Alie and I have travelled all around the world together. Literally. We met while studying abroad with Semester At Sea. It was the best time of our lives. For four months, we got to live each day as if it were our last. Along the way, of course, we got ourselves nearly killed. In Cape Town, South Africa, for instance, we got stranded on top of Table Mountain. After waiting several hours for a rescue team to save us, we ended up having to climb down the mountain in the pitch of midnight. Four hours later, Alie and I made it to the bottom, literally hobbling home. That didn’t stop us from waking up two hours later to go great white shark diving. This picture is of the two of us finally catching our breath after all that was over — desperately trying to numb the pain in the process. Not long after our journey together, Hurricane Katrina came around and put a halt to my travels. I haven’t seen Alie since, although we have remained close friends. Again, the invaluable persevering quality of a great travel buddy. It would mean the world to have an opportunity to feel the exhilaration of life pumping through my veins again – an adrenaline boost only a great worldly adventure can bring about.