God, I have so much to say; I don't know where to start. If I sit down and reflect it's just like "Am I really working at a hostel bar in Istanbul!!??" I don't think it can really get much better, considering how much I love Turkish people and Istanbul in general. Working here is flat out hilarious with a dash of awkward thrown in on top. I work in the bar with a guy named Volcano (his real name is Vulcan - so Volcano in English), and he is probably one of the most entertaining people I've ever met. We also get along really, really well - I say it in all sincerity that by the time I leave, he'll probably be one of the best friends I've ever had. As he puts it - "we have the same mentality." His English isn't the best, so he picks up all these random phrases that people teach him. Although he's improved immensely, because when I met him back in September, he could barely speak English at all. Anyway, he's constantly making me laugh, whether it's because he puts liberal amounts of mayonnaise on everything (rice, soup, plain bread, tomatoes) or because he's saying things like "I want to open a waffle shop in America with Russian waitresses." Which is genius by the way. Yesterday I gave him a glass of red wine, he took a sip, and said "this needs something", so he proceeded to get out the coca cola and add it to the red wine. Huh. Never seen that one before. He also asks every other girl if she'll marry him "For visa. I don't like you, I hate you, just for visa." This girl and I interviewed him on video the other night, and I really hope she takes the time to edit it and put it up on YouTube, because it would probably be a major hit. Bahaus Guesthouse is the highest rated/most popular hostel in Istanbul, it's full almost every night, and at least every other review that's submitted online mentions how entertaining Volcano is. A YouTube video of him would be gold.

I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to staying up so late, especially without drinking. I downed like six cups of coffee last night that didn't help at all, but thankfully it wasn't busy and Volcano let me go to sleep at one. I just can't sleep in - I'm always up by 8:30, and I have to be in the bar at 3pm so I never really have time to take an afternoon nap or anything. I definitely think I am solidly a morning person. At midnight last night, I was teaching these two Dutch guys how to play backgammon, and they were taking FOREVER to move each time. I was basically nodding off while they carefully decided where to move their friggin pieces.

I had my first conversation with the owner last night - what a weird guy. When I was here in September I never saw him, but he's been here every night so far, often with his pretty, young girlfriend. Can you say "golddigger". This guy is middle-aged and over-weight, with an unruly mop of hair - they make quite the couple. Anyway, my first two nights he didn't speak to me, and I was reminded of good 'ole Mr. Fox and his "I'm too important to talk to you attitude." But he's opening a new hostel in southern Turkey, and I wrote out all this information about it on a giant whiteboard in my flawless handwriting, so he came to thank me for it. Then he made me sit down, so he could teach me this stupid die game that he had "invented." Then pretty much forced me to go play it with this group of people. Awkward. He told me he had more games to teach me. I can't wait.

I've barely left the hostel all week - it just seems like I putter around all morning, and then I look at the time and it's one or two and I have to start work in an hour. Now that I have some money to spare, I really should be visiting everything . . . entry prices are steep here, but I'll kick myself if I'm here over a month and don't see at least all the important sights. I should get up off my ass right now and go visit Topkapi Palace. I still need to go to a hamam (Turkish bath) as well - this I get for free through the hostel which saves me 50 lira. You'd think I'd have used it already - who puts off a free massage - but people tend to come back and just pass out, and I would have to come back and work for 12 hours . . . Yesterday Volcano and I went to this sketch super market and I found the most disgusting looking Turkish Delight. It was actually just cotton candy, but it looked like balls of cat hair. I took a picture - I wish I could post it, but I'll definitely go back and buy a box before I come home. And give it to some poor soul for Christmas.

I sure am slacking off on this blog a bit. In a way it's a good thing though, because it means I'm spending more time out with my fellow travelers, rather than sitting in front of the computer. I've done so much since I wrote my last post a week ago (wow, time is going way to fast right now), I'll either end up writing a short novella or forget half of what happened.


