Italy (Rome and Florence)

So I've been to Italy before. A few times I think now. Too many to Milan, as it's a main area to fly out of, and to Genoa. Nothing is like Rome and Florence though. After leaving Mykonos, that turned out to be a very relaxing, enjoyable place, Sarah-Jane and I caught the ferry back to Athens and then a flight to Rome. We were only there for about a day, but saw as much as we could in the time we had. The first night we wandered around, aimlessly searching for somewhere to stay the night. And after a few attempts to find somewhere, we managed to find this all-girls hostel one stop away from the train station. Perfect, as we were getting a train the next evening to Florence to meet Chris, Sarah's boyfriend. So we crashed and got up early to explore the city. We hit up the Trevi Fountain, threw coins in and made wishes and immediately headed to the Coliseum. We ran into a few other neat monuments and architecture on the walk there. Sarah grabbed some gelato while I settled for a frozen drink to cool off the blistering hot day. Ice cream isn't really my thing, even when it's supposed to be the best in Europe. The Coliseum was spectacular, still standing half-deteriorated, but nothing like I imagined it to be. The floor that the gladiators fought on was gone, exposing the underground tunnels that weaved their way around the middle circle. The stairs and seats were almost non-existent and it was physically and mentally hard to picture how it used to look so long ago. It's too bad we didn't come just a bit later. Supposedly the tunnels were going to be opened up to the public soon allowing a guided tour through the maze that seemed to stretch another two stories below ground. I'm jealous. Maybe it would have made me feel a little more sensation… however, after a nice light and cool lunch, we checked out this Virtual Museum just down the road from where the Coliseum stands. It was quite informative and I wished I had (like in Athens) gone to the museum first. The effects were super cool and I would definitely recommend someone to go there, even if it is just for the air-conditioning and cheesy virtual effects that lead you through Rome B.C.

We got our bags from the hostel, headed for the train station and moved on to Florence.
The campground we stayed in was very nice, with a beautiful overlook of the city. The atmosphere designed for backpackers, but more chill than wild since families stayed there too. Since we didn't get there till late, we called it an early night so we would have a good amount of the day to spend checking out the city. I didn't really feel like I was in Tuscany until I looked past the city to see the Olive Trees and Grape vines filling the landscape.. I would have loved to go to a wine tasting and exploration of the country side, but just not enough time. We walked around the next day, just enjoying the beautiful city it was. The next morning we headed back to Rome to catch our flight to Thailand. It went as fast as it came… Europe was now behind me and I set out on a new adventure- known as South East Asia.

Athens, Greece

So I realized I skipped a blog over one significant part of my trip. I'll have to make it short to catch you up a bit. This was before Mykonos.

I was so thankful that my friend John got back to me, allowing me to crash and hang out with him at his place while I stayed in Athens for the few days I was there. I arrived from Zante alone, Sarah heading home to prepare for the upcoming trip. She would meet me the next day (we thought) in Athens- which turned out to be the following day. The first night, I hung out with John, poor crippled John. He had a leg injury about a month ago plus surgery. So he was still hobbling around on crutches. It didn't stop him though, we enjoyed a long night out, with his friends and a cool little bar/club out of the immediate night life part of town. I wanted to wait for Sarah to get there so we could do the Acropolis together and see all of the ruins, so I didn't do anything the following day but chill out with John and enjoy familiar company once more. But when we found out that Sarah got the days mixed up, I decided I would walk about by myself the following day. Meaning to get up early but slept through my alarm, probably because we had stayed out late again the previous night, I finally managed to get out of the house around 1pm, starting immediately my "sight-seeing." I bought the cheap student pass that let me in all of the main attractions of Athens, and I walked around ruins for quite a bit before heading up the hill to the Acropolis. It was HOT. But I managed to fill my bottle up a few times in the water fountains and walked around the entire mountain, seeing the 2 Theatre ruins, and all of the columned temples. My next stop was the new Acropolis museum. On the way down I ran into people drinking these delicious looking frozen drinks. I was so hot at this point that I didn't care what I had to do to get one of these things… not much of the normal backpacker's splurge, when water would have been about 3 euro less, but the 4,50 euro was worth every drop of it. I downed my strawberry/lemonade frozen drink by the time I had made it to the museum and I was ultimately satisfied. I wish I had gone to the museum before heading to the Acropolis. And then of course, I watched the informative video after exploring the museum bottom to top that gave me all the details about what I was seeing. Why do I do everything backwards? I figured I'd had seen enough by that point, or either it was because the museum was closing and I knew I would have to leave soon anyway, but I took John's advice and set off towards the Old City. I had no idea where I was going, but I just circled my way through the old very narrow streets, lined by homes, all white with red roof tops and plants hanging around outside of the gates. It was crest in its own type of ancient beauty. I knew I was hungry and thought it a good idea to eat somewhere nearby. As I was walking through the small passageways, I ran into this quaint little restraint offering a "menu" of all the traditional Greek foods. I figured I might as well when he threw in a free glass of wine. The perks of being alone and female. ;)

