In this episode, we sit down with our dear friend Pavlína Louženská — a trend forecaster, a mentor at Google (that's how we all met!) and an extraordinary kick-ass woman! We discuss all the shifts we see around us — personally and professionally: the speed of change which we find hard to adjust to, switch between identities, generational differences, nihilism in consumer behaviour, true human connection and, in the end, where are we from ourselves — from somewhere or from anywhere?

In this episode — after a long pause! — Ira and Maria have a pretty serious chat about why & how friendships end. Ira never officially ended friendships but talks about recent examples of failed friendships and her ways of coping, while Maria is still going strong with "no ghosting" policy opting for closures instead.

For this episode, Ira and Maria meet in person in London! They also have a fight for the first time in 6 years of their friendship. Everything to have a fruitful discussion about how and why friends argue at all!

In this episode, old friends (6 years counts, right?!) Ira & Maria are talking about the art of friends' retention. What keeps friendships alive throughout the years? Do you normally "mix" old friends with your new acquaintances? Is having rituals with old friends important? Does regular zooming support that real connection?

We mention a few articles from the Atlantic throughout the episode. Here are the links: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/06/six-ways-make-maintain-friends/661232/

https://www.theatlantic.com/projects/friendship-files/

This is the question that actually started this podcast: how do people make new friends when they're adults in their 30s? As we dive in, more questions pop up: is it massively different to make new friends not in your native language? What makes new friends stay, really? Are all these "friendship apps" a great thing? Are we all in the very epicentre of the loneliness epidemic, and what are our very own ways to tackle it?

In the first episode, Ira and Maria chat about life’s ups and downs with a touch of Eastern humor. They get real about their own bond and explore the true meaning of friendship, while being quite strict about do’s and don’ts.

And what the f**k with the duck?