with a desire to seize every moment.

We went ice skating. We ate Chipotle. We watched the movie Boyhood. We learned that the moments are often what seize us.