Last Wednesday, my second day and last day in Bulgaria, we took a day trip with the hostel to the Rila Mountains, which I believe are north of Sofia, but I'm probably wrong. It was my first time in a car since I've left the States, and it was a bit nervewracking. Our driver was up to 160 kph at times, and kept passing cars with minimal amounts of space between us and oncoming traffic. Not to mention his eyes kept fluttering shut on the way home. I don't think their road rules are exactly the same in Bulgaria as they are in the States . . . Anyway, we headed up to a monastery apparently built by some hermit. It was a relatively warm day and exceptionally pretty with all the leaves changing colors. I spent a good deal of time just wandering through an abandoned house and then down to this river. I managed to slip and fall (of course) and jamb my knee pretty badly into a rock - meanwhile, this one girl in our group was prancing around like some sort of monkey in just a pair of converse, making me feel thoroughly uncoordinated. I can't quite figure out when I started falling quite so much, but I don't feel like I use to be this clumsy. I'll go into it more later, but currently my legs look like someone's from a battered women's shelter.



I encountered the worst toilets of my trip at this monastery, (something I would not be saying if I were in SE Asia, but still, wasn't ready for it) basically just a shower floor with a drain - so if you wanted to poo, you'd pretty much be out of luck. The floor was all wet, and I really hoped it was just water, because otherwise I left with pee pants. Not to mention the bats hanging from the ceiling. The real kicker was that I had been down by the river and decided I should probably trek back up to the monastery to use the toilet. What a waste of time and precious energy. Not only would I have saved myself the walk, it probably would have been a lot more sanitary.





We had a 7pm train out of Sofia that night which we bought a liter of vodka for (damn Aussies), as well as a bottle of mystery alcohol from the train station with our remaining lev. Our train ended up being about 40 minutes late, and we're sitting in the station when this beggar comes up to us asking for money. Not one of us has one single Bulgarian coin on us, but the beggar won't leave, so Blaze takes out his wallet and turns it upside down to show that we really don't have anything. A random coin falls out, so he hands it to the beggar. It's not Bulgarian, so he picks it up, examines it, gives us this huge look of disgust and gives the coin back to Blaze. Classic. The beggar actually rejected the money.





We had to get sleepers on the train - not that I'm complaining - it was nice to have a bed, but we ended up hanging out with two guys from the compartment next door - making 5 people in our 3 bed compartment. One of the guys was from Hong Kong, but he was "studying" in Milan. Except he didn't go to class. At all. He was like "I'm just traveling - I'll go back for the exams." And this was his third night train in a row. He trumped us all in cards, and then fell asleep on my friend Josh's bunk in a meditation pose. What a badass.



There was an awkward moment on the train when I went to leave the compartment to use the restroom and someone said something about locking me out. I replied, with the door open to the hallway, "that's fine, I'll stay out here with the conductor, he was pretty hot." I turned around and the conductor (some 60 year old man with perfect english) was standing right there just staring at me. I think I made it even more awkward by diving back into the compartment in a fit of giggles . . .


We got to the Turkish border at about 1 am, and had to get off the train to get visas and passport stamps. I already had my visa, so it only took about 20 minutes, but we stayed at the station for about 2 hours for who knows what reason. We were right by the toilet, and the window was open, so we kept having to listen as people's pee trickled on to the tracks . . . After we left around 3 I managed to sleep until about 8 when the conductor woke us up to give us back our tickets. The best moment of the train ride came then, when the conductor was trying to wake up the guys in the next compartment. All night we had been calling the guy Dave, from Hong Kong, just "Hong Kong", and that morning, the conductor is knocking on their door, but no one is answering, and he just starts shouting "Hong Kong . . . Hong Kong . . . HONG KONG!" So funny.



Walking from the train station to the hostel, I just couldn't keep a grin off my face. I think I'm madly in love with Istanbul. The mosques are such a nice change from all the communist architecture and gussied up "Old Towns" that I've been seeing for the last month and a half. It was nice to return to the same hostel as well - kind of like going home, with all the staff recognizing me. 15 minutes after I'd walked through the door, I was enjoying breakfast on the rooftop terrace in only a tshirt. Despite taking the night train, I was too excited to go to sleep, and after breakfast, I took a walk to the supermarket by myself. I inevitably got bombarded by about 10 men - my favorite being the guy at the stop light: "Lady, oh lady, you dropped something!" I turned to look, despite the fact that I wasn't carrying anything to be dropped. He took the opportunity to saunter up beside me. "This," he said, pointing to his heart. "You dropped my heart." Oooo, I wish they made pick up lines like that in the States . . . really hard not to laugh at that one. Later on that day, I took a walk along the sea with Josh and Blaze, and we were in this fish market about 20 minutes away from the hostel when my sandal broke. I had to hobble all the way back with only one flip-flop. I was walking a bit in front of the boys, and they thought it funny to start calling me a dirty gypsy. I probably did look crazy. We passed a bunch of school children, and they all started pointing and laughing at me. Go ahead, laugh at the stupid American tourist, walking down the middle of the street with only one shoe on. I guess it probably would have made more sense to take both off at that point . . .



