After travelling around Belgium for a week, it is nice to finally have a place to call home for the next month. Ryan and I have been really excited to go to Italy, but anxious to see what life working at a hostel was going to be like. Well, the weather is not AS good as I would have liked it to be, but the hostel is so far proving to be a lot more fun than expected. Basically, Carpe Diem is owned and run by Maurizio who lives there as well. The hostel itself has more of a family type atmosphere than a working business. There are currently 4 workers here (Ryan and I plus two girls from the US). Maurizio is involved in a lot of work exchange programs though so basically anyone who wants to stay for a longer period can do so and decrease their nightly stay costs by chipping in with the work. Maurizio does all the cooking and so far, it has been incredible! He loves home style Italian (duh...we are in Italy) and we have so far been treated to fresh pizza and a veggie pasta. Dad, you will have to make your tomato sauce when I come home so I can compare. I can't wait to jump into the kitchen with him to learn some of these authentic recipes!!! Perhaps my apple crisp will make an appearance in Brindisi as well. This apple crisp is turning out to be quite the traveller. A recipe which started in Germany has now been taught to Jochen who is in Australia, as well as my CS hosts in Ghent. I made the crisp for Tim and Marina when Marina's parents visited for dinner. Marina's mother wanted the recipe for their big family dinner this week. That makes 4 countries....Germany, Australia, Belgium, and the Netherlands (where Marina's parents live). Once I make it in Canada and Italy that will be 6!

So far, we have not had to do much work at the hostel since our first week is simply to get ourselves acquainted with how things work. Unlike usual hostels, most of the people who come to Carpe Diem only stay for the day. Pretty much everyone I have met so far arrived in Brindisi early in the morning and had to wait for their boat to leave later that evening. Since Brindisi is not the most exciting town, people come here to get something to eat, take a shower, and basically hang out with us! Our job is to welcome them and make sure they have everything they need. We bring them drink, prepare snack and bagged lunches, and help them figure out the phones and internet. There is a large collection of board games that I cannot wait to tackle. Last night was a game of Monopoly...I hate Monopoly. I am hoping that soon someone will visit the hostel that loves Scrabble as much as I do. Today Ryan is going to head into town to pick up hostel guests from the train station with Maurizio. The hostel has a super cool van that looks like the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. I am going to be helping Lizzy and Jess stock the bar and prepare for the Saturday night party...basically all of us sitting by the fire, drinking (within reason), and chatting about travels and whatever else pops into the conversation. As long as the sun keeps shinning, I will be a very happy person.