“Hey new girl, who are you?”

“Chantelle”

“Chantelle is your name…I’ve asked who you are.”

The girl quite intimidated by this strange individual bows her head looking straight at her breakfast without saying a word.

The guy starts to laugh and so do I with him. I like him, he’s an Australian DJ and surfer, in his forties, with long dreadlocks and a large smile.
However, now it’s my turn. He looks at me and then at my camera which I just put on the table in front of me. I know he’s going to tell me something, probably bad, but I take the challenge with a smile.

“Nice camera!”

“Yes, full frame, it’s pretty good”

“Yeah yeah, I know. I wanted to buy one of these…I have a shitty one at the moment. Do you mind if I have a look a the pictures?”

“Sure, go on.”

After few seconds flickering through my pictures he rises his eyes to me.

“Did you take any photography course?”

“Mmmmh…not really”

“I can tell.”

“Alright” I think, after all I was expecting him to say something abrupt to me.

“Well, I have a diploma in digital photography. Really cool stuff. I did this course and learned a lot”

I just smile nodding, while thinking “Cool story bro”

“Do you have a laptop or a USB stick?

“Yep, I have both.”

“Alright, give me your stick and I’ll give you all the material of the course. Obviously there won’t be anyone to assess you, but if you go through all the modules and do all the exercises you’ll learn a lot. You’ll see the world in a different way.”

Beautiful! A professional photography course for free! I knew this guy was cool. Few minutes later I had all the course in PDF with me, something more to do in this period, since I didn’t have enough to do. But well, I’m getting quite a bit into photography over here, I started an album on Facebook which is a sort of diary and this can only be beneficial.

Once more I find myself confirming how great is to travel in hostels. Many people think it’s just a cheap accommodation. Sharing a room with strangers, sleeping in bunk beds. Sharing the bathroom and leaving all your stuff in a locker. To be fair I’m not a fan of bunk beds, especially the top bunk, however that is the little compromise to pay to be part of this beautiful community.

In hostels you’ll usually meet nice people, friendly and open minded. After all, people who aren’t like that, who “wouldn’t be able to share a room with strangers”, can stay in hotels or AirBnbs.