Miami

Where I am staying in Florida is just outside of West Palm Beach. This is roughly an hours drive from Miami, and with two Brazilian exchange students spending their Christmas holidays in Miami, Jon and I thought we'd pay them a visit. Kindly, Jon's Grandma offered to drive us there so that we didn't have to take the train. 

Mariana & I

Once we arrived we went to meet Mariana at her mother's house. This place was beautiful. It was a set of apartments with gym, shopping complex, rooftop swimming pool, BBQ areas, private parking, dock, and the rooms were breathtaking with private balconies. Unfortunately her mother didn't speak much English but we still managed to thank her for the meal she cooked us. 

During the day we walked along South Beach and it was beautiful, albeit expensive. This is where anyone with money hangs out, it was as if we were surrounded by peacocks. All the men driving round in their Porsche's, Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Bentley's etc whilst wearing only the best designer clothes. I think Jon and I stood out in our scruffy shorts and t-shirts. 

Lovely Little Streets Full Of Bars & Restaurants

Although a great place to visit, I simply don't think I could afford to stay. A small beer cost $8, and that was cheap. Later in the evening we met up with Sabrina, another Brazilian exchange student. The idea was to go clubbing, but Jon forgot to bring jeans so we knew before we started that we wouldn't be allowed in. Choosing to bar hop we quickly realised that we couldn't afford to do this as prices rocketed. In this one particular bar, the place reeked of money. I've never seen so many expensive clothes in one place, meanwhile mine and Jon's shirt's showed up blue bits of lint in the lighting. 

Unfortunately for me, Man-Flu decided to take a strong grip of my throat resulting in water and coke for the rest of the evening. Good really as the place was dead, Mariana said she'd never heard of it being this quiet before. We walked the girls back to Mariana's before we set out our plan to return home. Being 2am and my Man-Flu resulting in me coughing up lungs, we were not in the best of positions. We tried a couple of hostels that were full before we nipped into McDonalds for some food. Noticing a few homeless using the 24 hour McDonalds for warmth, I took it in my stride to join them for some sleep. I can slum it with the best of them. 

Sabrina, Jon, Mariana, & I
In A Bar Far Too Expensive For Students

We wandered the streets until 5am before getting a taxi to the train station. Despite being Miami it was freezing walking round in a t-shirt. I looked at my phone to find it at 7 Degrees, I think the warm days are spoiling me. To get the train home we had to catch 3 trains; the final train being a close call to catch as we had to run from one platform to the other, or else we faced a 2 hour wait. As we ran a guy tried to cross the level crossing but his car died. Rather than wait on the side, he continued to try the engine. The train getting closer and the barriers coming down it jumped forward before dying again, this time slap bang in the middle of the tracks. Watching from the platform I saw 3 passers by run to his truck and push him to safety before the train hit. Lucky him. 

The problem with this rush is that we didn't have time to buy a ticket and assumed we could get one on board. Apparently not, the conductor had to take our I.D's and write Jon and I a warning, complete with lecture. Still a free train ride at the end of the day, and it was funny watching him try and figure out a UK driving license. 

We finally arrived home at 9am and as yet the Man-Flu hasn't taken my life.