My travel buddy Brandy and I first met on a study abroad trip in Montepulciano, Italy in 2005. We had so much fun traveling together and missed Italy so much, that we went back the next year together on the same program! We traveled all over Italy both years, but one of my favorite stories to tell is when we went to Capri. Getting there was quite an experience! We arrived at night and didn’t even know how to get to our hotel. We were a little nervous to say the least! When we finally got to our hotel, we discovered that we were staying in a place that had never been renovated since the 1970’s. When we go to our room, we just had to laugh because it was so retro. Our room key was large enough to be considered a weapon. What was the real kicker was that our hair dryer looked like one of those attachments you put on a vacuum cleaner! Our fascination with our hotel room was short lived, however. Not five minutes had passed when we heard loud pops. We immediately hit the floor thinking it was gun shots. We were both thinking, ‘Great, we’re staying in an Italian ghetto. I hope we make it through the night!” However, we soon discovered that it was just fireworks and had a good laugh at our reactions. We still get a good laugh out of staying at that hotel!