It was 5:30 in the morning as I reluctantly rolled my delirious self out of bed. The struggle was all so real, but I had committed myself to climbing the hill to the TV tower overlooking Tbilisi to see the sunrise at least once. I had already put it off several times, but now the friends I had promised were set to leave the country soon, so this was our last chance. I stumbled down into the common kitchen and immediately began making coffee for today it was an absolute necessity. Moments later, my other two brave and tired companions, Etienne and Sara, entered the room.

Quickly, we downed the coffee and exited the hostel. It was just before 6:00. Although I had walked this path to the tower many times before, I had never done so in the dark. And as it was steep and covered by trees, it was nearly impossible to avoid slipping and tripping frequently. Nonetheless, we reached an overlook just before the tower in about 30 minutes, and decided that this would be our spot. Next to us was a bench and table (which we then occupied) as well as a makeshift workout area in the forest constructed out of pipes and truck tires. It was an odd site to see, made only more surprising by two middle aged men already using one of the pipes to do pull ups. Anyway though, I digress, for that is another story. Here is what the sunrise looked like:

The above-mentioned work out area (picture taken a different day)