Who Knew We Could Cook?

During the first week or two of being in Milan, I decided one night to make myself some gnocchi. I found this sauce called Arribiata which was a spicy tomato sauce and I thought it would make a pretty nice easy meal. So I went home and cooked it, while I was eating, this guy I recently met, Ravi, came and wanted to try some, I said ok, being the nice guy I am haha. The next day, Ravi kept saying that I promised him I would make him some of this Gnocchi, which I never did. He was just being himself and joking around, but of course I felt bad so I decided, "why not?!” So we cooked some Gnocchi. We both really liked it and wanted to cook again, so we did. We went to the grocery store and I said, "Let's make this interesting." So he began by asking how my spice level was, and I replied pretty high, he was happy so we got some peppers and mushrooms which we would sauté and add peperincini to. Then I asked, "how about some rice on the bottom?" Good idea, he thought. We bought our ingredients, went back to the kitchen, and created the great, the famous, Gnocchi Picante. I can't cook, Ravi had only cooked Indian food before and somehow, we created this amazing dish with rice on the bottom, gnocchi in an arribiata sauce and sautéed vegetables on top. It was amazing, and super spicy. We decided we might be pretty good at this experimenting thing. Then we just went on a roll. Throughout the next few weeks we created such dishes as Trofie alla Pesto Arribiata, Insalata Caprese, and Tagliatelle alla Crack (think Fettuccini Alfredo with Arribiata). After a while, people started noticing our elaborate meals, because we would bring down like a million pots and dishes and food, and after a while people started getting excited for what we were making. Then I met Saiko, she was in Ravi's room one day and I came down and we started talking, and now she is one of my best friends, but back then I didn't really know her and one day we invited her to cook. Then I met Antonio, another one of my best friends, and he wanted to join us. Shortly after that, I met all these amazing people from Turkey, Elif, Seda, Selay, Dilan, and Osman, and they would always come by and watch and eventually would cook with us! Every day would create something incredible, and eventually we had our first huge meal with 6 of us, Stir Fry Verdure, which is the first time Marica cooked with us, another one of my best friends!! We would spend hours in the kitchen cooking and joking, having the best time with each other and somehow creating these incredible meals. Then, we took on bigger and better things, I decided to try homemade Risotto, while Ravi would attempt homemade Bruschetta, they turned out incredible. Haha, I am usually modest but these dinners were so good, and we had so much fun creating them I can't even describe. The best part about it was that the next day after we made Risotto and Bruschetta, we cooked a meal for 8 people! We were teaching them how to make the stuff we had just learned the day before! It was just so much fun, as time went on we created a few other dishes and everything and I was just so excited to get to the kitchen to cook, because that is where we all hung out and where I met and got close to a lot of my best friends, and it's even where the family was created. It's just so funny how things like this happen, if Ravi hadn't joked around and made me make him some Gnocchi; I feel that my time in Milan would have been so different. It was just such a small thing that created something amazing. We never knew how to cook before but we just decided to take the risk and be creative and it worked out! Those were some of my best and most memorable times in Milan and the saddest part is that in only a few days we have to make our own version of "The Last Supper", but don't worry, because it will be amazing, and it will be a night that I’m sure we will all remember forever.

Laura's Birthday and Milan

It took a very long time, pretty much 3 weeks before we went home, but finally I did Milan tourism, haha, and it was all thanks to Laura. On December 3rd, Laura came to Milan to visit us for the final time and to celebrate her birthday. She was staying with Ravi and she got in that night around 6:30. We talked for a little and then went to Essalunga, the most amazing grocery store ever lol, and got ingredients for what would be Laura's birthday meal. That night we made Pasta with a Mediterranean Pesto sauce with sautéed vegetables and Bruschetta, it was amazing! So good, and earlier that day I ran to Essalunga to buy Laura a birthday cake. I couldn't find frosting to write her name so I got sugar seals! They were awesome! So after dinner I said I would run up and get "soap" to help clean the dishes, but ran up to get the cake. I came back down and as I was coming down the elevator the candles blew out! I was like "Oh no!" So I ran away and luckily Antonio saw me and distracted Laura while I could relight the candles. It was pretty funny. So we had a really fun night celebrating her birthday and then hung out some more and went to bed. The next day I skipped my business strategy class (Sorry!) to go explore Milan a little with Laura. We went to this museum that had a lot of Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions created using his drawings. Also, it had the history of the telephone, and TV and computer and all those so we go to play with old stuff and see really cool things, and we had a really fun time. Then we went to lunch and had the first thick crust pizza I had had since I have been in Italy and it was so good! We then had to leave because I had to go to class, and later that night we all went out for aperitivo, which is where you buy a drink and get to use their buffet. We had a lot of fun just hanging out with a big group of us. The next day we went to see Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper. It was pretty incredible, it's sad because Leonardo messed up when he was doing the fresco and it is deteriorating and the colors are faded and you can barley even see their feet. It is however amazing, it is seemingly such a simple painting but there are so many stories going on with each of the characters. On the other side there was another amazing fresco of the crucifiction and they were just gorgeous. After The Last Supper we went to the craziest market you have ever seen in your life. It was at this giant convention center and they had four tents set up, each tent was a different theme, the four were Southern Italy, Northern Italy, The Rest of Europe, and The Rest of the World. It was huge! They had tents from most countries in the world, with foods, wine, gifts, and everything. It was a little overwhelming with how much was there. You could not hope to see everything in one day. We spent a few hours there and tried some things from all over the world and just had a lot of fun. Then, right at the end, we found the Bolzano tent!!! I was so excited and I bought my first bottle of wine from Bolzano (See the amusingness of Bolzano in my earlier entry)!!!! After the market we went back and proceeded to make our bread and butter of cooking, the one that started it all, Gnocchi Picante!! We also made another batch of amazing bruschetta and had another amazing meal together. We hung out again that night then went to bed. Woke up the next morning and unfortunately I had to start studying for finals, it was pretty boring. That night, however, we made our final meal together with Laura; we had homemade Risotto and Insalata Caprese, with Brunello di Montalcino, one of the finest wines in all of Italy. It was one of the best meals, and one of the most fun to create. We had such a good time, and the weekend was great, and I finally got to see Milan! Better late than never!!! We had to say goodbye to Laura, which was really sad, but I know that we will see her again sometime and when we do it will be such an amazing reunion. It really is amazing how the people you meet make such an immediate impact on you. I only knew Laura for a few days before we decided to go to Rome, then Tuscany, and finally Milan, and even after a few days we all felt really close and just had the best time going to all these amazing places. On these trips it's amazing how out of nowhere, almost randomly, you find people and start friendships that will last a lifetime. I have met so many incredible people on this trip, and even though I have known them for such a short time, I feel like they have been my friends forever, and it's going to be amazing to know that I have such amazing people all over the world. I have been to some of the most historic and incredible places in the world, and they would have not nearly meant as much to me had it not been shared with these incredible people.

