Love Is Blind with Malala Yousafzai

Happy New Year, and why is it a happy New Year? Because you can now binge gear the incredible series from our fellow radio-topia show "Articles of Interest". Gear is about the intersection between the military and the outdoor industry. Can you believe that they are deeply, deeply interwoven? The military actually affects so much of our current fashion trends which I didn't know about until I listened to "Articles of Interest". But wait, there's more. This year, there'll be new episodes about tattoos and what they mean for our self-expression, about bras and whether or not their technology is outdated. I feel like yes, but I'm willing to wait and see what Avery says. There's an episode about the greatest designer you've never heard of, and a look at what it means to make clothes truly accessible for everyone. Articles of Interest is about clothing for people who don't necessarily think they're interested in clothing. If you're ready to change your relationship with the clothes you wear every day, check out "Articles of Interest" for "Avery Gear Podcast". Hello and welcome to "Normo Gossip". I'm your host, Rachel Hampton, and in each episode of this podcast, we are going to bring you an anonymous morsel of gossip from the real world, and welcome to season 9, y'all. We made it. We're here, and I am so, so excited, before we get into the gossip, I wanted to take the chance to thank everyone who came out to see me and Sierra on tour back in September. We actually jumped right into production for season 9 about a week or so after getting back from tours, so this is the first real chance I've had to sit down and kind of reflect on everything. I just wanted to express how profound they grateful I am to host a show with such an incredible audience, literally everyone who worked with on tour went out of their way to tell us how warm and engaged and sweet our fans are. I said this a few times out on the road, but the reality of making a podcast in 2025 is me sitting in my living room on Zoom with Sierra and the rest of the normal gossip team, so it is really easy for me to forget that there are real actual people on the other side of this, which made meeting so many of y'all so deeply humbling. There was a moment during the tour where I got pretty sick, and we had to make the really difficult decision to cancel the Austin stop, and I want to first apologize to our Austin fans. I really wish we could have put the show on for y'all, but I also wanted to thank y'all specifically because when we announced the stop was canceled, so many of y'all DM'd us, like Rachel's health is the most important thing. You'll better soon, and I really can't say how much that meant to me. I have definitely alluded to being a recovering perfectionist, so the thought of disappointing people is a hard one for me to sit with. My therapist here's bought it all the time, and y'all made it so much easier. So really, truly from the bottom of my heart, thank you to Austin and to every other person who bought a ticket to Sierra and I as first tour. If you saw this show, you will remember that there is a section of this show where we asked for bribes if you haven't seen the show who could say whether or not a little live version might be dropped in the feed sometime soon. We posted this on Instagram, but for those of y'all what the healthy relationship to social media, we wanted to reveal that over the course of seven shows, y'all sent us a little over $1,000 in bribes, which is absolutely ridiculously incredible. After the tour, we split that bribe money into two $500 donations. One went to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, and the other went to Trans Santa, a mutual aid project that connects anonymous gift givers with trans youth who are unhoused in foster care or otherwise without the crucial support they need to thrive. So thank you to everyone who bribed us. Your money went to some great causes, and if you want to donate to those organizations on your own, we will leave some links in the show notes. This isn't of housekeeping today. Now for the real reason you're here, y'all, I cannot express how excited I am about today's guest. It has been so hard keeping this a secret for the first time in normal gossip history. We are being joined by a Nobel Peace Prize winner. You might have heard of her before. Today's guest is none other than Malala Yousef's side. Malala is an education activist, a best-selling author, and the youngest ever, Nobel laureate. Malala, hello. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you. I'm so excited for normal gossip. This is maybe the most iconic crossover of this entry. I think that's true. I think it was meant to be who said I don't like gossip, who said that? Exactly. I mean, usually I ask every guest the same question, which is what your relationship to gossip is, but your team really kindly sent me and Sierra a copy of your new memoir finding my way. And I feel like it gave me some insight into your relationship with gossip. So I'm going to read a passage that I found particularly illuminating. You wrote, as my story traveled around the world, people began to describe something I didn't recognize. A serious and shy girl, a wallflower forced to speak out when the Taliban took away her books. Sometimes the absurdity of it made me laugh. Growing up I was a troublemaker at school, I varied bits of gossip back and forth between groups of girls and crack jokes that made my friends laugh and scold me in the same breath. So I actually wanted to ask, how do you feel like being a public figure for so much of your life has affected your relationship with gossip? Because it sounds like you, like me, were a gossip from birth. Yes. Growing up I love to just be a normal friend and it's part of your friendship, but we want to talk about who said what and what happened and did you know? And I loved all of that. I wanted to know all secrets. I wanted to know what each friend was up to. But I think yes, my life took a very sharp turn when the Taliban attack happened and in my new school in the UK, I struggled to make friends and I missed that old part of my life. I just wanted to be with lots of friends and I wanted us to chat about any topic and to laugh and giggle together and to gossip sometimes. But that part of my life had gone missing and it was something I wish I could get back. Do you feel like as you've gotten more, I guess, accustomed to how public your life is that you found ways to reintroduce gossip back into your life? Yes. The change happened when I joined university. So my college time was when I realized that I actually have found this close circle of friends who are trying to protect me at the same time. They understand my public image, but they want