That evening we wandered through the Grand Bazaar and down to the Spice Market where you can get really good Turkish Delight, as well as something called Turkish Viagra. I will be bringing home Turkish Delight. I will not be bringing home Turkish Viagra. After being unfortunately groped (twice, by the same man) in the market, we took the ferry over to the Asian side of Istanbul for a bit of dinner. I can't comment much on it, because it was dark, and we didn't do much walking around, but we had a decent fish dinner. Friday night is Belly Dancing night at the hostel, but I think stripper would have been a more apt description of this women. I was unfortunately seated in a prime position, and I have to say I felt a bit uncomfortable, especially when she got down on her hands and knees, with her fake breasts in my face and started swing her head in circles.



I met a nice guy from Dublin on Friday, and on Saturday, we took the ferry to the Princess Islands, located off the coast in the Marmara Sea. We went to the largest island; it's something similar to Mackinac Island on Lake Michigan, except it was rather deserted since it was the off season. The weather was absolutely gorgeous - at least 75 degrees, without a cloud in the sky. We were able to rent bikes for the entire day for only $6, and they were good bikes too, with brand new seats. It was nice to get some genuine exercise for the first time since I left, and I was pleased to see I was in better shape than I thought. We ended up getting really hot, and George took off his shirt, while I stripped down to just a tank, which is pretty much a major no-no in Turkey. It was a Saturday, so there were a lot of Turkish tourists on the island, and we kept getting dirty looks from the women and laughs and points from the men. There were horse drawn carriages, and as they would pass, the passengers would just turn around and stare until they couldn't see us anymore. It was quite an experience, having something that is completely normal at home be considered inappropriate. I certainly felt a bit ashamed.

There weren't any beaches on the island, and the road was up on a ridge, but we managed to find a place to climb down, and we decided to go for a bit of a swim. The water was freezing - probably the coldest water I've ever been in; it definitely took a bit of adjusting too. I was standing in waist high water, but George was already out, so I decided I'd count to three and just plunge in after him. I did, but when I resurfaced I couldn't breathe, because the water had been so cold. I'm next to him, pretty much half drowning - and he's laughing because I just told him how I used to swim competively. It's a bit of different situation being in the sea in November. I'm not going to lie - I'm also a bit afraid of open water. I've spent so much time in the water, and I love it, but I've grown up in a completely land-locked area, and when I can't see the black stripe at the bottom of the pool, I get a little nervous that something is going to come up and bite my toes. Anyway, I survived, and it was awesome, because the Saturday before I was trekking through the snow covered Transylvanian Mountains, and this Saturday I got to swim in the sea.

I could go on forever, but this is actually turning into a novel, so I'm gonna skip ahead a few days, since I didn't do much except drink myself into oblivion, fall a fair few times, and wander around like a zombie. Yesterday (Tuesday) was my first day as official staff at Bahaus Guesthouse. I get a free bed, free laundry, and free homemade food that's quite tasty, but I'll definitely be working quite a bit. I start at 3pm every day and have to stay up until everyone else is done, so I'll probably have some late nights. Tariq, the manager tried to tell me something about making commission for referring people to certain places, but honestly I don't really care. As long as I'm not spending any money, I can't be bothered. They're so concerned about commission here though - everything is sell, sell, sell. Working in Istanbul with a bunch of Turkish people is definitely going to be an experience I will never forget. I think I'm glad I'll only be doing it for 3 weeks - I don't think I can handle the "cheat the tourist" attitude for much longer.

Okay, Volcano (my fellow barman - we're the Bahaus Badasses) keeps bothering me to come eat, so I'll just post this and add to it later . . .