Paris Part 2: Eiffel Tower, Versailles, Antonio and Adam's Adventures and More!!!

We began the walk of the Champs-Elysees and the first thing I had to do was for my dad, buy a Croissant on the Champs-Elysees!!! It was the best croissant and oh so meaningful haha, go daddy! We then continued along the way, passing the most expensive and fancy stores you've ever seen. We did, however, find a Disney Store, which was a little too crowded but still awesome! Walked the whole way and finally came to the Arc de Triomphe, which was amazing and had the EU flag and the French Flag waving in the arc and it was really awesome. We went and took some pictures then had to quickly make our way to the Eiffel tower to make sure we had enough time to see it in the light. We got off the metro stop, walked up looked around and saw the tower, it was so incredible being right next to the Eiffel Tower it's hard to explain, it is one of the most recognizable structures in the world and I was right next to it! One of the coolest things was that it had an EU theme to it, it had all the stars which were arranged like the flag, and every hour there would be a flashing light show and the tower lit up all blue. It was beautiful. Kristen and I decided to go to the top, while Antonio and Jordan went to do their own things, and we would meet up later. We waited in the freezing cold for around an hour and a half but once you get up there you forget about the cold, and the numbness of all your fingers, and you just stand and appreciate the beauty of this city. When you get to the top and see the city of Paris all in front of you, lit up for night time, you become speechless. It was so beautiful and made the trip to Paris so incredible. After the Eiffel tower we went down and met everyone and had a nice dinner together and then walked around the city and headed back to our hostel for bed. The next morning we woke up early and headed over to Versailles. I would like to thank Antonio real quick, because of his somewhat knowledge of the French language (haha) we got great deals on metro tickets and he really helped us make sure we knew where we were going. We did, however get a little lost on the way to Versailles, someone told us to go one way, but we needed to go the other way and we got a little confused but eventually found our way. We got to Versailles and walked up to the Palace and wow, what a Palace it was. It was huge, and the courtyard was very fitting for how incredible of a building it was. We didn't have so much time, so we just decided to go see Marie Antoinette's house, and leave the actual palace for another trip, which is ok because it gives me another excuse to come back to Paris!! So we started walking through the palace and went to the backyard and then my jaw continued to drop. The back area of the palace was the most incredible and biggest garden I have ever seen, and as beautiful as it was, in summer it must be completely breathtaking. We began walking the half-hour walk to Marie's house, and about half-way through it started snowing!!! It was the first snow I had seen since I have been here and I was so excited! I missed the snow and it was such a beautiful place to see my first European snow! We walked the whole way, then came up to her house and went inside and took a tour. It was a surprisingly small house and she had pretty much the smallest bed I have ever seen haha, but I’m still glad we got to see it, and it was cool imagining all that took place here in the past. Then we walked back, and that was a brutal walk back let me tell you. It was not snowing all happily now, it started sleeting and freezing rain and it was pretty terrible haha. Antonio had it the worst, because he is from Portugal and is not the biggest fan of this cold stuff =). We got back to the main entrance and we separated and Antonio and I began our whirlwind tour of the rest of Paris. We began at Notre Dame, and went inside and that was one of the coolest cathedrals I have been in, we were looking for the hunchback but Quasimodo was not in at the moment =). After Notre Dame we went to go see the Pompidou, which Antonio was dying to see. The Pompidou is the modern art museum and it has some crazy architecture. He was telling me that it will be my favorite thing in Paris and that it is so incredible, so on the way I just began calling everything that looked awesome Pompidouey and it caught on pretty well. For example, we saw the Hotel de Ville, which was beautiful, and I thought it might be the Pompidou because it was for sure Pompidouey, but it wasn't haha. So we finally got to the Pompidou, and while I’ll give it to Antonio it was pretty awesome, it wasn't my favorite =). After Antonio and I went to the Musee d'Orsay. This museum was probably the second most famous museum in Paris, and held work from such greats as Monet and it was an amazing museum, unfortunately we did not have that much time because they were closing, but we did get to see some incredible pieces of artwork. After we were to meet everyone at Montmartre. Montmartre was a really cool place; it holds the Moulin Rouge, Van Gogh's House, and Picasso’s Studio, among others. It was just a lot of fun to walk around. We had dinner in Montemartre and I had my last French Onion Soup of the trip =(, it was really sad. After dinner we separated one more time and Antonio and I made one last stop at Basilica Sacre Coeur, which is a beautiful church that is above Paris and has an amazing view of the City. We went inside and sat down because Antonio wanted to listen to part of the service, and it was a really beautiful service. We then walked around the area, enjoyed the views then took a funicular down and found the metro station and went back to the main train station where we would catch a train to the airport. We missed the last train to the airport, so we had to take a train to a stop by the airport and catch a bus. We got so lucky, because we were separated, and pretty much magically right before the train left we all reunited, it was pretty funny. We then got to the airport, had to stay overnight, so found a little area we could call home for the night, waited a few hours, then finally got on our plane and headed back to Milan. With that, my last trip had been completed. What a way to end, I loved everything and every moment of Paris, and can't wait to get back.

Paris Part 1: The Louvre, The Tour and More!

