While visiting my family and friends in the United States, I am often confronted with remarks like, “If only I were as brave as you, I too would live in another country.” It’s funny how people inherently recognize the limitations of their personalities, then build self-fulfilling prophecy bubbles around themselves. Perhaps I did the same.

I realized, for me, boredom comes easily and that exploring the world keeps me stimulated. I haven’t lived a conventional life, to say the least, and perhaps recognizing my need for adventure perpetuates my ongoing search for more.

While I have lived and traveled throughout a number of countries, it wasn’t until I moved to Sweden on a Fulbright grant, that I got a true taste of the struggles one faces when trying to integrate into a completely foreign society.

Never had I felt so alone and unable to make friends. A google search about friend-making in Sweden demonstrated that I was not alone: Sweden 'worst country' for making friends.

I arrived in Sweden at the height of the migration influx into Europe. So I was in fact surrounded by others who were also seeking acceptance, connection, and a cure for the brutally dark and lonely Swedish winters to come.

After failed attempts at friend-making through dating apps and Meetups (group settings don’t work for everyone), I decided to solve my problem by creating a new tool for connecting people based on more than just a photo and a short byline. So I began developing Panion - The Common Interest App.

-Melanie Aronson, CEO and Founder of Panion