The dinner was nice. I met a very pleasant Australian woman, and we had a wonderful chat over dinner. She was traveling alone too on a conference, and has traveled much of the world, so we had that in common. I was full of the delicious Greek food but had to hurry to meet Sera from the airport. We decided that night to go to Mykonos!

Mykonos, Greece

Minus the loud music from the campground we're staying at: Mykanos Beach, and the combination of mixed music from Paradise Beach just around the bend, this is a place you could definitely find yourself doing some soul searching. The water is blue, the skies crystal clear, the northern winds blowing and knowing the night has already started, I can only think about one thing (maybe that will be disclosed later ;)) This place is a bunch of dirt and rock that almost reminds me of the mountains in Egypt, but it has a relaxing vibe to it even over the 1000's of people I hear from the distance. The sun is just setting and I'm thinking once again how blessed I am to be able to do the things I'm doing. I forget about how hard it was to pitch our tents in the crazy wind, the repulsive Italian couple sucking face at the pool when they should have "gotten a room," and the little obnoxious girl in the pool splashing around. I once was that little girl. All of that is gone as I'm looking at this beautiful view of the Mediterranean with "Tonight's gonna be a good night" ringing through my ears. That song will be legend no matter how much people get sick of it.

 

Relating to my last blog:
Sometimes I think that I'm taking it all for granted, sometimes wishing I was home instead. How could I think that!? After all of the amazing things I'm getting to do, why the hell would I want to be home!? And then I realize.. it's not that I want to be home.. it's that I want the special people in my life from back home to be here with me. It's all so selfish isn't it? I get these amazing opportunities and I keep wanting more. When I was in Estonia, there were these rare snails, big, huge to the size of snails I'm used to, living all around the side of Rene's country house. He told me they used to be farmed for food and got to the point they were almost extinct. Now they are protected by the state and although I did think of how tasty they would be if we cooked them in some lemon butter sauce, I realized that most people's lives are like those snails, but not in a good way. They live their life "protected" by all of societal standards, living to the way they feel they must. Whether it's by one thing or another. And I look back and I have friends married with children and they aren't even 22. They haven't been protected, but they've been captured. They haven't been able to experience the world; half of them haven't even been to another continent. And here I am, globetrotting, seeing some of the most beautiful places in the world, and I still want more.

It doesn't always feel like that, however. Other times I couldn't imagine myself back home, hoping that somewhere along the way, I will be captured by the beauty, the culture, the surroundings of a particular place, give everything up, and stay there living my life with the ultimate happiness I seek in My Tree of Life. As farfetched as it seems, I long for that Under the Tuscan Sun type of life story. But we all know that movies are movies for a reason. Either way, my goal is to never let things get in my way from doing what I love. Traveling is definitely the trunk of my tree.

The sun is now behind the mountains, the air still warm, the music getting louder. This is my time, I'm not going to let it pass me by!

Zante!