Bonjour! Paris was incredible, one of my top three cities I have visited in the last few months for sure. Paris just has such an amazing atmosphere about it, there is so much history and such a feel of something special as you walk through this amazing city. Our story starts when we get to Paris airport, Charles De Gaulle. Antonio, Erica, Kristen, Alyssa, and Jordan came on this trip and when we got to Paris and walked forever through this giant airport we finally got to the metro that would take us to our hostel. Paris was cold, haha, it was freezing for most of the time. Jordan, Antonio, and me were staying at one hostel while the girls were at another. We found our hostel, couldn't check in so hung out for a little while and then headed out to meet the girls by the Louvre. Once we got to the Louvre and I stepped out and saw this building it was such an awesome feeling. It looks just as amazing as in all the pictures and the musueum behind the pyramids was just incredible. Right in front of the Louvre was a "mini arc de triomphe" and beyond that were the Tuileries Gardens which were giant and must be gorgeous during the summer, but now it was just kind of a giant park, which was still pretty nice. We walked around the gardens and then went into the city a little and found a nice little sandwich place for lunch and had an amazing ham and cheese sandwich, with pretty much the best bread I have ever had. After that Antonio and me went to explore a little, we were all meeting back up at around 5:45 to go to Louvre because it was free on Fridays! So Antonio and I found the Lafayette, which was incredible! It is just a giant shopping mall and it was all decorated for Christmas and was amazing. We just ran through like excited children haha, we had a lot of fun. After the Lafayette we walked and saw the opera house kept going and just kept exploring. The highlight of this walk was for sure our first nutella crepe in Paris (Sooo goood) and some starbucks. Antonio and I just sat and talked and had a great time. We walked a little more, and found a place that had two things that were my goal to have in Paris, French Onion Soup and Ratatouille! We didn't have time then but said we would come back...but didn't. =( it was really sad. What was not sad though was the Louvre, wow, wow, wow and wow. This museum is massive and incredible. It was also my dream museum because it had one of the most incredible exhibits of Egyptian, Greek and Roman History, not to mention the Mona Lisa or any of the other incredible works. We bought the audio/visual guides and each took our own tours around the Louvre. I took the Antiquities tour that took you through Egypt, Greece and Rome, and was about an hour and a half and I loved every second. I walked around some more after; saw the Mona Lisa which is really cool, but really small. If I didn't already know it was small I would have been very disappointed I think haha, it's such a famous painting and you would expect it to be huge, but it really isn't at all. So we all walked around more, then met up at around 10 when the museum closed and then we went to find somewhere for dinner. This place was where I accomplished my first goal and had my first authentic French Onion Soup!! It was amazing, best soup of my life. I wanted to order like a million of them, but realized I didn't have that much money haha. We walked around a little more after that then headed back to our hostel for the night. The next morning we joined a free walking tour of Paris that had at least 50 people. It was the biggest tour I have seen. It was pretty good though, and we had a really good tour guide. We started by St. Michel, and continued along and saw the main sights of this incredible city. The Pont Neuf Bridge, Notre Dame, We went back to the Louvre and saw the gardens again, saw the Eifel Tower from a distance and ended on the Champs-Elysees, which is my favorite street ever. It was a good tour and we got to learn a lot of history and see all the sights and know where we would want to go back to. After the tour we began the long walk down the Champs-Elysees which would lead us to the Arc De Triomphe and shortly thereafter, the Eiffel Tower!!!

Tuscany - Bologna

The week after my incredible 18 day adventure could not be spent in Milan of course, I needed to travel haha. This time we decided to do Tuscany. Ravi hadn't been to Florence yet, so we were going to go to Florence for a day than do the Tuscan countryside the next few days. So we went, Ravi, Irvin, Mark, Gauthier and me, on Friday to Florence. When we got there, I had a really cool feeling that I hadn't really had before. Since I had already been in Florence and loved it so much, it was really cool being able to be back and know where everything was and have it feel familiar. Since every week was pretty much a new and amazing place, it was nice being back at one of those places. So when we got there we went to our hostel, Plus Florence, and met up with Laura!! We were so excited to see her again, and it was awesome to be able to meet up in all these amazing places. So that day Ravi, Irvin, Mark, and Gauthier went to the Uffizi (The most famous museum in Florence) while Laura and me went to find St. Croce cathedral. This cathedral had the bodies of such incredible men as Galileo Galilei, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and other prominent figures of the past. The Basilica itself was really nice, and being in the same room as this brilliant artists and thinkers was pretty incredible. Even though they died a long time ago, you still feel a sense of awe and are humbled thinking of all that those men accomplished. I'm really glad I got to see it, because this was one of the things I really regretted not seeing the first time around. After St. Croce, Laura and I attempted to find the Pitti Palace, a famous palace in the Renaissance times and for some reason we could not find it! We were literally standing on the corner where the map told us it was and there was no palace! We walked for around 20 minutes and could not find this place! Eventually we had to meet up with the other guys by the Duomo and so we had to give up our search. We met up with them and we all went to a nice pizza place and had a nice dinner together. After we went searching for a wine bar and sat around and just enjoyed each other's company for an hour or so. After, we went back to our hostel and went to bed, because early the next morning we were off to see the countryside of Tuscany! We woke up the next morning and began our adventure. Luckily, Laura has been traveling with a car so we got to use her car and it helped us get to places that would otherwise have been really complicated to get to. Our first stop on our journey was Montepulciano. This little village is known for their wine Vino Nobile, which is considered one of Italy's finest wines. Wine is one of Ravi's favorite things and this journey was sort of like a "Mecca" for him, because we would be hitting two of Italy's most famous wine towns, and he was super excited. Montepulciano was beautiful, the town itself was really what you think about when you think of classic Italy. It was a really small town, built on a hill and all around is the rolling countryside of Tuscany. It was so beautiful. We then found the Contucci Cantina, which is where we got to try the Vino Nobile. This Cantina held caskets of the Vino Nobile, and was one of the most respected Cantinas, It was run by an man named Adamo and he welcomes you in, tells you to take the quick tour, then come back to try the different types of Vino Nobile. It was awesome actually getting to see a really wine cellar and then trying the different wines and just having the whole experience. After Montepulciano, we made our way to Montalcino, the home of Brunello, considered again one of the best wines in all of Italy. This town was just as beautiful as the first, and we got amazing views, then walked around the city and went to a wine bar and tried the Brunello, and it was fantastic. After Montalcino, we went to Siena, this city was pretty awesome, and they had what was, according to Rick Steves, the best town square in Italy. I think it was a little overrated. It was nice and all, but honestly, I’ve seen better haha. We walked around the city, went to the Duomo which was absolutely incredible, had a nice dinner and just enjoyed the city. We then got lost on the way back and had a fun time trying to find our way. It took a while but we did it! We then headed back to Florence to go to bed after a long, although amazing day. The next day, we decided to try and go to a Chianti Vineyard, and so we headed off and went to the first town that Laura's GPS told us to go, it was a nice little town and we had some breakfast, but thought this isn't exactly what we were looking for. We then found a vineyard, and met this old lady who didn't speak any English, we tried some of the wine, said we didn't want to buy any and then she wasn't so friendly and pretty much wanted us to leave haha. After that we started the drive to Bologna, supposedly the most famous place in Italy for food. Yup, they were right. When we got there, we were driving, and it was kind of an ugly town, but we found a parking lot and somehow luckily were put right in front of a restaurant that looked pretty good. We went in, sat down, and began what was by far the best meal I have had since I have been here. We started off with what I can only describe as the most magical bruschetta on earth; it was so fresh and so incredible. Then I had some Pasta Bolognese (I had to!) and that was incredible, then we had to get some more bruschetta, then we had some pizza!! It was the biggest and most fantastic meal ever. We were there for hours, and enjoyed every second. The funniest/sad part was that there was only one lady working the whole place and she looked so stressed the whole time, and it was sad but she was doing a good job. However, one time she came by and touched Ravi's shoulder for a few seconds while he was in mid-sentence and she kept going, and his face was priceless. He was so confused, and we just burst out laughing, it was so funny! After the meal, we had to top it off with some gelato. We walked around a little, and surprisingly found one of if not the best gelato I have had in Italy. Bologna did not disappoint. Unfortunately we could not see that much of this city because we had to get back. So we made our way over to the train station and got back on a train to Milano. This trip was so much fun and a lot different from my others because we got to travel by car, and see some places that had a lot of famous history and amazing wines, and that were absolutely gorgeous. It was an incredible experience, and I loved every bit of it.