So until about 7 last night I had every intention of going to Belgrade on the 9pm train; I had a hostel booked and a seat reservation for the train. But I was sitting at dinner with these two Aussie guys who were on their way to Istanbul, and I was having a really good time. I haven't liked anyone I've met that much since these two guys in Berlin, and I'm still kicking myself for not changing my plans to go to Amsterdam with them. So when I found myself truly enjoying these guys' company, I just said screw it and got on the 8pm train to Sofia, Bulgaria with them. We're heading to Istanbul (and 70 degree weather) tomorrow night.

When we got on the train, not only did we not have sleepers, there weren't even compartments; it was just a normal car with an aisle and two seats on each side. Through Romania the train was boiling hot. I was stripped down to just a tank and tights - I'd even taken off my socks. Around one when we finished with border control, we decided to go to sleep. There were some Romanian people in our car, but they added another car at the border, and they all switched. We assumed it was because we were being loud, along with another group of three Aussies. So anyway, we go to sleep with hardly anything on (the boys on the floor, me sprawled across two very hard seats), only to wake up absolutely freezing at about four. There was absolutely no heat in the car. I put on about six layers, but I was still freezing - especially my feet. The boys woke me up around 6 because I was sleeping sitting up, with my knees to my chest, and my face buried in between, and they worried I was too cold. At this point one of the guys, Blaze, wandered into the car they had added at the border, only to come back to tell us it was about three times warmer. We moved, and not only was it warmer, it was an eight person compartment with really comfortable reclining seats. Ohhhh - that's why all the Romanians left our car . . . too bad we figured this out with only two hours left in our journey.

Our train was due in at six, but we were actually really happy it ended up being two and a half hours late - the scenery was absolutely amazing. It got light right as we were heading through the mountains, and there was snow everywhere, plus it was all misty - beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. At one point we came out of this tunnel over this rocky gorge, surrounded my mountains lost in the clouds -probably the coolest landscape I've ever seen. I made a mad attempt to get to my camera, but I wasn't quick enough . . . next time I guess.

After a sweet nap on the couch at our hostel, we had a bit of a walk around Sofia today. It was nice and sunny, but there really isn't much to see. It's quite rundown as well, except nowhere near as creepy as Bucharest. The Bulgarians are proving to be even nicer than Romanians; we couldn't find the place that sold train tickets in town, so we went in this random building to ask and the guy walked us there. Tomorrow we're taking a day trip to this monastery in the mountains; it's a bit expensive, but I think it'll be worth it.

It's amazing how traveling with others (especially two guys) takes the stress out of everything. I don't have to worry about drawing attention to myself or getting into some sort of mishap; it's a completely different travel experience - one that is going to make me never want to go home.

I'm ecstatic about going back to Istanbul -the chaos, the smell of the sea, the calls to prayer over the loudspeakers, even the overeager shop owners pawing at every passerby. I couldn´t fall asleep on the train last night because I was so eager to get to Istanbul. I even considered taking two night trains in a row to make it there by tomorrow morning.

So I'm taking my first night train tonight to Belgrade, Serbia. I've heard it's safer to reserve a bed in a sleeper car, but it cost almost $50, so I went and just booked a normal seat. Chances are I'm in for a really long night; depending on who is in my compartment or if it locks or not, I may decide to stay awake. I think I might buy a red bull at the train station just in case. I'm sure I'm just overreacting, but I always get nervous doing something I haven't done before that is potentially dangerous. I'll be on the same train as these four Aussies from this hostel though - there's some comfort in having people on the train that I know, even if they won't be in my compartment. I think I mentioned an annoying Aussie girl that was on my walking tour in both Krakow and Budapest? Well, she and the group she was with in Budapest ended up being at my hostel in Brasov, as well as here in Bucharest. They were annoying at first, but they're starting to grow on me. Today they were debating on where to go next, and I mentioned that Belgrade was a big party place, so they decided to take the train with me over there tonight. We're staying at the same hostel (again), and while they aren't people I would ever be friends with normally, it's nice to see the same faces, and I'm glad I'll have some people to go to the hostel with tomorrow. Serbia seems like a bit of an intimidating place; I think I'm dipping the farthest I've been off the beaten track with this destination. It'll be even more so if I end up with time to stop in Macedonia.

For the next week and a half I'll be puzzling over the Cyrillic alphabet, but Belgrade is a good place to start since they use the Roman alphabet as well. Whereas, Macedonia and Bulgaria are fully dedicated to Cyrillic. I made my own little chart last night and plan on doing some heavy duty memorization on the train tonight. I can already see myself standing on a street corner trying to translate some street name into the Roman alphabet . . .

