The girls and I have been walking for over 25 minutes now. I dragged them through the remains of the book market and we went deeper into the residential area of Istanbul.

They were suspicious of where we were, but I told them google maps was the boss and since we have no idea where we were we should just keep following it especially that we were headed to a supposedly an "amazing" place to eat that an expat who considered herself "local" has recommended. Turns out the location she shared was bogus and we ended up in the middle of no where without any humans or cars to be seen! Everyone turned to me and gave me the -WHAT THE HELL- look. I didn't only get lost but I managed to get six other girls lost with me! Six exhausted girls may I add. We were all tired after an intensive day of drawing geometry and visiting mosques and I just made them walk up hill for at least half an hour. At the point, they were fed up and just wanted to go back to the hotel even if that meant sleeping without food. 

I kept walking and suddenly I looked up and spotted a bunch of people at a terrace. "Look" I shouted as I pointed up. "there is a restaurant up there." The girls were suspicious, but they followed me anyway. I just entered and hopped on five flights of stairs. There was a function of some sort but I asked a waiter if that was a restaurant and he said yes. I asked if it's ok to eat there and he said of course and he directed me to a table close to the people there, but I pointed at the other empty end and asked if we can move the table there to be away from the noise. Everything magically worked out! And smiles were finally appearing. After all, four of the six girls only knew me for a day!

 While we were ordering food, we noticed that the function was actually a party and then we realised it was actually a wedding! There was a lady in a white dress and everything. We were so hungry we missed her! When we realised that we just crashed a wedding, we just got closer to the corner and wished we were invisible. We were shocked that the restaurant even allowed us to go in! Maybe it was our lost exhausted faces. 

As we were eating, the terrace few buildings away released some fireworks and we were thrilled to see it all and moments later, a man on our terrace held some fireworks and lifted them and we were so close to the action. It was so thrilling. Plus we got an amazing view of Istanbul. 

Getting lost could either go really well or miserably bad. we were all pleased it turned to be such fun. It was a night to remember and by the end of it, it felt like the girls and I were friends for years.    

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