to make sure that I can be myself. So with my new friends, I was trying new things from roof climbing to staying up till 3 a.m. Getting into trouble at times or skipping our assignments so that we could go to every party and every event and more importantly, it was this safety where I could express myself without having to think twice about what would people say or what if this word is spread in the friend's circle. So I didn't have to feel worried and scared all the time. Gossip was back into my life and I love that. And I love that for you. It is so important, speaking of how important it is. A little birdie told me that you have some gossip for me. Yes. I too. And, you know, this is a bit embarrassing as well. I was not sure if I should share this or not, but perfect. Oh, don't judge me, don't judge me. I would never. So basically, in the early days of college, I wanted to make as many friends as possible and because of my school in this new country, I had only made one friend. So I was like, you know what? At college, don't miss on this opportunity. Like, go to every event. So I was sitting with this friend and she shared with me this gossip about a guy that she was dating, so she told me that they had slept together and then she commented about what that was like and then she commented about certain parts. So that story, I was like, wow, like that's a crazy gossip anyway. Then I was at another gathering, completely different friends. And I just never thought I was like, these are two different places. They would not connect. So I'm sitting with this other friend and we were chatting and it's like late at night and it's the music in the background and he's like, so, you know, how things going and do you have any gossip and it's like, you know what? I'm going to show off and I'm going to tell him, yes, I do have gossip and like, I know more than him. You know what? I know things you don't know. Yeah. So I told him and I said, oh, yeah, you know, this friend of mine, she was, you know, with this guy and she commented how bad the experience was, you know, how he was terrible. Anyway, and just gave away some detail, all good. You know, I was like, okay, I'm just cool girl and I'm just sort of showing off the next morning. I wake up and I see my phone and there's a very long text message from that female friend of mine and says, I cannot believe that that guy I slept with found out that I had felt that the night was not good and that I had opinions about, you know, his body, parts and all of that. I was like, I went pain, I froze, I was speechless, just did not know how to respond to that. I mean, I was like, whoa, okay, so I closed my phone, I process this, I reread the message and then I'm like, okay, I was like, okay, where do I even start? So I immediately like apologize to him, I'm like, I'm so sorry, I said, I don't even know how I would like reach back to you, let's say 24 hours, like the circle you realize is so small, it's like teeny tiny and I never thought it would. And then I went back to that other friend, I said, like, I told you and you, like, we promised you wouldn't tell anybody and all of that. He said, no, I just, like, I just like gossiped. I didn't know, like, it was supposed to be a secret and all of that. And anyway, he said, I just, I just said it. I didn't know it would go back to her because it was one of those things when friends tell each other, like, promise me you won't tell anybody. And then that friend goes to the other friend, promise me you won't tell anybody. Yeah. And that whole, you know, the pinky connection. And then it goes back to the people like eventually you get back to the person that you're talking about, yes, yes, so he really, really embarrassing experience, you know, the poor guy. Yeah, I don't think things went back to normal after that because I'm sure he'll always remember those comments. But yeah, it was, it was good. I'm still friends with them and we talked to it. Oh good. I made a commitment. I said, you know what? If, even if there's a light point zero, zero, one percent chance that they are somehow connected and yeah, the secret can get back to them, like, just figure out the root. Just like, is there any chance there's like a track where they, yes, do not share a secret, especially if you just don't want the secret to go back there. Yes, yes. I mean, I always talk about operational security when, when we're talking about gossip where you really have to be careful about the lines that people can draw. I mean, we think about that on this show all the time, like about anonymizing gossip so it doesn't get back to the person, but I'm so glad you guys are still friends. Maybe he, you know, found some pointers for his performance, his next performance. Yeah. You know what? Like, to this day, I don't even know like what that story was actually about and nobody knows. Nobody knows. Yeah. But it's just rumors and gossip, you know, they spread around really, really quickly. Yeah. And I'm a, be honest, I love helping them spread really, really quickly. I'm part of the problem, but that's why we're here and I have some gossip for you. Okay. Okay. Are you ready? Oh, sure. That's a perfect answer. Today, our friend of a friend is named Kayla. And the most important thing to know about Kayla is that she is in her year of, yes, Kayla was a good kid in high school. She was in the national honor society. She was first chair flute and her concert band on the weekend. She volunteered for the local soup kitchen. We all know that kind of kid. Some of us were that kind of kid, the kid with a perfectly formatted resume at 15. But me, I don't know anything about that, but that is Kayla. Kayla is doing well. I'm proud of Kayla so far. Yes. But what this means is that once Kayla gets to college, she goes like a little bit crazy. Okay. It's really crazy to be clear. Like she makes the deans list every semester. But if it won't interfere with her grades, Kayla is saying yes to it. She's doing intramural sports. She's doing feminist student theater. She's doing culinary arts club. She's rushing a sorority. It sounds like this is also how you approached college where you were like, I'm going to try a little bit of everything. I was thinking, are you talking about me or Kayla, like, what are you talking about, like doing so well at school and being this good student, teacher's favorite and all of that. And then all of a sudden, you go to college and the teachers are like, is she even going to show up at this class or did she do this assignment like last minute, last night? There were like times when I could tell the teachers could tell that I hadn't done the reading. So in Oxford, we have a tutorial system. So it's like a professor and then like two or three students max, like not more than that. So it's very intense. You can't like hide. There's no way to hide. Yeah. The professor would ask a question like, so what about this case study and what did you think about that political science concept? And I would just immediately look at my friend and she knew it was her turn to save me. So she'll be like, yeah, you know, the reading was fascinating. We, you know, blah, blah, blah. And then I'll be like, exactly, exactly. Yes. I also thought it was fascinating. So you were learning about improvising, about thinking on the fly, about saying yes and yes. