Daisy Dukes

            The typical daily outfit for the summer would be shorts and a tank top. Being from Florida, that use to my yearly attire. I interchanged my shirts but only had a few pairs of shorts. One of these pairs of shorts I had since 8^th grade and surprisingly still fit. I found them on sale at Abercrombie and knew I had to get them. They are exceptionally short and light blue denim with a ripped up look at the bottom. I refer to them as my Daisy Dukes. When I would wear them my mom would always complain that they were too short on me, but I brought them everywhere I went regardless. I remember wearing them during my most memorable summer.

Summer of 2009 was when I was fortunate enough to travel Europe with America Trails West teen tour. My shorts and I traveled through England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey, which totaled exactly a month. I wore my Daisy Dukes when two of my friends and I got lost in Florence, Italy. We were touring art museums and Roman Catholic Cathedrals for half of the day with the teen tour. After the organized activities were completed, the counselors let us go shopping and said to meet them back at the hotel. My friends and I joyfully adventured through the city. We finished our need for shopping then went on a horse carriage tour. We then decided it was time to head back to the hotel but did not know which way we were suppose to go since the counselors never told us the directions to the hotel. We found ourselves a map, I forgot why, but the map was not useful. We then tried asking these two police officers for directions, but they did not speak any English and none of us knew any Italian. We attempted to figure it out ourselves by pretty much walking down some random street we thought was the correct way. Even though it was against the rules of the tour, we had no choice but to flag down a taxi. Thankfully most cab drivers in the area were able to speak and understand English. We gave him the name of the hotel then he started driving and made a U-turn, meaning we were going the complete opposite direction.

Later that night, still wearing the same outfit, my two friends and I almost got kicked off the tour. All three of us roomed together. We were supposed to be in our rooms at ten, which we were, but we did not know that the balcony was off limits. It was a small, compact hotel. Our room was on the second floor and our balcony faced the balcony of two other rooms of the first floor where some of the boys on the tour roomed. We were talking to them from the balcony. Somehow the counselors knew we were all relaxing on the balcony, and came to each of the rooms to reprimand us for not being in our rooms and threatened to kick us off the tour. Since the balcony was apart of the room, we all thought it was acceptable to be on.

I also wore my Daisy Dukes through my other adventures in Europe. I wore them the day the counselors forgot to wake my group up to tour Switzerland so we were given permission to walk around the town we were staying in. I also wore them during the gondola ride in Venice, the day a few kids on my tour got in trouble for getting drunk, and while I was at Disney in France.

I still wear my Daisy Dukes whenever I go back to Florida but only at the beach. They became even shorter than they were on me when I first got them causing them to be inappropriate to wear out in any other location. Even though I cannot wear them as much as I use to or in certain locations, I will always keep them to remind me of Summer 2009.