Rome Part 4: Appian Way, Roman Forum, Andrea Bocelli and More!

                                           

The last day of Rome was arguably the best. We got to see so much, and the way it ended was too good to be true. We began our day early by going to the Appian Way, the right way this time haha. Ravi, Laura and I took a bus to a few stops after where we walked the previous night and began walking along the road. It was so cool, walking on such an important road and seeing what is there now and to think what used to be there. We were walking for a little while, and then we came to what I think, was one of the best parts of my whole trip. We found the Circus Massentius. This Circus, while not as famous as the Circus Maximus, is the best preserved Circus in Rome. It was so amazing; you could actually see the lanes where the chariots used to race and where the seats would be and everything. The best part about it, it was just us. This is kind of out of Rome so not many people see it, and we were the only ones. I can't began to describe how incredible the feeling of having the whole circus to ourselves was. All the other sites are incredible, don't get me wrong, but they usually have so many tourists that it ruins the magic of the place. People screaming, having to push your way through to see things, it just takes away from the moment. This, on the other hand, was as close to perfect as you could get. We had it all to ourselves! We walked around the circus, climbing up and down some of the structures still standing, taking pictures, running around and just having the time of our lives. It was the one of the most fun experiences of my life, being in this amazingly preserved place and having the peace and quiet that makes it special. We just had the best time, and I wish we could have stayed there longer but we had to move on because our day was already as full as possible. So we left our Circus and continued along the Appian Way. It was such a fun morning, we saw such amazing houses and the walk was beautiful. We finally came to a park and walked around and finally came to what looked like a city, said that it was ugly, and turned around, haha. Once we saw buildings and cars we knew we had gone too far lol. So we turned around, walked back the way we came and got on a bus that would take us back to the colloseum so we could start our tour of Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. We stopped along the way at what was probably one of the best pizza places I have been to in Italy. It was early, so we got there when it was so fresh and right out of the oven, and the ingredients were so good and it was just incredible. After, we got to the Colloseum and met up with Mark and Jordan and played our where's Waldo game again for a little, sooo much fun lol, then our tour started. This was one of the best tours of my life, not really because of the guide but because of what we got to see and where we were. The Palatine Hill was the center of the Roman Government; it is where all the emperors lived and was supposedly where Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus so many years ago. We got to see Augustus Julius Caesars house, an arena where foot races were held, which was amazingly preserved, beautiful gardens and the house where Augustus was born. The whole tour was just incredible. After, we went down into the Roman Forum, whose tour even topped the first one. We got lucky and found this guy who was really intense, and was giving free tours. He must have said he was giving a free tour at least 5 million times, to make sure everybody knew lol. He was really good though. So we got to walk through the Roman Forum, see all the ancient buildings, like where the Senate was, the Triumph Arches for victorious generals, the exact site where Julius Caesars body was cremated (wow!), where Marc Antony gave his speech at Caesars funeral and so much more. This was so overwhelming for me I can't begin to explain. This area is what I really knew about and seeing all these building right in front of me, and having walked and been right next to where people like Julius Caesar and Marc Antony were was incredible. It is really well preserved so even not knowing history you still get that feeling of awe. It is an amazing place and I loved every second of it. After the tour, we headed over to see the Capuchin Monks. These are monks that lived a few hundred years ago, and the crypt we went to was something I have never even thought I would ever see in my life. The whole crypt was for the monks, but in each crypt they just had bones of prior monks arranged in certain patterns, they made structures, there were full skeletons in robes lying on other bones made as a platform. The lanterns were made out of bones and everything. It was pretty crazy I’m not going to lie. It was really interesting too and I’m glad I got to see it. After the monks we began heading over to the final part of our trip. This was the cherry on top of the world’s most amazing cake. We got incredibly lucky because as it turns out, that Sunday, the last day of our trip, for the 90th anniversary of the armed forces, they were having a free concert at Piazza Del Popolo by Andrea Bocelli!! I was so excited and I knew we had to go. So we went at around 5ish, because it started at 7 and we wanted to get a good view. We got there and the whole place was packed. It was really awesome, and we saw some the presentation of this event commemorating their armed forces and it was really cool seeing that. Except for the fact we couldn't understand anything haha, but that's beside the point. Anyway, after about an hour, Andrea came on. Wow, that was the most incredible concert I have ever been to, granted I haven't been to that many, it was just amazing. Seeing him live is like anything I have seen before, he is so good and when he hits those notes at the end your whole body shivers. It really was incredible. It made the trip so perfect and so complete. The only thing that would have made it completely perfect was if my mom was there, I was calling her all the time and I took a video of as much of the concert as I could because he is her favorite. I love you mom!!! It really was beyond words. The most amazing part was that he ended with my favorite song, Nessun Dorma. I was like shaking I was so excited, wow it was incredible. The trip that I had for the last 18 days was so amazing, and to top it off with this was unbelievable. After the concert and the whole walk home I was in just such a state of happiness I can't even describe. This trip was everything I had ever hoped for and more. After the concert it was kind of late so we headed back to make sure we had everything and were organized for the next day. We went to bed, woke up early the next morning and went to the airport to go back to Milan. The trip was over, but had given me so many experiences and memories that I will take with me for the rest of my life. It was simply amazing.

Rome Part 3: The Vatican, Ravi's Birthday, First Attempt at Appian Way and More!