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Well, so yes, Kayla does absolutely everything. But Kayla's freshman roommate, Barbara, she locks into one thing. Okay. And she's getting into business school, which Barbara tells Kayla is the best place to find a husband. Okay. Kayla is very impressed by Barbara's forward thinking. And Kayla is even more impressed by this blanket that Barbara shows her on move in day. It is hand embroidered with all of the places Barbara's visited. There are patches for like Monaco and Tokyo and Sydney, Australia. Barbara's only 17 at this point and this blanket is already more than halfway covered. Wow. And if it's not clear already, Barbara comes from family money. Okay. Yeah. Okay. But Kayla feels like Barbara's pretty chill for coming from family money. Like, Barbara's really clean. She spends most of her time studying. Barbara's mom stuck in a curic on moving day, which is technically not allowed. But Kayla's not going to say anything. Her room is always stocked with snacks. Barbara does get like a little bit huffy whenever Kayla gets in late from a party, but there are worse things than a type A roommate, right? Yeah. Did you have any roommates in college? Did you get close to them? Um, yes. So I remember our college is last Valentine's day. So we would do Valentine's day every year. Yeah. Just like, so perfect, all of my friends were there and we made these like pancakes or like waffles, the heart shape ones. Yeah. It was a whole chaotic scenario, but you know, we decorated the whole room and all of that. And yeah, we had like a wonderful time together, just talking about, you know, how far we had come and then what everybody's dream was to do next. And that's when you like realize, well, you know, friends are precious. They're everything. Yeah. It's so real that kind of like instant bonding is exactly what happens between Kayla and Barbara, like, yeah, things go so well that by Thanksgiving, they're convinced they're going to be in each other's weddings. Yes. It's over Thanksgiving that Barbara first proposes the trip. The trip starts with a text from Barbara who's like, I was clicking around on Google flights this morning and I found some dirt cheap tickets to Croatia for next summer. And according to Barbara, once they get to Croatia, it'll be so easy to get anywhere else. They want to go in Europe. You're already shaking your head. I mean, it's come on. We have to be more practical. I am not a logistics person. I love if somebody else takes over that and arranges a trip for me and makes it so convenient for me, but that seems stuff a good luck to Barbara. Well, Barbara has a plan. Okay. And the plan, the plan is the trip. The trip would be a month long. It would take them from Croatia up through Slovenia and Austria before ultimately ending in Italy. And according to Barbara, this is the last chance they will ever have to do anything like this because Barbara knows that if she wants to get into Wharton, she's going to have to have a consulting internship every summer after this one. So Barbara promises to plan everything. And she's such an experienced traveler and she knows Kayla doesn't come from family money. So she promises to keep the cost as low as possible. And Barbara almost seems excited about that part. She's like, I've always wanted to actually experience travel, you know? And Kayla is like, sure, I guess economy is an experience. Barbara even tells Kayla she can invite anyone she wants. It'll help keep costs down even further. How is all of this sounding to you so far? Wait, invite more people to keep costs down so you can split things among more people. I mean, it's chaotic, even a trip with like, who friends is so hard. Yes. You never stick to the schedule in the end, it's a chaos like arranging a cab or like, are we going to walk or we not? Who's going to have dinner where chaotic, but in the end, it's fun, but it's just be prepared for that. Be prepared for that. Kayla is 18 at this point. So she's not really thinking about the chaos. She is really considering going on this trip though. She's like, okay, if I were to do this, if I were to do this, who would I want to come with me. And the first person that comes to Kayla's mind is Seth. Seth and Kayla went to high school together. They were both in band, Seth played the trumpet. The band nerds are going to make something of that. I just know they will. Having been a band nerd myself. Seth is one of Kayla's most reliable friends. Like they had gone to different colleges, but he was one of the first people to wish Kayla happy birthday. He has what we now describe as golden retriever energy. Cool. Yeah. And the most important thing to know about Seth at this point in his life is that he has just seen the movie before sunrise for the first time. Have you seen before sunrise before? No. Totally fair. I would recommend. I love it. It's a richer link lottery film. It is incredibly romantic. It stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpey as 220-somethings and they meet on a train and they decide to get off the train to spend the night together. And they spend the whole night walking around none other than Vienna Austria, which is included in this month long trip. And that is enough for Seth to say yes to joining the trip. I mean, I can already guess where this is going to go but yes, the movie, yes, makes sense. Okay. Everybody has their own plans for the trip. Exactly. And I'm also curious about like Seth and Barbara and how they would sort of connect because if you bring your school friend, you have known them for so long or you have a lot of shared stories. But then you also have college friends and you have like new shared stories with them and there's a bit of like a disconnect. Yeah. It's really hard to bring the two together and I guess, you know, many people would be able to relate to this but I like I have felt it as well where everybody is like, but you know, I know you more than them, some people like, but I know her more now than you do. Yes, exactly. Like you knew her in the past. I know her now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, along with the dynamic between Barbara and Seth, Seth also