I made a weak attempt to venture out in Bucharest today, but it wasn't very successful. Not only did I lose the rubber cover to one of my earpieces on my earphones yesterday, the sound randomly decided to stop working in one earpiece, so I decided to go find an electronics store. The streets of Bucharest are quite deserted, and it was making me nervous. While it's probably perfectly safe to be out during the day, it sure didn't feel like it, so when I realized I'd made a wrong turn and pretty much ended up where I started, I wasn't too bummed about just going back to the hostel. I walked back through this deserted park that smelled of dead fish and had a drained lake in the middle filled with pigeons. Oh Bucharest - your charm is irresistible. There are stray dogs everywhere in Romania; it's so sad. I read in my Lonely Planet that there are an estimated 100,000 strays in Bucharest alone. I saw one today sleeping over a manhole, and it was shivering so violently. I almost got tears in my eyes as I walked by. I keep wanting to go and wrap these dogs up in my arms, but while they all seem scared and harmless, I'm not taking any risks. Definitely do not want to deal with a dog bite in Romania.

I left my refreshing mountain town today for Eastern Europe's very own concrete block of shit, Bucharest. I'm sure there are some redeeming factors . . . somewhere . . . but from what I saw, coming in on the train and walking to my hostel - grey, dirty, dilapidated, and 1 stray dog for every 2 people. As the train was pulling in, I almost considered taking a train out tonight, instead of staying at my hostel. I came here with two other girls from my hostel, and as we were walking through the train station I mentioned something about going to Istanbul, and this Romanian man interjected, "Yes, do it now, go to Istanbul, don't even leave this train station - this place is shit." This seems to be the general consensus of all Romanians I've met. It's too bad really, because it's such a beautiful country, and it would help their economy so much if they could turn their capital city into a tourist destination.

We got in at about three, but I went out to eat with one of the girls I took the train with (Italian food, very good - finally had a decent meal in Romania), and by the time we were done it was 4:30. When I went to look for my hostel, I got all nervous because the street names on my Google map were not the same as the names on the actual street signs (thank you Google), and I was terrified I would end up lost in the dark in Bucharest, and consequently meet my demise. Thankfully the map, while wrongly labeled, was accurate otherwise, and I made it to my hostel without a step in the wrong direction. You know, it has really been way too easy this whole time. I'm probably jinxing myself by saying this, but I have not had one single mishap. At all. I've yet to get lost, nothing's been stolen, I haven't felt compromised in any way, I haven't missed a train, plane, or bus, etc, etc. I hear all these stories from other people and just think how lucky I've been. I shouldn't speak so soon - I do still have more than a third of my trip left.
I think I'm just extra thorough and extra precautious because I'm alone. If I were with someone else, mishaps would be more of an adventure. Being alone makes things less of an adventure and more just all out nerve wracking and scary.

This hostel is really nice (probably the nicest place in all of Bucharest, haha), and score! they have a washer AND a dryer. Plus laundry was only 5 lei (<$2). Except all I'm wearing right now are an extremely dirty pair of gym shorts with melted chocolate on the butt and a tank top, and it's a bit chilly. Didn't really think that one through. But it will be worth it tomorrow when I don't smell like BO and stale cigarette smoke.

8 people from my last hostel are here, but no one I really hung out with before. It's okay though; I'm only here for one night, and I'm a little preoccupied with travel plans anyway. My original plan was to take the night train to Belgrade tomorrow night, but today I started wrestling with the idea of going back down to Istanbul for a week, before Spain. I could go into it more, but at this point, I've thought about it far too much, and I'm done with the whole subject. I'm going to Belgrade and that's that. I really do want to go to Sarajevo, Bosnia. I came across some pictures yesterday on the internet - very cool. It's a pain though, because my Balkan Flexipass doesn't work for Bosnia, one of the main Balkan countries, so I'd have to dish out more cash to get a bus to Sarajevo. I guess I'll just worry about getting to Belgrade right now. I feel like my brain is spinning way too fast. I need to focus on one destination at a time, otherwise I get stressed out.

