the second time i went to europe and didn't get taken...

so one day in provo i decided i needed to get out of the country and put my resume up on a few esl websites and got an email from a school in perugia, italy and they wanted me to come for 2 weeks to teach at a summer camp...i would be leaving in 3 weeks. done. i bought my ticket and decided to stay for a month and travel around northern italy and greece...all by myself... i was stoked on it - until i was on the airplane and realized that i was going by myself to couchsurf (stay with random people) all by myself! i was terrified... but when i got to my first couchsurfing place it actually was really cool. i wouldn't want to travel any other way. you get to see all the local spots and all the cool things to do and still be safe traveling at night.

alexey is the russian boy i shared a room with the first night

fiat 500 dream car

Kate was my roommate for babylou (the english company) we got along right away.. this picture is of her feeling ridiculous about that old man in a bright pink suit. Getting to Perugia was quite the adventure... it was ridiculous. there was lots of trains and having no idea which stop to get off and which train to get on when i transferred... there was lots of stalking and praying and hoping that i would make it to the right place...when i got there...no one was there to pick me up! i had all of these thoughts about how this company was a fake company and now i was stranded in italy alone and had no idea what i was supposed to do... my phone wasn't working and i couldn't figure out the pay phones and was so confused. luckily i had the address to the company and asked a police man who asked a taxi driver and it was this huge ordeal and we finally realized it was across the street! i went over and waited there for an hr or so before someone finally came for me and took me to the hostel. i also found out at that point that we actually weren't teaching in perugia.. we were like an hr outside of the city in cita di castillo. basically the middle of nowhere with no hope for escape. i really liked the girls that i worked with and the camp was ridiculous fun and stressful and so much italian and politics and smelly kids but it was an awesome experience! babylou was real sketchy though and we almost didn't get paid-found out we were actually working illegally with no work visas (they told us we didn't need them)... after much yelling and crying we finally got our money and took off!

i loved these kids so much!

eddie's mom was from england and his dad was american but they live in italy so he speaks italian perfectly and has a british accent in english- he was such a brat but i loved him so much. this summed up our relationship....`

filipo cardinali i absolutely loved this boy. he was my best friend. we were inseparable! one of my favorite kids of all time! i actually cried when he left camp!

we went white water rafting in tuscany. jean and i were so excited for our wet suits...

filipo and luigi- the kids had the coolest names ever!

our whole camp was based on making a play about the trojan war... allison made this huge trojan horse out of cardboard. it was such a headache but awesome!!

verona! lago do garda.

the del pazzo family was nice enough to let me stay with them... they were so cool and so nice and took me all around verona. it was great. i love verona!

i was obsessed with the windows!

kyle was on his mish in verona and found me a place to stay and then we met up one day and went to lunch on an awkward not date with the missionaries! notice awkward spacing.... we didn't realize that was happening until it was too late!

this is what i look like while i'm backpacking....

venice

the most awesome violinists i have ever heard! i stopped and listened to them for a good half hour...

loved venice

my friend from byuh viktor is from greece and he put me in contact with his best friend from high school dimitris. he was super cool and super funny and took me around and introduced me to people. i LOVED greece. out of all the places i have traveled to so far that has been my favorite. it is just so beautiful and chill and the best of everything.

so i went to santorini and was wandering around looking for the donkeys i had heard about that you could ride up the caldera steps and saw this table of old men. they looked straight out of national geographic. i really wanted to take a picture of them... they saw me looking at them and motioned me over... i thought i probably shouldn't go and see strange men but then the desire to take the picture won out and i went anyways... turns out they were the donkey guys! i asked if i could take a picture and they thought i meant with them... so one of the others took it... this old man was kissing my cheek for a good minute before the guy would take the picture. i wish he had got him kissing me... he did capture his grabby hands...haha.

i got to ride a donkey!! it was such a terrifying slash exhilarating slash amazing experience. the view was awesome. the donkeys had a mind of their own though and would switch from chilling going at a normal pace to sprint running to abrupt stops. the stairs are so steep and covered in donkey poo and you think you are going to fall off the edge of the cliff every 5 seconds... but it was the highlight of the trip.

one of the friends i made in the hostel in santorini. even though i was traveling alone i never really went anywhere alone. i always made friends couchsurfing or in the hostels. it was so much fun.

i was so fascinated by the LITERALLY sun drying tomatoes! the coolest thing ever!

more friends in santorini. we went on this all day tour together to this volcano and mud bathes and a boat ride. it was real cool.

oia is so pretty. this is where the famous sunset happens. i can't describe how much i loved santorini

ginevra was the nerdiest..funniest girl. all the kids loved dancing- easiest teaching thing ever. this dance is so funny...we would watch it when we needed a good pick me up....