offers to invite his college roommate, Joe. Kayla confers with Barbara about this because she knows Barbara has a boyfriend that she's been dating since junior year of high school, who might fairly have reservations about his girlfriends, spending a month in Europe with two random guys and normally Kayla would also be hesitant about spending a month with a perfect stranger, but she trusts Seth. She trusts Seth not to bring some loser along and it's her year of yes, yes, yes, exactly. Barbara's boyfriend takes a little bit of convincing, but by the end of Thanksgiving break, our foursome have already bought their tickets. And they're already dreaming of the adjuadic coastline and V&E's pastry. Do you feel like anything could go wrong between November when our friends booked their tickets and June when the trip is actually taking place? Yes. The things. Yes. Tell me a few of the things that could go wrong. I mean, so many things. The boyfriend could have problems. I mean, Barbara and Kayla, like it's the expensive costs is Barbara, you know, does she actually know what she's signing up for? Yeah. What if she wants to have a more VIP exclusive experience of certain things that could be a bit of attention? And Seth and Joel, I mean, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm just curious. I just want to know. I don't know. So Kayla feels like nothing can go wrong until finals week. Now, I was the kind of person who planned this class schedule around being able to finish my finals from home, like you could not pay me to be on campus for a second longer than I had to be. I wanted to go home where my mom is going to cook for me. Kayla and Barbara, they are not like this. Kayla stays because her parents actually live kind of close by as she goes home pretty often. Kayla learns Barbara stays because this is her chance to go crazy. Do you remember how I said Barbara could be like a little bit huffy whenever Kayla got back from parties throughout the semester? Yeah. Turns out that's because Barbara stores up all of her debauchery like a camel and then unleashes it. As soon as her winter final paper is turned in, Kayla has never seen Barbara like this. Barbara is trying jungle juice for the first time. She's starting her day with a vodka Red Bull. She's being tempted by a joint before ultimately saying no. It is at this moment that Kayla starts to wonder how well she actually knows Barbara. Which is crazy because they've been living together for four months. Yeah. How well do you think this bodes for the trip? I'm worried. I'm worried. I think what you don't want is a holiday for a month where you hate each other. Yes. Where you are like irritated to see the other person. And if there are certain things you don't like and you don't talk through it, it's not a good trip. It's not a holiday anymore. I am a bit concerned if there's anything I think they should talk about it beforehand. Well, they're 18 so they don't. And the tickets are non-refundable. And after finals, Barbara goes back to being her normal type, a self. So for the whole spring semester, Kayla convinces herself that that was just a fluke. And that the studious, meticulous Barbara is the one that is planning the trip. Just plan backfires as soon as spring finals week approaches, because first Barbara breaks up with her boyfriend, then she takes all of her exams. And then she goes on a three day bender, which ends the night before their flight to Croatia. It's at the airport that Kayla first starts to understand what Barbara thinks experiencing travel looks like. Have you ever flown on a budget airline, like Ryan Air or Spirit? Yes. Right. Have not. I'm a little too bougie for that. Tell me about your experience. You know, I was on the flight. So I also took it as like, wow, I'm going on a Ryan Air flight. Anyway, my husband was like, you know, calm down. I think I was active like Barbara a bit. He was like calm down. Like, so, you know, they were offering things they do want any snacks, water or something. I was like, I'll just have water. So I get the bottle of water. And then they're just like looking at me like, what? And then they pass on the card machine. And I'm like, yeah, so I was like, yes, okay, you go here some money, but yeah, they make you pay for everything like the air that you breathe is not free on Ryan Air. Yes. Everything. I mean, it was a crazy, crazy flight. And we were on like, we were in the front row. And it was like raining. So as people were like getting on the plane, the rain water was like literally getting inside. And I caught like my trousers were getting wet. It was like horrible. And you know the UK weather. So it's like crazy. But yeah. Will you ever fly Ryan Air again? Yeah. Of course. 100%. I love that. I'm over here. Like, I'm too bougie for that. And you're like, I do it again. Yeah. Those are like short flights. Yeah. It's true. It's true. Kayla has never flown on a budget airline. So when she gets on the plane with Barbara, she's like, I'm sorry. What the fuck is this? Why are seats just metal folding chairs stapled to the floor? Oh, you should be grateful you have seats. Yeah. That's true. You could be standing up. Barbara also had not paid extra to get a meal during the flight. So for 11 hours, all she eats are some pretzels that she bought in the airport. No. Meanwhile, Kayla springs for the city in flight meal. And it's as she's eating something that looks vaguely like chicken that Kayla first starts panicking a little bit. It is like just starting to register to her that Barbara has booked everything for the next month. And yeah, Barbara had forwarded all her confirmation emails, but like Kayla was busy, you know, she didn't read all of them. And she trusted Barbara. And now Kayla is wondering if that was a mistake. Kayla decides to hold off on fully freaking out until she sees the hotel for the evening, which Barbara is very excited about. She had apparently found this website called We Post You Stay. The U is just the letter U, so it has a really unfortunate acronym of We Post. Oh, my God. Barbara says it is the number one peer hosting site in Eastern Europe. And she has both all of their lodgings through We Post You Stay. Okay. I mean, you stayed at your home, you know, exactly. You don't go on this holiday. Everyone lands safely in Croatia. Kayla is very relieved to see Seth made it in one piece, mostly because she's like, okay, thank God, I'm not alone in this with Barbara. And Seth's roommate Joe even looks pretty normal. Like he helps Barbara and Kayla with their bags without being asked. He does also start ripping on a mango flavored vape as soon as they step outside the airport. I have to admit, I do love a little weed vape, so I can't throw too many stones. He's in this glass house of mine. So