I finally got the map changed now that I'll be leaving Romania - it wouldn't let me change it the last time I tried. But if anyone is curious, I flew into Targu Mures, stopped in a small town called Sighisoara about an hour south of there, I'm in Brasov now (the heart of Transylvania), and will be heading to Bucharest tomorrow.

I just booked a two week flight to Spain - I'm flying into Barcelona and out of Valencia. SOOO EXCITED. The promise of warmer weather and beaches . . . although with my luck, by the time I get there the weather will probably be crap. I can't imagine it will be colder there than it is here though. Right now it's 27 and snowing. I don't think I'm even going to go outside. I was supposed to leave Brasov today, but I got the flu or food poisoning or something disgusting . . . anyway my stomach is all messed up so I'm staying till tomorrow. My flight to Barcelona isn't until the 14th, so I still have 2 more weeks in Eastern Europe. I'm going to get this Balkan Flexipass, which allows 5 days of train travel within a month for only $75. My flights are in and out of Sofia, Bulgaria, so my new game plan is to go Bucharest, Romania to Belgrade, Serbia, then Serbia to Montenegro, Montenegro to Macedonia, Macedonia to Sofia, do Spain, and then I can use my last day of travel to get to Istanbul just in time to do some Christmas shopping and fly home. Wow. Where did the time go? I only have 4 weeks left until I'm back in Istanbul. And I have a feeling the two weeks in Spain are going to go way too quickly. Noooooooooooo. It's disappointing, because it took about a month to really get acclimated to this whole travel deal, and now that I'm really in the swing of things, I have to go home. The good thing is, I think I'll have visited everywhere I wanted to go for the most part. I'm not sure if I'll get over to the Adriatic coast, but I'm really not too bummed since I'll be on the Mediterranean, where it's sure to be warmer anyway.

It's been so peaceful being in Brasov these past couple of days. The town is extremely pretty, nestled at the base of the mountains, and the piney, fresh air is great after being in so many cities. There's a hill to the east of town that has a giant sign at the top a la the Hollywood sign, except it says Brasov obviously. How funny is that? Another example of Eastern Europeans blatantly failing in an attempt to be Western. There isn't too much to do in Brasov, but it's been good to be able to relax in such a laid back place. Unfortunately, I've had bad experiences all three times I've eaten out; I'm not looking fondly upon Romanian food at the moment. Yesterday, I ordered pork stew; it took 45 minutes to come, and when it finally did, not only was it barely warm, it was just pork in sauce. As far as I've known, pork usually means vegetables as well as meat, but the Romanians seem to just favor the meat/heavy sauce entrees.

My time here was slightly marred by this god-awful, older Romanian man who has occupied the bunk beneath me the past few days. Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, he left this morning. I was about to poison his stale beer that he kept leaving open on the floor next to our bunk. This guy had been working abroad for the past five years and had decided to take a holiday here in Brasov. At a youth hostel. He smelled awful, and our entire dorm room stank because of it. He didn't do anything all day, except watch TV and make opinionated comments about everyone else's countries. One night, he tried to tell me and this other American guy that it was our fault that Romania was in such bad shape, and that Romanian had been struggling since 1929 when the stock market crashed, blah, blah, blah. It was awful having him in the bunk beneath me, and he kept leaving all his stuff on the floor in front of my locker, including open cans of beer and cups of tea, which I proceeded to knock over several times. Learn how to clean up after yourself dude, you're like 45 and staying in a shared sleeping space.

While the hostels in Eastern Europe have all been really great, I've found that none of them seem to have a dryer - a major disadvantage when it's freezing outside and things do not air dry. I haven't done a wash in almost two weeks, but I really didn't feel like wearing the same thing for three days straight while I waited for everything to air dry in the frigid mountain air, especially for $6. So I'm crossing my fingers that the hostel I'm staying at tomorrow in Bucharest has not only heard of a dryer, but owns one as well, because NOTHING I have is clean. I haven't worn underwear in about a week and I'm now wearing the same two shirts for the third day in a row and the same leggings for about the sixth day in a row. It will be so nice to be in Spain and not have to wear half the clothes I own at one time because it's so cold. What will be REALLY nice is when I have more than five pairs of underwear, one pair of actual pants, and a variety of clothes with holes in them. Did I ever mention that I had to cut my jeans into jean shorts to fit them in my bag? Or that I had to throw out my other pair of cargo pants? Let me tell you - I'm pretty stylish with my jean shorts of tights deal, especially when I wear my magenta stockings.

