On Monday morning at 5:30AM, Bethany and I woke up and headed off to Cannes La Bocca train station, just 3 hours after our bedtime, delayed by last-minute packing and soaking up the last hours of our times in Cannes. We spent the entire morning traveling from Cannes through Nice and Monaco to Ventimiglia, Italy where we made a stop for a few photos and some fresh fruit from the market. I ate entirely too many cherries and a citrus Red Bull, a European commodity that I’ve come to enjoy. This short break was the first realization that we clearly had no knowledge of the Italian language and had a lot to learn. We transferred trains at Genova and ran into some fellow midwesterners from Indiana, recent graduates of Purdue University that were taking a trip before heading into their brand new jobs. What an excellent transition that has to be! I look back at my launch into post-grad life that started just 2 days after graduation and just burn with enthusiasm for their experience. We all hopped on the train, but moments later realized the train that was scheduled to go to La Spezia was actually heading in the opposite direction to Milan. We got off on the next stop, transferred over to a Regional train heading the right direction, but soon after paid the consequences of the mishap, with a visit from the train authorities that charged us additional fees for our mistake (which we still believe strongly was the time boards mishap). We shared a train car with these guys who were also hiking Cinque Terre this week and ended up playing the Midwest favorite, Euchre card game. It was fun to connect with fellow Americans and to realize how small of a world it really is.