Joe, he's ripping away at his mango vape as all of our friends wait in an alley to be let into their lodging for the night, which, as I said, has been booked by Barbara on We Post. And there are people engaging in what are clearly drug deals in this alley. And Kayla sees that the door of their waiting to be let into has like eight pat blocks on it. Oh, my God. I only have to wait a few minutes in the sketchy alley for their host to roll up. His name is Vlad. Vlad is like, welcome to your We Post for the night, no way any unlocks all eight padlocks and lets them into a gorgeous apartment full of skylights and beautiful furniture. There's even two bathrooms. One of them has a cloth foot tub. Kayla immediately feels bad for doubting Barbara. She's like, of course, the plane was janky. That's why the ticket was so cheap Barbara would never let me down. I've seen her study. She has a 4.0 GPA. I mean, okay, I get it, but the eight logs and all of that, I don't know. But if the inside looks good, then, okay, I'm just going to focus on the good part. I'm going to be grateful for what we have and not think about the negative stuff. There is a long future ahead of us because like I said, this is a month long trip. Exactly. And we have only got so much time in this podcast. So I'm going to hit some highlights of this trip. If I told you the whole trip, we'd be here for a hot minute. We start off on a high note after the night in Vlad's beautiful apartment that has eight padlocks. Our friends set off on a three hour bus ride. The bus is perfectly fine. It's just like a coach bus, though Kayla does expect to be sitting next to Barbara. But somehow she ends up next to Seth and Barbara ends up next to Joe, which is totally fine, talking to Seth is always great for Kayla, except Kayla's pretty sure she can hear Barbara and Joe doing that thing where they're comparing hand sizes because Barbara's is so small. I mean, Kayla's concerned for the right reasons, I would say, yes. Can you think of any good, normal reason to people would compare hand sizes besides flirting? No, shall I say something really embarrassing? Yes. Please. I remember like one of the first or maybe the first dinner that I had with us or it turned into like comparing hand sizes. It's like a universal thing. Yeah. And then I just pretended to be a palm reader for no reason. I love that. I'll say maybe, maybe this line is about your fortune and all of that. Oh, you're going to meet the love of your life very soon, maybe exactly. This line on your hand says that you might be getting married to the woman right in front of you. Oh, see, that turns out to be me. Oh, what a coincidence. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Wow. Comparing hands. That's very common actually. So no, I mean, of course, Kayla, yeah, they're flirting. Yeah. Kayla's getting really nervous. She's getting worried because remember, Barbara is newly single. So this is the first time Kayla is actually meeting single Barbara and single Barbara is starting to look like someone who falls really fast. Yeah. Kayla turns to Seth and she's like, how well do you know Joe and Seth may be a golden retriever, but he's not a golden doodle. He's no dummy. He saw Joe and Barbara comparing hand sizes and he knows what that means. Seth is unfortunately also a man. So when Kayla asks him how well he knows Joe, he's like, I don't know, we play Call of Duty together all the time. Yeah. And that says a lot about that other person, of course, when a guy says that it makes complete sense. Kayla's like, okay, what is he like with girls and Seth just kind of blinks? Is your husband good at gossiping or do you have to like pride details out of him? No, he's not. He's not. I have to ask him all these questions. I'm like, and so did you ask this? Yeah. And he's like, no, why would I? I'm like, why would you not? Somebody told you like the biggest secret of their life, like somebody's breaking up or like somebody's getting divorced or something, but why? What happened? Did they talk through it? For how long has it been going on? Everything. I was like, how do you even react? Do you just say? Uh-huh. Okay, you're getting divorced. Good. So what are we? What are we having for tonight or something? Really? Like, what do you talk about at dinner if you're not talking about this? Exactly. Should we order chicken or fish? No. What are you guys doing? Why did you break up? Yeah. Exactly. Seth is very similar to this. He has not been trained in the ways of gossip. So Seth is like, honestly, we haven't really spent a whole lot of time together outside our room. And Kayla is like, okay, great. So you're absolutely useless. Good to know. After this bus ride, they arrive at their second destination, which is next to a stunning lake and Barba tells them that the home she booked on Weepus is actually right by the stunning lake. It's just a short little walk from the bus stop, except the short little walk turns out to be a 20 minute hike. And so they're dragging their luggage through the forest for half an hour. But to be fair, the home is actually stunning. Like it's all glass. It's got a fire pit later that night when they're sitting around the fire pit and they've all had a shower and a couple of beers. They can see the lake in the distance, the sky is full of stars, and Kayla is like, okay, the vibes, they're a little inconsistent, but they're mostly pretty good. Yeah. I think I see sort of this sequence as like a pattern where the travel and the ride is not best quality. Yes. It's super cheap and all of that brain convenient, but then the stay is good. Yeah. Barba's like, I want to experience travel and then I want to sleep in a comfortable bed. Yeah. Like I want to have this real world experience, but that's only limited to travel. Yes. Exactly. Exactly. So all four of them are around the fire pit. They wrap themselves up in blankets as the night gets colder. Barba's sitting next to Joe and they're sharing a blanket. And Kayla can't help but notice that it looks like they're holding hands under the blanket. They're still comparing the size, guys, don't touch them. Exactly. People can be so judgmental. So this doesn't seem like a problem to you? No, not at all. That was a heavy eye roll. I mean, it's like Kayla, like you can't do anything. It's going to be a fight like soon. So do you want to have a nice holiday and then question them later? I don't think as much you can do it. It's just going to ruin the whole holiday. No, you're really right. And Kayla is having this debate, too. And she's like, this is starting to look like a problem. And normally she would look to Seth to help her figure out if this is a problem because he's so grounded and reliable, except Seth is clearly still under the spell of before