ALSO: A CONCERT THAT TURNED INTO SO MUCH MORE.

It's around 1 am and I'm working on an assignment with my roommate.

We're listening to Hanson.

I suddenly think to myself, "Huh, I wonder if their latest tour will also include Europe?"

I google their latest tour and I see Milan. Screaming ensues. A few tears of joy, too.

A couple of weeks and one wonderful classmate that got us tickets so we didn't have to go buy them in Trieste later, we decided the cheapest way to get to Milan, which is about 500km away from Ljubljana, is by bus. The only cheap bus tickets we could find at the bus station, though, were the ones where we would have to leave one day earlier, thus making it a three day trip to Milan. We didn't hesitate much (exams are stressful, okay? We need a break) and we bought the tickets.

When we got home, we made a reservation at the cheapest hostel we could find that somehow still had a great location - walking distance to everything. A longer walking distance, but a walking distance nonetheless. And then we started reading the reviews.

"The worst hostel I've ever been in."

"I don't know who let them advertise online."

"The staff were incredibly unfriendly and it was the worst experience."

By this point we've already paid a 5€ reservation fee and we weren't going to waste that. We're cheap and we're also living on a student budget. So we just sucked it up, prepared for the worst, and started packing.

The following morning we started our trip with lots of food in tow. The eight hours on the bus were pretty uneventful: we ate most of the food that was meant to last us all three days, we read a few books, we talked (oddly enough we still had a lot to talk about, even though we normally spend around 90 % of our time together). And at 9pm we arrived to Milan.

We took the subway to our hostel, where we were pleasantly surprised, because it was pretty awesome. The staff were nice, except for the fact that the receptionist joked that they don't have beds for us, which happened at 10pm when we were tired and slightly cranky and we didn't find it funny. The room was nice, the showers were okay, plus they offered us free dinner. Which begs the question, what expectations do people have when coming to a hostel that costs 5€ per night?!

The next day we just spent walking around Milan, taking selfies, jumping in the air, and in the evening we went to the concert at Fabrique. We were able to get right there in the front where we stood about two meters away from Taylor.

For those of you not familiar with Hanson, they are a band of three brothers (Isaac, 37, Taylor, 34, Zac, 32). They've been making music since 1992 and they became famous in 1997 with MmmBop. The tour Middle of Everywhere is celebrating 25 years of their existence. They are not so well-known, because they focus more on quality of music, not so much on commercial success. Their latest song is I Was Born, which became one of my favorite songs immediately after hearing it for the first time. The video features 11 of their 12 kids (yes, they have a lot of kids) and it's adorable.

It's unbelievable how two hours of listening to amazing music can make you feel so happy and excited to be alive and to be able to enjoy the finer things in life.

So to recap: We didn't get lost once. We were also on time for everything we had planned. We didn't miss any of the buses and we got to the venue of the concert two hours before so we were able to stand in the front. We took around 300 photos over the span of three days. We also took a bunch of boomerang videos (Sidenote: I would pay big money to the amazing person that thought of Boomerang if I had big money.)

So here's my selection of photographic proof:

Us with Leonardo da Vinci (Klara commented: I know a lot of Leonardos, they should be more specific.) // Us somewhere between Duomo di Milano cathedral and the dome. // Me, jumping in the air because that's what I do when someone takes a photo of me. // Us with tickets in front of the Fabrique concert venue. // The wonderful human beings that we had the privilege of listening to.