I set my alarm for 7:45am to get up and back down to the lobby for the GAP Awards ceremony. Of course when I got there at 5 to 8, nobody was there. Wow...big surprise... A few people made it before 8, but most arrived closer to 8:20. The awards were quite a bit of fun once it got started. I won the first prize for being the "Alpha Male" of the group. What can I say? I'm a leader. :) Other prizes included "Biggest Player" (which I was also nominated for??? I've been told it was due to me being the only guy in the group to consistently be seen talking to various women outside of the group), "Best Dressed", "Worst Dressed", "Drama Queen", etc. We were all tasked with buying a prize for each category. I had to buy the prize for "Most likely to survive a Lydia Nuclear event". Of course the winner was going to be Amanda so I found a nice pink scarf for 30 pesos or about $8 US. It was a very deserving prize. Suzanne even commented that it was a "nice" prize, not a gag prize. Everyone in the group definitely has set their place within the group and the awards were quite appropriate. After the awards, we said goodbye to James (who was still super sick) and Sarah, who were off to New York City. The rest of us packed up and checked out. Justin, Barbara, Thom, and I were heading to Barbara's flat in Palermo Hollywood, Andrew, Hannah, Gary, and Elizabeth were heading to the hostel they were all staying at. And Lydia and Amanda also heading off to their respective hostel. But after getting to our respective accomodations, we'd all reconvene for lunch in Palermo SOHO again. We got to Barbara's flat and it is the cutest little flat you can imagine. 2 story studio. 1 and a half baths, dining area, little kitchen. Cute as hell, but watch out for the low ceilings. Justin has already crowned himself twice going to the bathroom on the 5'9" door frame. The only thing the flat did not have was WIFI. She has high speed internet, but it's hard wired. Justin and I were thinking the same thing as we walked out the door to meet the others for lunch... Wireless router... Little did we know there is a computer store 4 storefronts down. I stopped as we walked past to look in the window and mentally remembered what they had.
We met the others back in Palermo SOHO for a quick lunch. I had a WONDERFUL prosciutto and brie sandwich and a bottle of Agua Mineral sin gas (plain bottled water). The others were unable to check into their hostels so early so after lunch they all departed to do some shopping and check in and Justin, Barbara, Thom, and I walked back to hang out until it was time for Thom to catch a cab to the airport and head home. As we approached Barbara's front door, we made our way back to the computer store a few fronts down and bought a wireless router for 200 pesos. We went back to Barbara's flat with Justin ready to do his thing and set it up. Strangely, the router didn't include an Ethernet cable so Barbara said she'd grab one when she went back to her mom's house to get some clothes after Thom left. We sat around talking for a bit until 6pm when a cab came to take Thom to the airport. 4 down from the group. Thom and I became pretty good friends on this trip and I was sad to see him go. Barbara left soon after Thom to get some clothes and Justin and I stayed at the flat. After a few minutes, Justin decided to take a look for himself and found an Ethernet cable in the back of the closet. SCORE!!! 20 minutes later WE HAD WIFI!!! WHOOP WHOOP! Barbara came back and brought a hammock back with her so we'll soon have a hammock to lounge in with WIFI. HELLOOOO FACEBOOK! ;) We decided to stay in during the evening and Barbara cooked for us. She made ravioli with mushrooms, ham, and green onion in a creme sauce. I thought it was actually quite good even though she said it wasn't. But I know her mentality. If I'm cooking and something doesn't turn out the way I want it to, I also have a tendency to say it's bad, even when other people say it isn't. After dinner, I turned down my futon and got ready for bed though stayed up for a bit typing out a few pages for the blog and get caught up with the last couple of day's events. Tomorrow is the official first day after the tour and while I'm sad to see my friend's leaving, I know that some are still in the city and I'll get to see them before we depart in 4 days.
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