sunrise. So when Kayla tries to start gossiping with him about Barbara and Joe, Seth's just like, I don't know. I think it's kind of cute. So Kayla's like, you know what? This is all a question for future Kayla. This is not my problem right now. Yeah. So the next few days passed by uneventfully. They all go swimming in the lake every day. They cook breakfast and dinner together. It's honestly like really lovely. Barbara and Joe continue to get closer, like they're always finding excuses to go off alone, even if it means hiking to town to get supplies. But it's been five days and so far, the only thing going wrong is a little flirting. So Kayla's like, you know what, I'm counting this as a win. If they're last night at the lake house, they're sitting around the fire pit. They're talking about the next leg of their trip when Joe sort of clears his throat and then he looks at Barbara and they like nod to each other like, this is the right time. And that's when Joe is like, Barbara and I have something to share with you guys. Joe's like, I just don't think it's fair for us to continue this trip under false pretenses. And that's when Joe is like, Barbara and I are officially dating. It's day five of this trip. What is your strategy for how to handle this? Oh my goodness, Joe, I mean, Barbara, even if they are dating like, why are they making it a big deal, they're still getting to know each other. You don't know a person in five days. No. No. Wow. No. I mean, poor Kayla and Seth. Kayla's like, it's been less than a week and Barbara's like, I know it's fast, but when you know, you know, right? Wow. Kayla does not know what to say to that. And so she looks at Seth, who if she's not mistaken, actually looks a little jealous. Like Seth is like, that's so nice for you guys. Congratulations. I wish I was also dating somebody right now, who was maybe on this trip, who could say. Yes. Kayla's like, oh, fuck, okay, I don't want to be the Debbie Downer. So I guess I'll just say congratulations to I guess. And Barbara starts tearing up and she's like, you guys are going to be our maid of honor and best man at the wedding. And as she's saying, this a giant mango vape cloud appears above her head. From this point on in the trip, everywhere they go, Joe and Barbara are engaging in like copious amounts of PDA, like Joe is always picking Barbara up and carrying her around. They ask Seth to take photos of them with their hands and each other's back pockets on the train the next day. They're making out the whole time. But it's when they get off the train that things really start going off the rails because this is when Barbara reveals that the next place she booked on Weepos is three hours away from the train station. Barbara's like, okay, I know it's a pain, but it has a hot tub and I just figured we'd hitchhike. Oh, my goodness. Barbara says that hitchhiking is a quintessential European experience. And it's at this point that Kayla starts thinking that it might be time for her year of yes to end, like even Joe looks skeptical, yeah, maybe because in between making out with Barbara on the train, he had finished his mango vape and he had not been able to find another one and he has never actually smoked a cigarette. So he is too scared to buy the Eastern European ones. So he's clearly already experiencing nicotine withdrawal. So it looks like he's about to say no, but then Barbara says, besides, we've got some big strong men here to protect us. And so Joe, he sticks his thumb out and they're hitchhiking. Wow. In another life, would you ever hitchhike? Um, no, no, as I say, like for me, convenience is everything. Like I need to know how are we getting to that place, but you should never plan to have the experience. Yeah. You should never plan to hitchhike. Yeah, literally nothing about hitchhiking appeals to me mostly because I feel like I would be really embarrassed if no one picked me up. Yeah. I mean, and it's scary, like who picks you up also that yeah, luckily or unlucky, no one stops for our friends as they're hitchhiking in half an hour of trying, except for a taxi driver who charges them extra for squishing for people and their luggage into his car. So all in all, this three hour taxi drive cost them $450, that is crazy. You know, this is exactly what happens when you are like, Pennywise, you are trying to save like the sense, but you end up spending more. Yeah. After the $450 cab ride, things largely go according to plan for the next few days, like somewhere around day eight or nine of this trip, things fall into an uneasy stasis. Barbara and Joe are attached at the hip and in public, Seth and Kayla pretend not to know them. Luckily, Barbara and Joe are too busy gazing deeply into each other's eyes to notice. So yeah, they don't even know so there's like there are other people on this trip. I didn't know that. One of Kayla's favorite days ends up being in Slovenia and it's her favorite day for a few reasons. First, Slovenia's gorgeous. Second, Joe's nicotine withdrawal had finally gone bad enough for him to get over spear cigarettes. So even though he now smells like cigarette smoke, he's in a much better mood. So vibes are going up. But the most important reason is that the place Barbara had booked had three bedrooms. So Barbara and Joe could share a room without forcing Kayla and Seth to also share one. So Kayla pretends to be surprised when Barbara and Joe decided to stay in for the evening. Secretly, she is very relieved not to have to spend another evening watching them do PDA ends up being the best night so far. Kayla and Seth have a really nice dinner. They buy new toothpaste. They try to go to a place that's apparently famous for their dessert, but they end up getting there too late. So they just buy like a little pack of cookies and just share them on the walk home. And it's as Kayla's brushing her teeth that Barbara sort of floats into the bathroom and she sighs and doesn't say anything. And so Kayla just looks at her and Barbara sighs louder. And so finally Kayla is like, okay, what? What do you want to tell me? And this is when Barbara says that her and Joe have said, I love you to each other. It's been 13 days. Do you think this is too early? If they're planning to get married by the end of this trip, then fine, like just just do it quickly. I don't know. I don't know what they want. Wow. This is happening so fast. Yeah. You know how long it took me and my husband to say, I love you to each other. How long? More than a year. More than a year. You were taking your time. Yeah. We kind of knew, but it's just like to awkward. You know, you're still getting to know the person. You just want to know if these feelings are the same on both sides. And also, if the feelings you're having right now are actually true feelings