At an early age I wasn’t very lucky with my family upbringing as I had to travel a lot. Today, at the age of 30, I have already lived, worked, and studied in 5 countries on 3 different continents. But the one rule that I developed throughout my transient life really helped me stay positive and to some extent (I wish to believe) successful: Make good friends.

Make no doubt about it, forming good friendships is a skill. Some people are innately good at establishing lasting friendships, others have to acquire the skill. However, we should all have the goal to make good friends and put efforts into maintaining those friendships. Years after forming friendships, I regularly receive e-mails and phone calls from people that I have met all over the world. This is largely due to the fact that I was given the opportunity to study in a very small international school in Switzerland, where the student body was comprised of 200 people. At this school, I attended classes with people from 47 countries. With a lot of different spoken languages under one roof it resembled a true ‘Babel’. However, we all were able to establish good long-lasting friendships because the language of good friendship is universal. It is of no wonder that we all chose to study Hospitality and hone our skills in welcoming all types of people to our respective countries, hotels, and to our home.

Do you want to know what the big secret is? Good friends have no price tag attached to them, they are not for sale, and their value is far from being determined. It should be our collective goal in this globalized society and emergence of the internet to keep making good friends so that we can share our good experiences with those that value friendship. No matter how great your moments may be, without friends, those moments are worthless.

Another aspect to consider, regarding friendship, revolves around culture. Born in Israel, I heard many stories of good friendships that were established when people saved the life of another during war or in terrorist attacks. I, however, would like to think about friends as a universal and cultural issue. In any civilized culture, good friends are most valuable.

I suggest we all maintain our relationship with our families, but strive to reach our friends hearts. It is wholly important to be a friend to those when they really need us. That’s my big secret and it has kept some people alive.

Good luck!