You know when you meet someone and you can just tell that they are “my kind of people?” That’s exactly what happened when I first “met” Maddie and Justin (and I say “met” because our introduction was digital!)  Maddie and Justin started out as our “sponsor” family, which basically means they (Justin) were assigned to us (Jordan) to help in our transition from the US to Sicily.  From our first conversation, we had SO MUCH in common.  I knew I wanted to be real friends, not just sponsor/sponsorees and couldn’t wait to get over to Sicily to meet them in person.  I guess is was fate because I think it turned out to be the best “assigned” match one could make.  Now, I’d say we are all more than friends; they are our Sicilian family!

Maddie and Justin are such genuine people. They are adventurous, compassionate, considerate, and obviously incredibly good looking!  I can’t omit the fact that they are absolutely hilarious and soooo much fun to hang out with.  I honestly do not think I’ll love Sicily as much as I do without them around.  They are our travel buddies, our adventurous cuisine companions, and our best friends here in Sicily.  We will miss them so much!

With that being said, I have simultaneously been both looking forward to and dreading this post; looking forward to it because I’ve been dying to get these two in front of my camera ever since we met, and dreading it because it means they will soon be leaving the island and heading back to the US.  Serious tears here.

Before they head off on their next adventure, they trusted me to capture some images of the in their favorite place on the island, Cefalù.  As a bonus, we also traveled to the nearby town of Castelbuono for dinner and caught an absolutely amazing sunset!!

Maddie and Justin – thank you so much for your friendship. You are the coolest and the most fun people I’ve ever met, and we will miss you both so much!!

P.S. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see the CRAZY, unedited Sicilian sunset shots.

Justin + Maddie