H.O.L.L.A.N.D.

Andy met Sarah in the summer of 2019, shortly before she was meant to study abroad in Japan for 9 months. With the time they had together, they shared CD’s, books, and attended a handful of movie screenings with one another. Andy knew one day he would meet someone special he would want to share his favorite book from his Paul Zindel collection, “Pardon Me, You’re Stepping On My Eyeball!” with, and he gave this book to Sarah just before she left America; He silently accepted he might never get it back. Sarah finished the entire book before arriving at her dorm in Hirakata and started an email to Andy as soon as she was settled so they could discuss. Sarah signed off her first email to Andy with H.O.L.L.A.N.D., a romantic acronym defined by one of the book’s main characters, Marsh. Emails between the two ended up more like drawn-out love letters, and they were trying to find a way to see one another in person without having to wait another 5 months. After finishing 1 semester and luckily before the Covid pandemic started, Sarah returned home on January 5th, 2020- immediately went to see Andy, returned his book, and they’ve been inseparable since.