The song "Box of Rain" by the Grateful Dead just came up on my iPod, and it reminded me so much of home, but for the first time, instead of getting a wave of homesickness, I actually felt the opposite. Now that I only have 4 weeks left, I'm starting to panic about going home. No money, no job, a shit car, cold weather, living at home, ten pounds heavier, nicotine ridden lungs, out of shape . . . wow. Now I just made myself super depressed. Man, I planned on writing a lot more, but now I just feel like wallowing in my own self-despair. What a downer.

Hello Rural Romania

Yesterday I had my $25 flight to Transylvania. How awesome is it that you can fly for that cheaply? Except that my plane was a little shady, and for a minute I thought I might die as we were landing. Rough would be an understatement. Especially on an alcohol ridden stomach.

The airport in Budapest was pretty small and there were no boarding docks, so they loaded us all into a tiny bus where I had to stand with my backpack on my back while we just sat for 15 minutes for who knows what reason. When we finally moved, it turned out our plane was the one approximately 50 yards away. Why? Why was that necessary? People can't walk 50 yards? It would have saved us 20 minutes and about a gallon of community sweat.

The plane landed in the countryside outside the town of Targu Mures, where I had to catch the bus to my first destination, Sighisoara. Since the plane was late, I missed my bus by seven minutes - of course - and had to wait in the one room shambles of a bus station. Which oddly enough had wi-fi. Still trying to figure that one out. I got to Sighisoara at about six and was passed out by 7:30 (which was really 6:30 since I gained an hour entering Romania). But it was the first night since Friday that I'd gotten more than a few hours of sleep, and it was long overdue.

I only spent about two hours out in Sighisoara; it's a small town, and I covered all there is to see in that time. It was more of just a stopover point so that I didn't have to go all the way to Brasov from Targu Mures. Brasov is the main town in Transylvania, as well as the most touristy. Apparently there's corny Dracula souvenirs every five feet. It's sort of a bummer traveling alone off-season, because if I want to go to less touristy places, I probably won't meet anyone. Whereas hostels are still full in the big cities.

I've only been in Romania for a day, but so far it's been incredibly interesting. It's definitely the least Western place I've been so far. In Sighisoara the roads were shared with horse drawn carts full of dirty gypsies, and in the Old Town men were redoing the roads by hand. Stone by stone. (Pause - I'm on the train and we just passed these gypsy men with brightly colored head wraps standing with shotguns and their cows just staring at the train. That's sure not something I see every day). Romania's awesome. I especially liked the old, toothless women who started babbling to me at the train station and wouldn't stop, even when I said I only spoke English. She seemed to understand, and I'm wondering if she was speaking English and I just couldn't understand on account of her having no teeth. I met two Romanian guys in Budapest, and they told me everyone spoke English in Romania, which does seem to be more of the case here. Which once again seems to make little sense. Who would of thought people spoke better English in rural Romania than in Budapest?

It's so nice to be in the country after six weeks of cities. Brasov is at the base of the Carpathian mountains, so I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't rain, and I can do some hiking. I think I might try renting a bike too. It's high time I got some exercise to try to counter my on- the-go diet of paprika chips, snickers bars, and activia yogurt drinks.

Speaking of food, I went to this fantastic Hungarian restaurant with these two Brazilian guys on Monday night. It was sort of fancy, and I felt a little underdressed in my cut-off jean shorts over purple stockings, but when backpacking, you start losing any interest in what other people think. Anyway, I got beef goulash, and then I asked for the most Hungarian dessert. It turned out to be these bready, poppyseed dumplings in a sort of vanilla pudding. Absolutely delicious. Later that night, we went to a bar that had 500 forint (~$3) cocktails before nine. I got there at 8:50, so I decided to get two long islands before the deal ended at nine. I figured they would be really weak since they were 75% off, but apparently they haven't caught on to the American way of selling at a discounted price. The drinks were so strong I had to chase them down with my lemon wedges. So much for my early night. That hostel was dangerous. I could easily see myself staying there for weeks, drinking myself into oblivion. Which is what several people seemed to be doing. One guy had been there for six months.