The next morning we woke up really early and started heading over to the Vatican! Before, however we stopped at our amazing breakfast cafe that was included with the hostels and got croissants from what Ravi thought was the most beautiful girl in the world =) haha. After breakfast, we got on the metro and headed over to the Vatican. When we got there we met up with a tour guide because if we didn't we would of had to wait in a really long line, and the Vatican Museum is so huge that if you don't have a guide you will most likely be completely lost. They have so much in there, if you stood in front of every piece for around 30 seconds you would be in there for a few months. It is really big haha. So we met up with our group and began our walk. Once we got to the walls we skipped the lines and went inside, once we stepped inside we were in another country! It was really cool being inside another country inside Rome! We then began our tour. It was a pretty intense tour, our guide like ran us through a lot of the stuff and just stopped at the really important ones, and the ones she felt have a good story behind them. A few I really liked where the Raphael painting, and one by Leonardo Da Vinci, which was unfinished and had a drawing of another cathedral he was planning on building because when he was painting this he didn't have any spare paper. So he was planning on painting over it when he was done, but he never finished! Art like that is really interesting because you get a little peek into the brain of the artist. Another thing I liked was for The Last Judgment by Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel, he painted Jesus and he looks different from most of the other Jesus paintings, and she actually showed us the statues that he used to model Jesus after, and I thought that was really awesome. So we walked along for a pretty long time, and then once we got closer to the Sistine Chapel we came to a room with so many paintings on the ceiling it was insane, and the craziest part about this whole thing was that all this artwork, in the past, was only for the Pope's eyes, it was his personal collection! Wow, what a collection, all the artwork for one man. It was so amazing to be in here. We then got to the Sistine Chapel. Wow, that's all I can really say about that, is Wow. That Chapel was so incredible, thinking of how much work must have gone into that, and the immense amount of pressure. The craziest thing is that Michelangelo was a famous sculptor! Not even a renowned painter and he still managed to create this magnificent work! Standing inside that chapel was so incredible, and staring at all the beautiful art work. It was a really amazing moment, and I really hope to get back one day. After we left the Sistine Chapel we went into St. Peter's Basilica, which is the biggest cathedral in the world. Once again, wow, haha. It was amazing, so giant, the architecture that went into that and all the statues and art was just incredible. Just the size of the cathedral was awe inspiring. The whole trip to the Vatican was pretty amazing, and I really enjoyed every second of it. There are so many incredible works of art in there by some of the greatest minds of our time and it was just so incredible to see all these works up close and personal. It was amazing. After our tour, we headed back to the colloseum because we were planning on taking a tour of the Roman Forum, but that didn't work out, haha. The tour never showed up, so we were like boooooooo. So instead we played where's Waldo with Laura's incredible camera. We would just go into the crowd and the person with the camera would try and find us. It was a lot of fun, and we got some really funny shots, and we also got some really funny shots of random people haha. So after that we decided to go see the Appian Way, which was one of if not the most important road in Ancient Roman times. It was where the armies would march to and from the city and where a lot of the Christians would be crucified to warn against that religion back when it was not tolerated, and where all the business came in and out of. Also it is supposed to be pretty beautiful. So we walked from the Colosseum because it was supposed to be not too far away. That, however, was a lie. We walked a pretty long way and finally came to what we thought might be it, so we went inside a cactus store and asked someone in there and said we were on the Appian Way but it doesn't start getting pretty for about 3 or 4 kilometers! Oh no! It was a lot of fun though, but we decided we didn't have enough time so we hopped on a bus and went back, Appian Way we will come again! After that, it was time to go to dinner, because today was Ravi's Birthday!!! We went to a pretty good authentic Italian restaurant and had a really good dinner. Antonio and Lucas came to visit, and Mark came from Milan and met us there too! It was a lot of fun being with everyone and we all celebrated Ravi's birthday. After that, we went to what I can only describe as the most magical gelato/candy store in the world. It was called Della Palma and they had like 50 flavors of the most amazing gelato ever, and a huge selection of candy. Also, when you ordered from this one guy, the magician as we call him, he would take a cup and slowly put it in front of you and say "DIMI" which means tell me. It was really funny, and so so delicious. After that incredibleness, we walked around a little more, then went back to our hostel and hung out there for a while. Then we went to bed because tomorrow was another intense day of Rome!!!

Rome Part 2: History Lesson, Colosseum and More!

We woke up early the next day and got ready and started our day as quickly as possible. Rome is such a giant city with so much to see, that if you don't take advantage of every moment, you will miss so much. So we took advantage and saw as much as possible in the few days we had here. The morning, however, we took a break to sit, and that break was one of the most memorable on the trip. Before that, however, we went to go see the Roman Circus, this was where the chariots used to race and was a very important stadium back in ancient times. Now, however, it is just a field that looks like a bowl because of the way it is indented. There are really no remains of the Roman Circus, except a few walls on the far side, and to make it even harder to picture what used to be there, they were having a Carabinieri (Italian Police) celebration. Apparently there was the 90th anniversary of the Armed Forces of Italy so they were having all these celebrations and everything, and the Circus was filled with all the military vehicles you could imagine, they had tanks and helicopters and armed men and police cars and everything. It was pretty cool, and Ravi was in heaven, but it kind of sucked that we weren't able to walk around the Roman Circus. So anyway, after that we kept walking and were planning on doing part of the Roman Forum, which was where all day to day activities happened in Ancient Rome, it was one of if not the most important part of Rome and everything went down there. We couldn't find the entrance right away and had to walk a bit, and then realized we didn't have enough time to do it. This was because we were meeting our friend Jordan; he was coming to join us! So instead we went to this place overlooking part of the Forum that I accidently found yesterday searching for the Pantheon. Then began the History Lesson. This hour or however long we stood there was one of the coolest and most memorable moments of the whole trip. It was nothing special at all, but Laura, Ravi and I were all talking about history. I was telling them about Roman history while they were giving me some history and we were discussing all kinds of things. It was just so amazing, talking about history in this city. I would be explaining something about the forum and all I would have to do is point, and they would see where Julius Caesar was assassinated, or where the markets were or anything. It was all right in front of us!! It really was amazing, and talking with them and just having that experience in the heart of Rome, it was something else. After a while we had to go and meet Jordan at the hostel, we met up with him and then we began by taking him to all the places we saw yesterday so he could see them as well. It was cool going back, and we got to see the Pantheon in better light which was nice. After all of that we decided it was time to do the Colosseum!!! Wow, I can't tell you how excited I was. We walked from the Pantheon, along the Forum, and walked all the way to the Colosseum. It was so cool walking towards one of the most recognized buildings in history, and something I had studied which made it that much more incredible. We got to the entrance and found a tour guide that, with our Roma Passes, would get us in and let us join a tour for only 10 euro! It also gave us a free Forum tour while our passes were still valid. It was such a good deal!! So we entered the Colosseum, and wow, the feeling of actually walking into there was unreal. One of those dream moments I have talked about so much. We walked through the hallways, out into the open overlooking what used to be the stadium. Up to the second level and had an amazing view of the entire Colosseum. The whole time I was just picturing in my head how this must have looked thousands of years ago. The whole time I was just in awe, it was so amazing. The tour was also pretty good and we got some really good information. After the tour we walked around a little more and just enjoyed as much as we could of this building. After a while we got kicked out because they were closing so we left and went outside and walked around. We stayed at the Colosseum for a long time after because it was when the sun was setting and the light was so beautiful and made the building look that much more amazing. When we left, we also had chocolate cigars! We went to a chocolate store/travel agency (amazing, right?!) earlier, and thought it would be pretty awesome to have chocolate cigars after leaving the colosseum, and it was awesome, haha. After that we took some pictures, played a game on a small railing to see who could balance the best, and then we all lied down on the grass by the Colosseum and just relaxed and talked. It was so much fun. After that we went to dinner, found a nice pizza place and Antonio and his friends joined us. We had a lot of fun, after we walked around, went back to the awesome Trevi Fountain, and then went back to our hostel for bed. Once again, we were just excited to go to bed, so we could wake up, because the next day was Vatican City!!!

