Lake Como-Part Uno

So a few weeks back my teachers at my schools asked me, "You know we have fall break coming up, right?"


The answer to that was no. However, I wasn't surprised. This country uses every excuse to relax, take off from work/school, and enjoy life. Not complaining. Those happen to be three of my very favorite things.


Originally, I was going to stay home in Bregenz and just hang out/save money. I had a little discussion with my Betreuungslehrerin (my contact teacher) at my second school that went something like this:


Heidi- "You know we have Herbstferien (fall break) this next week."
Me- "Yeah, I know."
Heidi-"Where are you going?"
Me-"Well, I don't know. I will probably hang around here or head to Munich or something."
Heidi-"WHAT?!?!?! You can go to Munich anytime! You have all that time to travel. You NEED to travel."
Me-"You are right. I should." 


So that is how I decided to take a trip to the Lake Como area. It was so fabulous. I understand why the likes of Madonna, Elton John, George Clooney and Leo DiCaprio (listed in order of importance, naturally) live there.


So I'll write more about that later. But for now I just want to talk about one of the advantages of hosteling it up Europe-style. 


The people.

This is Greg. I hung out with him on Friday. He is a literacy coach from Connecticut living in Florence.

On the left is Kyle, the pro freestyle skier and catholic conspiracy theorist from Colorado. On the right is Echo (aka Pei Ching) from Malaysia but living in Bristol, England who studies town planning and is one heck of a traditional Italian dance dancer. 

Here is Cassie, who also lives and works in Bristol. Behind her is Dee, from China but studying at Rutgers in the US.

Not pictured but of equal awesomeness: Ryan, the master barista from a town outside of Melbourne, Australia with a tattoo of a caffeine molecule on his left forearm. 

I always say, traveling by yourself is great. You have instant friends at hostels that you have no obligations to. You can hang out if you want and your plans for the day align. However, you can go off and do what you please because you have no real obligation to them. It's the best.

So, that is the first thing I have to say about my trip to Como...well, Menaggio. But still.

I'll leave you with pictures of the sunrise I watched every morning from my bed.

It's ok to be jealous. I'll allow it.