At the end of my run this morning, I went to place a Pokémon on a virtual gym about a kilometer away. While I was there, I received notification that I Leveled Up to Level 35! This was a mark I had set for myself to hit by the end of this quarter, thinking that it would take much longer than it did. The time between level 34 and level 35 was 9 days! To me, this was very fast—especially when I sat at several other levels for weeks and maybe a month or two.
What made the difference? Friends. I have about 70 friends that are working together to give and receive gifts every day. At different levels, both of us are rewarded for giving and receiving those gifts over a certain number of days. This week, I was surprised to have 7 mature as “Great Friends” all at once, giving me 70,000 XPs. This was combined with several others that became “Ultra Friends” giving me 50,000 XP each. With a total of 1,250,000XP to reach Level 35—these friends helped push me toward the goal!
Now, I’m pursuing Level 36 with 1,500,000 XP to earn. I expect it will take me several weeks to level up this time but I’m having a great time going for it!