Rome Part 1: Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, And More!

Rome. Again, this is going to be very hard for me, because exactly like Morocco, words cannot begin to describe how incredible the trip to Rome was. It was so far and beyond anything I could have hoped it to be, and believe me my expectations were high. As most of you know, I love history, in particular Roman, Greek and Egyptian. Being in this city, where so many incredible things happened and where so many incredible people lived was unbelievable. It really was like living in a dream. Whereas Morocco was beauty, this was for history; it is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Out of all the trips I have taken, Morocco and Rome are clear number 1s, (I can't pick one so I have two number 1s!) They were just so perfect in every way, I got to see everything I wanted, and was with amazing people the whole way. So to start off this story, we begin where I left off last time, at the airport in London. I was so excited because Rome was the place, pretty much in the world, that I had wanted to see the most. I could barely sit still on the plane I was so excited. When I landed I met up with Ravi, he had just come from the freezing lands of the Baltics and seeing him again was really awesome, especially the fact that we were in Rome! We got on a bus that would take us to the center of the city, and then we began by trying to find our hostel. This did not work out so well at first, haha, we were a little confused by the directions, and had to eventually ask a tourist information booth, but eventually we were on the right track. The walk there was a little strange, because it kind of looked like a not so good area, but it all turned out ok. We finally found our hostel, Ape Latina, and once again we were a little unsure, haha. No one answered, we went in and the door man told us to go upstairs, and when we finally got upstairs we were greeted not by the owner of Ape Latina but... Laura (from Morocco)!!!!! It was an awesome surprise and it was a nice reunion. So we settled in to what turned out to be a really nice hostel, but different from any of the other ones. So we settled in, put our stuff down and began our exploration. We started off by getting lunch, and we went to a pizza restaurant because it had been a while since I’ve been in Italy and had a good Italian pizza, and as it turns out, this place did not serve pizza until 7! We were like what! So I got Risotto instead which was still pretty good. We then found a metro stop, and went to one of the stops that seemed central. It was kind of north of the city, and right by the Villa Medici, which had beautiful gardens and parks. We walked around there for a while, and came to a museum and got what was pretty much our lifesaver, the Roma Pass. It gave us a three day metro pass and 2 free entries and discounts to all the museums and archeological sites. It was pretty awesome. Then we kept walking, and we were in search for Pizza or Gelato, but had no luck so far. We walked down these stairs which were supposedly the famous Spanish Steps, and we had no idea, haha oops. We finally found some pizza and had a second lunch, it was awesome. We walked a little farther and came to the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument which held the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and was just an absolutely beautiful building (The picture at the top). We walked around and to the top, and just as we were overlooking the city we got our first view of the Coliseum!!! Wow, that moment was amazing. After the monument we started walking to try and find the Pantheon. As we were walking we found the coolest Disney store, probably in the world, it had Disney Characters dressed as Romans used for the columns in the store, it was sooo cool! Oh, and they had Wall-E!! After we were walking the streets of Rome and eventually found ourselves staring at the Pantheon!!! This was the most important temples for the Romans and seeing it was something else, it was such a beautiful building, and the inside was even more beautiful. We were there for a little while, and then we met up with Antonio! It was great seeing him, because it had been a long time!! He was staying with two of his friends and we sat and talked to him for a while then had to go, because we had to catch our Time Elevator!! Haha, the time elevator was one of those shows in a movie theater that have the seats move and stuff, and it took you quickly through the history of Rome, it was pretty cool, but a little too expensive for what it was. It is a funny story now though lol!! After the incredible (haha) Time Elevator, we walked around some more, and as we were walking we turned a corner, and out of nowhere appeared, hands down, the most amazing fountain I have seen in my life, the Trevi Fountain. This was part of the old Roman Aqueduct which brought Romans water in ancient times, and now was used as a fountain, and it is beautiful, with statues and waterfalls and everything. We hung out there for a while and got some really good gelato and just enjoyed the night. We were all pretty tired so we headed back to the hostel, and went to bed because we were so excited to start our next day and continue exploring this amazing city!!!