of affection or not, sometimes these feelings can be really temporary. They can go away sort of quickly. Yeah. So for me, it took us some time, but I would not say I love you like in 13 days. Sorry. Took me like 13 months. Yeah. I mean, I think that you probably made the better choice here. And Kayla is also like, this is a little early. This is a little early for me. She's like, maybe it's time for me to say no. Maybe it's finally time for me to say no here. And she's like, Barbara, I'm happy for you, but don't you think this seems a little fast? And Barbara's just like, I know, isn't it so romantic? And this is when Barbara is like, also, there's been a change of plans. Oh, no. Yeah. Barbara and Joe had found out not only that they loved each other, but that they also love the movie, the sound of music, and that it was only a 14 hour bus ride to the hills that are alive with the sound of music. And Barbara is desperate to embroider these hills onto her blanket. Joe has already said yes. Kayla thinks about the prospect of spending 14 hours on a bus with Barbara and Joe. And she's like, you know what, why don't you go by yourself? Seth and I can just hang out here. Do you think that's a fair compromise? Yeah. Also, I think Joe and Barbara need some time alone, because sometimes it's just so much about like, oh, you know, my friend doesn't want us to be together. But like, I love you so much and all of that. And these emotions get mixed up. And I think, you know, when nobody cares about, you know, you guys dating, and it's just about you guys now. Yeah. Yeah. Like, how do you actually feel? Kayla doesn't care. Yeah. Seth is not looking at you guys. How do you actually feel? And 14 hours, I mean, yeah, just go on a bus, figure out. You got plenty of time to figure it out on that 14 hour bus ride. Compare your hand size. Yeah. For 14 hours. 14 hours of comparing hand sizes. Yeah. Um, apparently, Barbara does not think this is a fair compromise. Because the next morning, she tells them that she's found a solution to their problem. Barbara has put a deposit on a moving truck, which she says is a much better option than the bus. Because with the truck, the drive would be half as long and also the deposit of $400 and non-refundable. So they have to do it. What? Why a truck? A moving truck? No way. Correct. No way. Yeah. Kayla is speechless. Meanwhile, Seth is of two minds. On one hand, the whole reason he came on this trip was to CBAnna. So he's like, driving through Austria's, I don't mind that, we're going to see Vienna. On the other hand, he's like, Barbara, why did you rent a moving truck? Why didn't you just rent a car? And Barbara's like, it was cheaper. I'm trying to be mindful of your, you know, situations. And then Barbara says that she rented the truck in Kayla's name because Kayla is the only one on the trip who can legally drive stick shift. Even though Kayla has only driven stick shift, maybe a dozen times in her life. And she has never driven anything bigger than a Toyota Camry, which along with the winding mountain roads ends up being the real problem. It only takes one particularly tight turn for Kayla to be like, you know what, we all might die today, but I'm not going to be the one to kill us. So she makes Joe who can drive stick, but who for some reason does not have a driver's license, drive the moving truck, even though this is so many levels of illegal. Yeah. Yeah. Very much. Kayla rides in the back with Seth in the darkness while Joe and Barbara sit up front. Every curve they take is terrifying. Every time they stop, they're worried they're getting pulled over and that they're going to be arrested in Austria, and this could theoretically be like a little bit romantic, except Kayla barbs like six times in the back of the moving truck. Kayla's like, this is insane. While Seth is like, I can't wait to tell this story at Barbara and Joe's wedding rolling my eyes. Oh my goodness. Is there anything in the world that would make an experience like that worth it for you? Um, I think if I feel like, you know what, I have nothing else to do in life. And you know, I have, I have no say I'm here on their mercy and yeah, fine, no, I would not. I would not. Same, same. I'm generally like, I am a taxi driver. I am really scared of, you know, driving these cars and these things. I can't drive. Yeah. Wow. We have so much in common. We do. No, I like took drivers at when I was in high school and then, um, I think undiagnosed anxiety at the time. I just, I was like, I don't like driving. It scares me. Exactly. I mean, it's terrifying. It is. But yeah. Wow. But friends risk it. Friends do that. I mean, they don't have a license or, you know, they're like, I have a license, but you, but I can't drive and you don't have a license, but you can't drive. Let's switch. Yeah. Yeah. So basically they just switched and Joe does get them there in one piece, although I will say this is where I start to judge our friend of a friend, Kayla, because there is nothing in the world to me worth getting rattled around in the back of the moving truck. But apparently those hills really were alive with the sound of music because at the end of it, Kayla is like, I'm so glad we did this. I mean, that's just the way, you know, sometimes we have to look at life after a round that has happened. And if you are there, you know, you're like, you know what? I love this. It was worth it. Also, 18 year olds are so much more resilient. Their bodies are so much springier than mine. So they're all, you know, running up that hill. His cape was intended when Joe tells Kayla that he is planning on proposing to Barbara on the last day of the trip. And he's like, would you help me pick a ring? And in response, Kayla trips on a rock and just fully face plants. Like, Sup has to come help dust her off. Joe's like, I told Kayla the great news and Seth is like, isn't it so cool how we're here to witness this? Just Seth have any other line in this script. His character is just so consistent. Wow. That's great. He's reliable. He's consistent. Yeah, yeah, this is driving Kayla a little bit crazy as well. She's like, Seth, help me, literally, this is crazy. How do you not see this? So later, Kayla thinks it might be, you know, Seth being too accommodating or maybe just Joe planning to propose that finally makes her snap. Or maybe it's the fact that in Vienna, Barbara reveals that she had booked a single room for the four of them on Weepus for the next three nights. Barbara's like, don't worry, I'll just check in with Joe. And then we'll sneak you both in later every night for the next three nights. Barbara, what was she thinking? One room for four people, no way. And after, you know, this proposal thing, right now, yeah, yeah, Kayla finally just snaps. And by snaps, I mean, she's like, year of yes, is over canceled. We're done with that. I'm the captain now. It's the year of no Kayla sends Barbara and Joe out for dinner. She sends Seth out to go buy himself a leather jacket, exactly like Ethan Hawks and before Sunrise. And then Kayla checks herself into a nice hotel room where she then calls her mom crying. And after this phone call, Kayla just rebukes the remaining 10 days of the trip on her parents credit card. She's like, I'm not getting in the back of another moving truck. We are not having another single room situation. We are getting on trains, planes and normal automobiles. Oh my goodness. This ends up costing an additional $800 per person. Kayla is like, I would have paid a lot more than $800 for a piece of mind. Yeah. For sure. You know, if it's a holiday, you don't want to be a miserable experience. That's not the point of a holiday. If you want to pay less money, just shorten it, like be realistic, but have a good experience. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you don't want to pay a penny, just go to a nearby hill or something, go on a hike or something. Have a staycation. Yeah. Exactly. But don't be this like, I'm going to make this trip so miserable and travel every part of the world and no, sorry, Barbara, but that's not how it works. Yeah. Barbara. Oh, Barbara. That's what I have to say. Okay. Kayla's also saying, oh, Barbara, yes, Kayla is barely certain that having her own hotel room is the only thing that gets her through the rest of this trip, specifically the proposal that happens on the final day of the trip, because yes, Joe does propose. At this point, they're in Italy, Rome, specifically, Joe had chosen Rome because when a barber's favorite movie is his eat, pray, love, so he proposes in the mausoleum of Augustus, even after Seth is very gently like, you know, that's a tomb, right? Joe doesn't care. He makes Kayla and Seth spend hours setting up candles in a corner of the mausoleum that isn't covered in piss and graffiti. And you know what, Barbara says, yes, the ring that Joe bought her is already turning her finger green by the time they land stateside. And that's kind of the end of our story. I do have some updates for you, but first, I want to know how long do you think Barbara and Joe are going to last? You know what? From the story so far, I would not be surprised if they're still together because if they could survive, you know, those few weeks, they can survive a whole lifetime. That's true. They were forged in fire. Yeah. So I have three updates, two small and one big. Okay. So the first update is that on the last day of this trip, along with getting proposed to Barbara reveals that she has only been bathing in natural bodies of water for the whole trip. Yeah. Kayla is honestly a little bit impressed because Barbara hasn't smelled particularly bad and they've been around each other for a month. You know, like, you need to take a shower after you get into a lake. You know that, right? Yeah. Apparently Barbara did not at this point in her life. The second update is that after this very memorable trip, Kayla and Barbara basically stopped talking to each other. Kayla lives in her sorority house her sophomore year and then off campus. The only time Kayla and Barbara actually speak after the trip is after graduation when Barbara hits Kayla up for money because she's raising funds to do a Catholic mission in Cameroon. Kayla doesn't donate. You just shook your head. No. It's a no. No. No. If it involves traveling, no. No, it's really exactly. Exactly. Anything from you, Barbara traveling? No. But not a plane. No. No. Nope. Yeah. And finally, the update that you're waiting for, Barbara and Joe break up two months after the trip ends, but the trip was good for one thing. Kayla was honestly really impressed by how well Seth handled all the craziness. Kayla told us that Seth was totally her rock throughout the whole trip. They ended up hanging out a lot for the rest of the summer after they get back and they started officially dating right before sophomore year. They get engaged after college and they're still married. Oh, that is cute. I'm happy. I'm happy for Kayla and Seth. Yeah. Do you know like when somebody is there with you and for you through, you know, the thick and thin and it's, you sort of know they're the right one. I think it's just their presence that makes everything a lot easier for you and when you share this whole life journey together, it will be a beautiful journey. Yeah. I feel the same way about my husband as well. Yeah. Seth feels sweet, even when he doesn't gossip, even when he's supporting a crazy love story right in front of him. I know he's just like to chill about these things and he's a believer in minding my own business. I don't know what that means. I've never heard that phrase before minding my own business. What does that mean? I know. I'm very unfamiliar with that. There are people who just do not interfere in other people's business out there. I don't know them. I don't know them. Yeah. Well, that is the end of our story. Thank you so much for joining me, Malala. Oh, thank you. This was so beautiful. I mean, not the detail of the story, but the ending of it. And I think these experiences, these friends just teach you a lot about yourself, about others, about life. Yeah. Wow. Okay. I'm going to be thinking about them for a long time now. That is the normal gossip promise to give you a story that you will never forget. Yes. Thank you for listening to Normal Gossip. If you have a gossip story to share with us, email us at [email protected] or you can leave us a voicemail at 2679 gossip. If you love this podcast, I'm going to support us, become a friend or a friend of a friend at supportnormalgossip.com. You can follow the show on Instagram and TikTok at Normal Gossip. You can follow me on social media at Haydenay, H-E-Y-Y-D-N-A-E. This podcast was produced by Sierra Spragley-Ricks and Jay Tolviera. Our audio engineer is Samantha Gatsick. The co-creators and dourger queens of Normal Gossip are Kelsey McKinney and Defector supervising producer Alex Sujong Loughlin. Justin Ellis is Defector's project editor, Jasper Wang and Sean Coon are Defector's business guys. Tom Lay is our editor-in-chief. Dan McQuade runs our merch store, which you can find at normalgossip.store. Tara Jacobi design our show art. Thank you to Brandy Jensen. David Raw, Catherine Shoes, Serena Imblor, Chris Thompson, Dave McKenna, Patrick Redford, and Ray Rato for your help on this season. Thank you to the rest of the Defector staff. Defector Media is a collectively owned, subscriber-based media company. Normal Gossip is a proud member of Radio Topia. I'm your host, Rachel Hampton, and remember, you didn't hear this from me.