The Foreign Looking One: Oh God, we smell...

Ahh to type on a real keyboard again! After roughly 6 weeks of solely my "Steve Jobs" phone for communication and updates, it feels good to sit down in my own place and stare a screen much larger than a couple inches.
For those of you not up to date on my doings, I just returned from a completely life-changing and amazing EuroTrip with my cousin Katie. I had winter break here in Israel and because I was so close to the world around me a EuroTrip seemed like the best and smartest option for this gap year I am on. 6 weeks is a long time, so I'll try my best to chug out all I can about this trip in separate posts. I won't publish all of them on my Facebook wall or twitter, so just look back here for the updates.
With logistics out of the way, I guess it's time to delve into as much as I can. And this one will be my overview post. Ps for all the pics in this post, if you click on them, they will enlarge.

6 weeks and I wore the same 3 leggings, 5 shirts and 3 pairs of socks. 6 weeks and I was blessed to see 16 different cities in 9 different countries. 6 weeks and numerous amazing memories. But it was 6 weeks with one amazing person! It's Katie time everybody!

Katie knew that after she graduated from Paramedic school, she would have some flux time before her license was set to come in and before she was going to test for the Fire Department (good luck girl fran!). I had winter break and worried parents about their 18 year old traveling alone, so they got us connected to plan this little excursion. And thank God they did. Katie, here's my public note to you. I was accompanied by one heck of a girl. Take note that the first day we spent together, was the most time we'd ever spent together cumulatively up until that point. So admittedly we were both nervous if we were even going to like each other. But I'd like to say that separation anxiety is an understatement right now.
Lady, you gots one heck of a personality. I never thought I'd feel so open and welcomed by a relative stranger. We were quick to laugh and both had similar interests in what we wanted to see and experience. But I think the best thing about us is that even though we had some spats and disagreements, it didn't stop the fun we had. I mean world, if you want to know what it'd be like to be married to me...just ask her! But I think the moment we knew we were in for a wild ride was when Katie fell asleep in the lobby of the hostel and I decided to videotape her. This broke all barriers of inhibition and from that moment we were a site to be seen. I couldn't have asked for a better travel bud, photographer, reality check and jokester. Sad thing is, all our pictures together are roughly tamed and normal, but that is anything but us. I love you cuz and I couldn't have asked for anyone else to travel with these weeks! The picture on the right is what the world sees, but the one on the left is what we're really like.

But like I said, traveling with her wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for my parents. Mommy Dearest and Wanyay really helped when it came to figuring out how to get smallz here out to me and urging us to soak in everything we could. I mean heck, they encouraged me to miss the first week of classes so I could see all the Pope stuff! So you two, as you'll see in upcoming posts, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to see the world and experience the best aspects of life around the world. Truly one of the best months of my life.

Katie and I would frequently have moments where we would go through pictures and really realize that we had seen so many things. Before we knew it, it was the end of the trip and we had to say goodbye. And I wouldn't change a thing about it. No running for the train moment, slipping on ice, or rainy day would make me want to do something different. Everything was perfect! And with that I'll leave some of pictures so you all know what's coming up! More details and memories for specific posts!

Again, if you click on all the pictures, they enlarge.