London

London was the next step on my journey, and what an awesome stop it was. Unfortunately we didn't have as much time here as I would have liked but we still got to see pretty much all I wanted, and see this amazing city. Once again, it was really cool being in an English speaking country, it just felt normal, yet also a little weird cause i still wasn't used to it, and would even still say "Scusa" (excuse me in Italian) because it was just so natural to me now. Anyway, we arrived at the airport late at night and took a bus into the city. When we got in we had to walk forever to find our hostel. It was a lot of fun just walking through the city it just took soooo long. We finally got to our hostel, a pretty nice one, and got into our room and got all settled. That night we were all pretty tired and it was late so we just hung out and watched some election coverage because it was the day of voting back in America! So it was good that we got to see some coverage because previously all the news was from a computer or something. We got up early the next day and began walking around the city. We first came to Trafalgar square which was a huge square that had really cool monuments and giant lions. We continued walking into a park and came up to Buckingham Palace. That was pretty incredible, although we didn't get to stay for too long because we were doing a free walking tour of London that was going to take us to all the big sights of this city. We met up with our tour guide, Craig, who was a very enthusiastic Australian, and began our tour. We started off by seeing what we already saw that morning, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, he gave us a quick rundown of the history and some funny stories and then we kept on going. We then stopped to take our pictures with the guards, and it was cool to actually stand next to the guards you always see and be really close to their fuzzy hats. We kept on walking and stopping at all the big sights, saw Churchill's war cabinet bunker, the square where the 2012 Summer Olympic Beach Volleyball would take place, along with other really cool things. After a while we came to some of the most recognizable structures of London, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Those were amazing, we got some really cool pictures (Like O-H-I-O) and got the history once again which all was really interesting. The best part about it was that I got to be used as a captive who was being executed and Craig gave a demonstration on how they killed their prisoners to prevent anyone from ever rebelling again, and I got to be that prisoner! I was so lucky =) ha-ha. That was pretty much the end of the tour, and we were starving so we went to Mr. Wu's Chinese restaurant! It was only the second time I’ve had Chinese food since I’ve been in Europe and it was awesome. After lunch we walked around a little more, went into a really cool museum that had amazing paintings including Da Vinci's "Virgin of the Rocks". We then headed over to Hyde Park, and walked around and it was beautiful. After, we had to hurry back because Marica, Emily and me were about to go see The Lion King at the London Theater! We were so excited, we walked down the street that had all the theaters and saw hundreds of people waiting to get into all different kinds of shows, and then we saw our building and pretty much ran to it, haha. We got in and had really good seats, we were on the top, but in the first row, so we could see everything. The show was so incredible, the sets and the costumes/puppets and music and everything was so great. After that amazing show we met up with everyone else at a pub and hung out there for a while then came back home. The next day we went to the British Museum which was unbelievable, they had so many artifacts from Egypt, Greece and Rome, including the Rosetta Stone, and it was really amazing. After the museum we headed over to the other side of town to see the London Bridge. Before that, however, we made a stop at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. That was really cool, even though it was recreated and not the actually theater, it was really set up nicely and the history was very intriguing. We then went to the London Bridge which of course was awesome, and after we all went to dinner and I tried Fish and Chips for the first time! It was actually really good! We then went to another pub and watched a futbol match and it was just a lot of fun being with everyone and having a blast. That night Marica and I had to leave for the airport because we had really early flights, and had to head over to the airport at around 2 in the morning. It was fun! We walked around the city late at night, got a little lost, but found the right bus, went to the airport and since my flight was earlier I had to say bye, because she was on her way to Copenhagen and I was on my way to Rome!!! So we said our goodbyes and I went on my way, and began the last stage of my 18 day adventure, Rome!

Dublin

Dublin has to be one of, if not the, most fun city i have ever been to. There is always something to do, amazing people to meet and things to see. When we arrived, Erica, Jordan and I went to our hostel, The Abraham House, which was terrible, we had like no water half the time lol. We checked in then wanted to go explore the city a little, even though it was late. So we went to the Temple Bar area, which is like the most famous area to go out in Dublin, there are just so many bars and people it is just a lot of fun. We went to the actual Temple Bar in Temple Bar and hung around there for a little bit, and knew we were in for a good time. We went back and went to bed because early the next morning we were going on a tour of the Irish countryside, i was so excited! We woke up and met our tour group and got in a bus and began our journey. It was soooooooo cold, wow, i'm so glad i bought that coat. It was incredibly beautiful though. We started going up through the mountains and stopped at a point overlooking Dublin which was beautiful, kept going and stopped at certain points along the way like lakes and amazing views. One of the highlights was the stop at lunch, it was like one of the best lunches i've had since i have been in Europe, it was traditional Irish ham and cabbage with potatoes and it was just delicious. We were in a little town called Lauragh and it was such a nice little Irish town, it was cool to be able to see a little town and the big city of Dublin. After, we kept on our way and stopped at a view overlooking the lake where Guinness gets a lot of their water to brew their beer. That was pretty cool, oh yeah, and beautiful haha. Then we stopped at the biggest destination of the tour, Glendalough, it was a really old town that used to be a monastic settlement and it was a beautiful place. We got to walk through some of the ruins and see the churches and everything. We then took a walk along the two lakes right by there and it was amazing. There were just two lakes surrounded by mountains the view were amazing. We walked the trails for a while, headed back, got back in the bus and made our way back to Dublin. That night we met up with Mark and Marica. It was awesome seeing Marica again, and mark and being all together was so much fun. We went back to the temple bar area and hung around for the whole night. The next day we walked around the city and saw Trinity college, which has to be the nicest campus i have ever seen. We went to see the other sights of the city, St. Patricks Cathedral, Stephen's Green, which was a beautiful park, and other cool sights, like the opera house. Later that day we met up with our friend Caitlin and one of her friends and we walked around a little then went back to our favorite temple bar and partied some more. The next day we went to the Kilmainham Prison, which held all the famous rebels during the time that Ireland was fighting for its independence. We saw all the cells and got a history on the rebellion and it was really interesting. After that we got to go to the Guinness factory and that was really cool, it was just a giant museum that showed the history and how Guinness was made. The next day we walked around a little more, and Marica and me saw the new James Bond! It was pretty cool, seeing a movie in a different country, and i hadn't seen one in so long! So we explored a little more and later that night we caught the bus back to the airport, and now we were on our way to London! Dublin was amazing, such a fun city and the people in Ireland were even more amazing. First of all their accents are incredible, but just their attitude and how they approach you is so welcoming. It was really cool, and also one of the coolest things was being in an english speaking country, and seeing english sign, reading english menus and talking to people in english. It had been like 2 months since i had that so it was pretty awesome. Yeah, Dublin was pretty awesome.