There are some parts of Zaknythos (Zante) that remind me of the dunes covered with srubbery of OBX. I noticed them on my way from Laganas to the Central Bus Station all while thinking about how fast these last 6 days went by. I had expected Zante to be a little different, and it just so happened the place we were staying was right on the main strip of Laganas (one of the many areas of Zante) which was dedicated as Party Central. A little too much for me at some points when I wanted to relax and enjoy the sun or have a early night in and all I could hear were the 1000 Brits outside yelling and carrying on. It was fun when we were out enjoying the scene, but I definitely didn't feel like I was on a Greek Island, especially when the entire island was a tourist trap for the british and aussies. It was the first time in months that I felt like I could walk down the street and constantly understand everyone else's conversation. To be honest, I actually enjoy being in environments where I can't understand what other people are saying. The things you hear sometimes you just don’t care to. I didn't get in until late last Saturday night (July 10th). Sera-Jane and Rachel came to meet and we figured out how we were going to sneak me into their room the rest of the week. Mission Successful (btw). The week consisted of a lot of sun, the beach, too much heat, Insomnia (if it interests you- google it) and (I think) 3 nights of karaokee! Ultimately making me super happy ;) We took a pretty sweet boat tour, which we heard was pretty boring, but I thouroughly enjoyed it (after the first 3 hours of course- relating back to Insomnia), that took us to the Blue Caves, the Ship Wreck island (amazing!), the Kari Caves, and a few other swimming points where the water is so blue you can see straight to the bottom. Of course I would decide it's a good idea to go cliff jumping, thinking my ear was well enough for the- not as high as I normally jump off of- cliff I was jumping from and I wouldn't go too deep. WRONG. Immediately I feel the water sucking in as I emerge myself in the water. At this point, I don't really care anymore. I know that I won't be able to dive the rest of the summer, but it shouldn't stop me from having fun. I'm like a fish, water is part of my life. So after the initial pain goes away, I suck it up and keep swimming.. But now, I have somehow caught a cough- not too happy about that- that I pray doesn't turn into a full fledged cold. It looks like we are going be in Athens way longer than it takes to explore and are looking for some 2 day adventure options outside the city.
Recently I've been thinking about when I get home. Since it's exactly 6 weeks until I return, my mind is getting in "home" mode. At some points I get to where I miss home. It's been 10.5 months since I've been in the United States, 9 months in France, 2.5 months I've been traveling and I still have another 1.5 to go. An entire year will have passed by the time I step foot back in America. I guess at certain points you start to miss things being tangible, but then again, as the days get closer to my return, the more nervous I am to go back and I want to continue my travels. I know when I get back, real life sets back in. The last year I've been in a dream and I don't want to wake up. Things will have changed, and I will be going back to what I remember it to be before I left. I think that's where reverse culture shock comes in. I didn't have any culture shock when I got to France, maybe because I was so open to something new and exciting and having this new culture transform me. But returning to the place I've lived my entire life, everything I've known it to be, and especially after having explored parts of the world, I think it will be more difficult returning than it was leaving. I guess I'll have to take it with stride and remember that things won't be the same, but hopefully they will have changed for the better!
This is me. The girl that travels the world to learn a little more about everything; the girl that travels the world to learn a little more about herself.
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I've finally found out who I am. No more hiding who I want to be. I will keep searching to find more of myself and more of the world. That's all I need.<3

