One of the great joys in world traveling is being able to meet people from many different walks of life, some strange, and perhaps some that are more familiar.

While in Barcelona we had the esteemed pleasure of staying with a friend of mine that I had met while at Western. Christina had only been at Western for a semester before having to return to Spain, but being such an interesting and likable person it was very easy for us to become good friends during those few short months. While in Barcelona we were able to stay with her at her friend Gloria's apartment, who was gracious enough to give us free reign of the place. We spent an awesome couple days there, definitely some of the best I've experienced thus far, and it very understandably felt like our parting was much too soon. One of the best parts of this experience for me I think was that I had the chance to see Christina and Gloria in their natural setting, that is to say the place where they felt most comfortable, at home. Through that I think I gained a much better understanding and appreciation for what makes them who they are, what their backgrounds are like, why they see things in a certain way, that before at Western with Christina I don't think I could properly understand.

Now to more current events. After a brief, but in many ways perhaps still too long, stay in Nice, we were catching trains to Cinque Terre, having to make a transfer in a small town just inside Italy's border. Having eaten nothing that day, and since we still had a good thirty minutes before we had to catch our connecting train, we decided to venture out a little into the city in order to find a small grocery store. Ransom (possessing legs far longer than anything needed outside of a giraffe) took off with a purpose of mind and determination of will that left poor Tait and I quickly lost in the crowd. When we reached the exit, we searched vainly for sign of our lengthy compatriot, but to no avail. He was gone, and we could do nothing but wait for his return. As the minutes ticked by however, a growing dread began to form in our bowels as we realized that Ransom, having no working clock in his possession, was quite possibly completely unaware of the time, and with it the looming of our soon departing train. At about ten minutes before scheduled departure time, panic set in. In a state of desperation and raving madness, I left Tait behind with our bags as I ran wildly down the streets. Though perhaps I didn't do much to enhance the image of our fair country, these thoughts were far from my mind as searched shop after shop for some, any sign of our pony-tailed friend. With but minutes before our train was to depart, I found him walking triumphantly up the street, carrying a large bag of groceries in his arms, and an even larger grin on his face. With a few words and my panic filled eyes I conveyed the urgency of the situation, and donning his newly acquired treasure recklessly in my arms, we began our mad dash to the train station, "running", in the words of Ransom, "like we'd never run before". Picking Tait up on the way (quite literally), we raced down the train platforms in the hopes of our train being perhaps delayed, or perhaps even being held just for our sakes. But alas, such was not to be the case. As is the case often in life, our train had already departed. Shock and dismay were quick to set in, and that mixed with complete and utter exhaustion at having just run a marathon with thirty lbs. of weight on our backs, left us on the brink of complete shutdown. As I laid sputtering for breath, I started having visions of sleeping in the train station that night. We had been told before leaving Nice that there were only two trains bound for our destination that day, and that the other train wouldn't get us to Cinque Terre until sometime around 2:00am. Sitting there in a semi-translucent haze, I pondered what fate could have got us into this mess, and what on Earth God's purpose could be for this. Surely He could have gotten us on the train, but here we were, completely stuck. If God had a plan for this, what on Earth could it be? I for one could not see it. As we were sitting there, Tait went to go check on the trains. I was still dazing in and out of consciousness when he came back, and nearly fell right over when he informed us that there would actually be another train coming in about an hour on the very same platform. Wow, well that was something at least. With this news, I finally pulled myself together enough to be able to enjoy some of the ice cream that Ransom had been able to obtain at the store, and feeling at least a little bit better about life sat back to wait for the train to come.

Perhaps not more then fifteen minutes after my anguished prayer, a backpacker of Asian decent came up behind me and asked if we knew if this train was heading for Florence. Taking a closer look at a timetable sheet that she was showing me, I happened to notice Japanese notes written all over it, and so daringly asked if she was Japanese (this being done in Japanese, I should note). After overcoming her obvious surprise at my speaking Japanese, we began to talk while Tait went to confirm that this Train indeed would take her to Florence. Since the train was non-reserved, we were able to find a compartment together once the train finally arrived (and after we fed her sandwiches and other snacks). We found out that her name was Yoko, and as it turned out she had been in Edinburgh for the past eight months on a sort of working holiday, and she was now traveling around Europe for a few weeks before returning back to Japan where she would have to begin looking for a job. We also began telling her about ourselves, and our current plans and where we were headed. Having been going through more or less the exact same cities we had been, the idea of going hiking through the the villages of Tuscany excited her tremendously. Having more than enough room in our tent, we gamely invited her scrap her current plan and come join us. She thought we were certainly joking at first, but after some mild persuasion she was finally convinced of the merit of our plan and took the train with us to Cinque Terre. After a couple days hiking through the mountains, she even came along with us down to Florence, which was her original plan. In those few days together, we were able to form a friendship that I'm sure will carry on well beyond the scope of this trip. It's ever interesting what new things life has in store for you, just when you think things are ruined, you find a much greater design to be at work. If I've learned nothing from life, and from this trip, it is that nothing in this life happens by chance.

"Rest in my arms, sleep in my bed, there's a design, to what I did and said."             

-Sufjan Stevens