Barcelona

I'm not going to lie, Barcelona had a lot to live up to after a trip like Morocco. Haha, after landing in Barcelona i was going to catch a train and meet Jordan at our hostel. I got on the metro, and was on for a while and went all the way to the end by accident because i thought where i was going was the name of the stop, but it wasn't lol. So i got back on and went back, once i got up out of the metro system i already began to saw that this was a really amazing city. There were really cool stores everywhere and people all over the place. I got to one of the main squares, Placa Catalunya and found the street where the hostel was on, La Rambla. La Rambla is a crazy street, it is where all the markets are and performers. There are all these random people dressed in the craziest outfits, some acting as statues or demons or angles of anything. You really would be amazed to see all the stuff that goes on. They have animal stores with chickens and chipmunks and other birds just all there, there is a really big market that sells fruits and every kind of meat you can imagine (it was a little gross). So i finally got to our hostel, Kabul, and this hostel was probably the best we had stayed in. It was so much fun, there was a bar and computer lounge on the first floor where everyone hangs out and the rooms were really nice, except for the beds, but we will get back to that later. So i met up with Jordan and we met some people on the roof and hung out, than after a while we went to go meet Emily and Saiko, who also arrived today. It was so good seeing them and we all sat down and had some tapas, which are like appetizers you usually have with a drink. We walked around a little and just saw what Barcelona had to offer. The next day we went to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia which is a giant cathedral, and one unlike any you'd really see anywhere else in the world. The architecture is so different, they have fruit statues everywhere and it has a very nature-like theme to it. So we met up with Erica and Alyssa and all went to see this cathedral, and Saiko and me went inside and to the top. One of the craziest things about this cathedral is that it is still being built. You go inside and there are people still constructing it! You are so used to seeing all these cathedrals that are hundreds of years old, yet this one is still being built! It was really cool. So after that we walked around some more, then the weather started getting bad. I began pouring and it was cold and it made seeing all the sights a little less enjoyable, because Barcelona is a city for the sun! We still had fun though, and later that night we went to see a Flamenco dancing show which was really incredible. The emotion on the dancer and the music was really amazing. Saiko left the next morning, which was really sad! We continued to walk around the next morning, went to go see the port, and went inside this mall because once again the weather was terrible. Jordan and me had fun going port sliding, in which we slid on the wood planks on the port, that was fun. We walked around the mall i bought a cool coat in Pull and Bear because i knew that if i thought this was cold, Dublin and London would be even colder. Later that night we met with one of my friends friend and we we went out to tapas and to this crazy bar that had over 500 of the craziest shots you have ever seen, with fire and marshmallows and even on called the Rambo, which Jordan took where you got in costumes and the bartender went crazy and started yelling at you and stuff, it was really fun. Except for the fact that i had a pinched nerve in my neck. I don't know what it was, probably the beds, but that night i could barely move my neck, look at a menu, drink water or anything. It was so uncomfortable i can't even begin to describe. However, besides that this trip was a lot of fun. After that night, Jordan, Erica and me walked around the city a little to Gaudi's park which was really beautiful and had an amazing view of the city, then later that night we hopped on a bus that took us to the airport that was going to take us to Dublin, Ireland! Yay!

Morocco Part 6: Afterthoughts

I just have to write one more thing about Morocco, and to wrap up everything that happened over those days. This trip was seriously amazing, it could not have gone better. Everything just seemed to work out and it turned out so much more amazing than i could have ever imagined. It is crazy because originally we were going to go to Egypt, but it turned out to be too expensive, and we decided this as an alternative. I got so lucky to be able to do this, and to go with Marica and Ravi, it was just so much fun being able to travel with them, they are like family and even though i've only known them for a little while it feels like i've been friends with them forever, and now i know i will be. We just enjoyed every single second together and had the best time. Not only did i have them with me but we met people like Andy and Lou and Laura who were also amazing. We even got to see Laura in Rome and Tuscany and she is coming to visit us in Milan on December 3rd i think! It is so amazing to be able to see all these places and meet all these incredible people. I don't think i've ever laughed so hard on a bus talking to Andy and being with Ravi and Marica, and having our tour guide Yousef calling us his children because that's what we were. When you are in a place like that, you can't help but to be completely happy, with no care in the world. I just felt so free and happy and complete being in this place. It was something i will remember for my whole life. It was the trip of a lifetime, and every moment was better than the last. It was so hard to write about it because so much happened, and words can't even begin to describe the feelings i felt during those 3 days. Like i said before, it was perfect.

Morocco Part 5: The Last Day

When we woke up the next morning around 6 in the morning and stepped out of our tent, we were all amazed by the beauty of the sunrise. It was such an amazing feeling, having spent a night in the amazing, although very cold, desert and waking up to the beautiful sun peaking over the dunes. We packed our stuff and headed back to our camels, said goodbye to our camp and began the hour and a half long camel ride back to civilization. It was just as amazing as the first ride, even though it was so early, we were all so excited and happy it didn't even matter. When we got back to the hostel, we had a quick shower and breakfast and got our stuff and headed back to the bus on our way back to Marrakesh. We pretty much went the same way on the way back, and even though we saw it before it was still like seeing it for the first time, that's how incredible this place was. We stopped for lunch at a movie set where the new Prince of Persia movie is being filmed and had a nice meal, then went back on our way. We then stopped again by a river and of course Andy, Ravi, Laura and me all ran to explore. We were just having fun jumping on rocks around the river, taking photos, and just laughing. After we got back on the bus, then by the time we got close to Marrakesh the sun was setting and it was just unbelievable. We got back into town and had to say goodbye to everybody, it was really sad to leave all these people who we didn't know before but shared such an amazing experience with. Luckily we were planning on meeting up with Laura in Rome, and we were going to have dinner with Andy and Lou so it wasn't all bad! We walked around a little in the giant market area, and it was just insane, unlike anything i have ever seen before. There were so many people and so many little tents and marketplaces selling all sorts of stuff. You would walk through and have hundreds of voices yelling at you and telling you to buy their product, it was pretty awesome. We told Andy and Lou that we would meet them but we wanted to go back to the hostel first. We got lost. haha it was pretty funny, we were just walking all over the city and had no idea where we were. We found some people who spoke English and it turned out they were lost too, no help there. Then i saw a sign! It was Fna qua, some barbecue, and it reminded me of a store back in Milan Fnac which is an awesome electronics superstore thing, and i knew we were close, and it turned out we were, and we had walked by it a million times it just looked so different because last time we saw the place things were not open so it looked like we'd never seen it before. So we changed, then went back and met Andy and Lou at this pizza place and had one last final amazing meal together on this amazing journey. We just had so much fun talking about everything, and laughing with each other it was so much fun. After we had to say goodbye, and it was so sad because even though we met these guys 3 days before it felt as if we had known them forever. It's amazing how close things like this bring you to people, it really is something special. Then we went back to our hostel, and went to bed because we all had early flights to catch. We woke up early the next morning, got in a taxi to the airport, and left. Our amazing adventure in one of the most beautiful places was over, but we knew it would live on with us forever and ever. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and i can't really remember ever being so happy. It was amazing, no, it was perfect.