Estonia and Philosophy

Quoting the words of Rene (Laura's friend and Kati's boyfriend), "I never knew Estonia could be this fun!" I didn't really know what to expect going to Estonia. I heard it was a beautiful place, small but with lots of interesting things to see and nice beaches, but I have to admit, what really made this trip was the great friends I was with. After the amazing greeting from Kati, Laura and Amandine, and the three amazing days at Laura's house, celebrating 4th of July, the beach and Andy's arrival, we headed to Rene's summer house, in the middle of nowhere, which reminded me of Suffolk. There were fields with hay bails, the nearest neighbor a mile away, delicious home grown fruit and beautiful scenery. We ventured out at night into mosquito world, protected by layers of clothing, hats and ski goggles. Did I mention that Estonia is Mosquito Haven. We killed at least 50 mosquito's last night just in one hour. I'm currently in the airport and keep feeling like I'm being attacked! There's this beautiful baby sitting beside me. He and his mom are from Russia, and I haven't seen him without a smile on his face and not giggling the whole time I've been sitting here. He's such a happy baby!
After the summer house we headed up to Tallin, the capital of Estonia, where we stayed with Kati's brother and girlfriend for 2 nights. We explored the city and the midevil town a bit, enjoyed the nightlife of Tallin, went to the beach and spent time hanging out and having fun! It didn't occur to us how fast this week was going until last night when we grilled out at Kati's parents house and realized tomorrow we all had to wake up and go our separate ways. Who knows when we will all see each other again. But I think we'll find some way to have another adventure together!
There is a guy with a Red Sox jersey on the plane.. I totally wanted to give him a high five but I thought it might be weird if I started saying "YEAHHH. Go Boston!" and stuck my hand in the air. Ah.. I should have done it anyway! And of course I would have be sat in front of two little obnoxious kids who I swear keep hocking luggies and their parents aren't doing anything....I'm about to slap a little kid... WHY ME!?!?!
I can't wait to be back in hot weather where I don't have to worry about a jacket at night or mosquitos biting me and I can lay on the beach and watch the stars. It will be great to see Serajane again and I still can't believe it's less than 7 weeks before I go home. I still have an entire continent to explore before that happens though!
Who knows where I will be living when I get back though. We still haven't found a place yet, and I'm getting really nervous about it. I'll probably be homeless. Oh well, I've been fine traveling around with just a backpack this summer, I'm sure I could do it in Richmond too lol.
My tummy is rumbling for food, I only had 3 hours of sleep last night and I still have a 5 hour bus/ferry ride to Zante when I get to Athens.
I want to explore an idea Laura had when we were talking yesterday. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I have a philosophy. It's called Kristi's Tree of Life. It's based for me and anyone else who wants to explore it but it pulls in ideas of the world with my touch on life. I really should write the philosophy out so I don't have to explain it each time someone asks me. But on a side note, Laura and I were talking about this Russian writer who explained a tree. He wasn't only writing about this tree being present, but he took 10 pages to detail this one particular tree. Its smells, appearence, etc. I started to think about this a little as the conversation went on, and as we were looking at the tree that was standing beside us.
I mentioned to Laura that it would be easy to explain a tree in very few words, for example the tree I was looking at was fairly tall with two main branches, a trunk, and lots of green leaves. I went on to say that if I had to go into more detail I would comment on the flower pot hanging from it and the hammock attached around its base. But what really got me thinking was when Laura said it could be described even more simply, just by saying there was a tree. I guess it doesn't have to be explained what kind of tree it is, what it looks like, how tall it is or any more details, it can be up to the imagination of the reader. But is it really just a tree, or does a tree have more to it than simply being "a tree?"
What if this tree had some purpose, maybe not to your life but to someone elses. Does that tree become worthy of describing? Maybe the tree reminds you of something, in that case, it has a story behind it. Would it be then you went on to describe the tree in order to relate it to the background story? In any case, I guess I conclude a tree is not just a tree as long as it has some purpose to someone, but we may never know if it does or not, so we should look at every tree in detail, just as we should with people.
This particular tree reminded me of my old house (I never thought I would have to say that). I pictured my family in that house for the rest of our lives. Although I would grow up and move out and move on, I always saw myself coming back "home," swinging on my tree swing my daddy had made me years before, randomly walking through the same woods I used to play in as a little girl, looking at my old play house, the tree fort I attempted to build and taking a dip in the pool. I wanted to bring my furture husband "home" to see all of these things, to see where I grew up, to see my childhood and experience it with me again. I wanted always to be able to feel that humbling feeling of walking through the door to memories, my bedroom walls painted pink and a hole in the door from when I was angry and kicked it in so long ago.
But things change and sometimes we don't have control over them.
This tree reminded me of all these things, all because it had a hammock attached to its base. As I lay there swinging, I thought about the times I used to go out on a breezy summer day and fall asleep in the hammock as the squirrels climbed up the trees beside me and the birds flew from branch to branch. I lived in the middle of nowhere it felt like when I was young, but my heart became fond of it. Now I drive by almost heartbroken as that swing I used to swing on everyday was the first thing they cut down, my playhouse is gone and even if it still stood, I could no long jump from the second story into my pool. I know I will never be able to shoot my bb gun to the birdfeeder pole target, roller blade on the front porch or head to the back yard to walk over the graves of my animals I had growing up. I can't spray paint the old clothes line whenever I want or ride the lawnmower down the road to Kortni's because I'm too lazy to walk. I still remember the old tile floor before we changed it, the burn I put on the new one and the snake that got caught in the mouse trap while I was sitting at the bar. It would never be the same.
I'm now a wanderer and I soar with the wind. I have no base.
This tree stood there, letting me admire all of its details, and I found in that tree something more than just a tree. I found a story.

The End of Croatia... and beginning of Estonia!

After I left Korcula, I headed to Dubrovnik. I had met some really cool people from Norway and some girls from Canada, and we all enjoyed a close to perfect ferry ride, with a gorgeous sunset, nice meal and lots of laughs! I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time. I didn't know where I was going to stay when I got to Durbrovnik, but thankfully there are always people right outside of the bus/ferry that are offering accommodation, and since it was already 10pm at night, I figured that would be my best option. The view from the apartment was amazing, I could see all of Dubrovnik and the Old Town, and it was only a 10-12 min walk down to get there.
As you know, I'm traveling solo at the moment, but meeting people has been easier than I thought. I walked around Old Town a bit, exploring a little, looking at the architecture, etc., and after I got bored, I went back to all the places I had heard tons of people gathering. Of course Dubrovnik is a tourist area, so hundreds of college students were traveling around. I went to this place called Sky Bar, met some more travelers, the music sucked (all techno- no words) so I left and headed to a more local setting. There I met some Brazilians, Spanish, Americans and well, I guess that's not "local" but the setting felt more local- annnd the Spanish guy was living there. So I hung out with them until about 2am when we went dancing. Fortunately the Spanish guy and I started talking about music or something and I mentioned I sing, so at the dance club, he introduced me to some members of a jazz band that plays every night in Dubrovnik. They told me to come out the next night and I could sing with them. I didn't really think anything of it, but I headed to the jazz bar the following night, and just as they had promised, brought me up there for the final song and we sang, "I love you baby." It was a pretty interesting experience since I had never even heard their version, I didn't know all the words and on top of it, I had never practiced with them before. Got to love being spontaneous! Lillie and Grant (two more American's I had met at the dance club the night before and had hung out with all day) were there to support! I also was told by two people sitting near us that they would be my "supportive parents" for the evening! I love great people.
The following day I got coffee with one of the jazz band members to talk about music and whatnot, and just so happened to run into the Canadian girls from Korcula again and we all spent the day exploring a little until it was time for me to catch my bus to Plitvica Lakes. If you haven't already, look it up. It's absolutely amazing! It wasn't until the long bus ride from Dubrovnik to Split that I really got to see the country side of Croatia. I knew the coast was beautiful, but the entirety of Croatia is covered in beautiful green mountains even cruising along the coast. I had a stopover in Split and then ventured to Plitvica. Unfortunately I didn't arrive there until 3:30ish am, and although the driver knew I didn't speak Croatian, he continued to have an entire conversation in Croatian, which I later found out he was asking me where I needed to get off the bus. A camp ground I said, was thankfully dropped off right in front. By the time I had finished with a nice hot shower and pitching my tent, it was already getting light outside and I only had 2.5 hours before I had to get back up for a long day of hiking around the lakes. It was worth every bit of it though. It was probably one of the most beautiful places I have seen and it wasn't until being there did I realize I think I could actually live in Croatia. Before I had seen it only as a travel country, but when I found out that there is massive amounts of snow in the winter with resorts all around and the beauty and the lakes and the coast in the summer, it is an all around great settling country.
I had loved Croatia up until the time I was supposed to leave for Zagreb to catch my flight to Riga. As the story goes, the hotel I had kept my backpack at all day was so night to let me stay in their lobby until my 3:35am bus came the next morning and even got the night guard to take me to the bus station (which was actually a shack on the side of the road). I left about 30 min ahead of the scheduled bus arrival, just to make sure I didn't miss it. It was about 3am at this time, I was cold and have literally NO warm clothes, so I wrapped up in my sleeping back and laid against my pack on the bench. I had heard a few cars go by.. but nothing special. All of a sudden I hear a different sound, more like a huge vehicle, something like a bus. But I look at my watch- it was only 3:10am.. it couldn’t be my bus I thought to myself. 25 min early- "No Way, Not Once, Not Never." Little did I know.. it was a bus and it was my bus. As it came around the corner I jumped up frantically knowing that I couldn’t miss this bus to Zagreb. It gets closer and I leap forward, with the sleeping back cocooning me trying to get the bus to stop waving my hands in the air as I hop like I’m in a potato sack race... well I lost. I think I actually fell at one point trying to get the sleeping back from around me, picked up all my things and started running towards the sign on the back of the bus that says Zagreb. I hear the engine slow down, and I see two people exit the bus. I yell “Do you speak English!? Is that the bus to Zagreb,” to get a very unfortunate reply.. “Yes, it is.” As the bus pulls away and I’m halfway out of breathe, I can’t believe this is happening, still running towards the bus hoping by some chance it will stop. As you guessed, it didn’t, and I was left stranded there figuring out how in the world I was going to get to Zagreb by the time my flight left later that morning. The two girls walked on and did their thing and I’m contemplating all of my options. I decide to wait until 3:40am just to make sure that there wasn’t another but, and when nothing came I started walking back towards the hotel with my flashlight, trying to flag down the one or two only cars that would came by at 3:00 something am by frantically waving my hands in the air and moving my flashlight around.. hitchhiking in the middle of the night doesn’t really work too well... and my plan for walking until daylight didn’t seem like a good option either, so I headed back to the hotel where earlier I had met another really nice traveler from Mexico who had offered me the extra bed in his room to take a nap if I needed it. Thankfully when I knocked on his door when I made it back to the hotel, he gladly left me crash on the extra bed until the next morning. I got up in enough time to call the airlines to figure out how I could change/cancel/ refund my tickets, and after 3 hours of about 15 phone calls I finally was able to add an additional $100 to change my flight.
I headed off to Zagreb, knowing that was the better option. At least I would be in the city I was leaving from this time, although I had to prolong it another two days for the new flight. The first night I was just so tired after only 6 hours of sleep in the two previous nights, I didn’t find a couchsurfer in time, so I took a bed in a hostel, chilled out and slept. I did pretty much the same thing yesterday, but thankfully one of the people I had asked to couchsurf with, replied saying I could stay there last night. So after meeting Marko, who is an awesome guy, new to couchsurfing but all the same very supportive of the couchsurfing community, we went to a grocery store and got some food to make dinner. I actually suggested doing this. I was so tired of eating out, so I offered my excellent cooking skills. HA. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t cook. I hate to cook and I’m not very good at it. But surprisingly, my sautéed vegetables, spices, meat with tomato sauce and rice turned out to be very good. Don’t expect this often, but I was longing for a home cooked meal. The last time I had something similar was when Grant, Lillie and I cooked some pasta and made salad in Dubrovnik.
After dinner, I played with Marko’s brother’s new IPAD. It was the first time I had seen one in person, and it was pretty cool, but seemed more like an oversized IPOD with a few more applications and still no webcam. I figured it’s because they will have some “new” feature to add to the next generation one.
After my shower, we went to meet with Marko’s sister and her friend in the center. I was already exhausted, but tried to keep awake and enjoy what was my “4th of July” night. We went to a Zagreb couchsurfing party after we left the bar, which was a regular house party in a small space and mixing that will our tiredness, we didn’t stay too long. Once again, I only got about 3.5 hours of sleep, and Marko woke up early to take me to the bus station to make sure I got to the airport early enough. I had about an hour to wait to board, so I thought taking a nap would be a good idea. Wrong! BAD, BAD idea.
I woke up to my IPOD playing, “You can’t always get what you want,” as I looked at my watch. It was 8:32! Shit! I run to the boarding gate which was a mere 10 steps max away from where I was sitting. Instead of getting hell for being the last person, they all smiled and said, “It happens,” and called an entire bus just to take me to the plane. They had seen me sleeping there and probably found it more funny than anything else. I knew then if I didn't make it on the plane, it just wasn't meant to be for me to go to Estonia.
I made it though, and while I was waiting about 25 min for my baggage to arrive in Riga, I went to see if the girls were there! As I waited for the sliding doors to open fully, I see the girls there waiting for me on the other side! They start screaming and my eyes light up and a smile comes immediately on my face! I was so happy at that moment to be with friends and people who I care about again. The last 2 weeks I had really missed that.
Yesterday was 4th of July. I never knew 4th of July in Estonia could be so amazing. I knew at that moment it was all relative to the people I was with. It always is and always will be.
It was amazing to see the sun still sitting on the edge of the sea at 1am while I was admiring the beautiful colors, swimming in the Baltic. We celebrated American style with a BBQ and watermelon, music and friends. It was the best 4th away ever.
We woke up around 12pm, ate a wonderful brunch and headed to the beach for the afternoon. Everything you hope for on vacation with friends. But it got even better when Andy arrived tonight! We made him a sign, a welcome drink and sang him songs. Right now I'm enjoying some African music and the company of wonderful friends. Couldn't ask for anything more at the moment, except for 1 thing. ;)

Until next times my friends :)