Well I think I've written something close to a novel, but it sure made the train ride go quickly. Hopefully I'm almost there. I'll be in Brasov until at least the first, and I'm still undecided if I'm going to head down to Bucharest or go straight to Belgrade. I want to spend another week in Istanbul, which means I only have four weeks from today to see everything else on my list.

Here I am, enjoying my last day in Budapest, lounging on the couch. Which oddly enough, was what I did yesterday . . . in fact I haven't actually done anything touristy since coming to this hostel on Saturday. Most hostels become disturbingly quiet during the day - I hate when I feel like staying in, and I'll be the only one, save for the employees. Here, no one really goes out during the day, except to buy food and beer. Otherwise, everyone just sits around, playing cards and smoking the hookah. As I expected, the hostel is 90% Aussies - I'm the only American - and while Aussies are certainly fun, I just don't seem to get along with any of them very well . . .

Tomorrow is my flight to Transylvania. I'm pretty nervous, because apparently it's pretty hard to get around in Romania. When I get off the plane, I first have to figure out how to get to the bus station, and then to this other town, Sighisoara. They use minibuses to charter people from Targu Mures (the place I'm landing) and apparently there's no room for luggage, they fill up quickly, and the bus drivers are known to overcharge. Plus, I'm definitely not thrilled about the time change - I hate trying to find my way in the dark. I really just wanted to go straight to Brasov, but apparently the hostel is hard to find, so I decided to stop in Sighisoara, where the hostel is right next to the bus/train station.

Overall though, I'm incredibly excited about Romania. I've heard such good things - cheap, beautiful, nice people, etc. I'm tired of all these big cities and ready to spend some time in the countryside. Hopefully the weather won't be too wet, and I'll be able to do some trekking in the mountains. Also, three people from this hostel will be in Brasov for Halloween, so it'll be nice to see some familiar faces.

This evening we're going to some international students party - crossing my fingers that there will be more than just Aussies. I don't want to stay out too late tonight though because I need to catch the train to the airport around 9 am. If I go to bed too late, I tend to sleep through my weak alarm on my watch that beeps about 5 times and then stops. The good thing about this trip is that I seem pretty impervious to hangovers. It's quite impressive. There was the 11 shots of bison piss vodka (Poland's national vodka which contains a piece of grass that a bison has peed on . . . are there even bison in Poland?) that made me woozy all the next day, but I have never been incapacitated in any way.

So I've now spent two days in Budapest, Hungary. My first impression: wow. My second impression: eh. Budapest is an absolutely gorgeous city. Why Prague is considered the gem of Eastern Europe is beyond me. It has nothing on Budapest. However, Budapest, like Prague is geared towards tourism, and the overt commercialization definitely detracts from the whole experience. What is most annoying are these giant groups (mostly old people and Asians) who take these bus tours, moving en masse at an absolutely glacial pace, constantly getting in the way. Oh, by the way, someone needs to explain to me why a good number of Asians feel the need to wear surgical masks as they walk around. Why?! Why?! Do they think the air is poisonous? I keep getting the urge to go up to one of them and rip it off to see if they scream. Anyway, I realized today why I loved Krakow, as well as Poland in general - no tour buses, no large annoying groups, no overt commercialization. Just Polish people being Polish, which equals awesome. It's really disappointing, because I'm sure Budapest has so much to offer, but I'm already tired of it, and ready to move on.

My hostel (Goat Hostel) has a great atmosphere, and the staff is the nicest I've encountered since Bahaus in Istanbul, but there hasn't been anyone to really talk to. There are two Canadian boys in my room that I've talked to, but otherwise there never seems to be anyone else around. I've moving hostels tomorrow though to Carpe Noctem ("Seize the Night"), a full out "party hostel" run by Aussies, and while I don't exactly consider myself the partying type, I've learned that these are the best places for a solo traveler. And it's not like I really care if it's too loud to go to sleep - I never have any place to be in the morning.

Today I'm half way done with my trip - day 40 of 80! Wow. I can't decide if I'm happy or sad. I guess both. Like I've said before, traveling makes me bipolar and I spend half my time never wanting to come home and the other half homesick out of my mind. How funny is it that not a day goes by without me missing my Adidas sweats? I get homesick for the oddest things. Anyway, I've tentatively mapped out the rest of my trip, although it will probably change. As of now, here's all the places I still plan on visiting:

Transylvania: Flying into Targu Mures, then to Sighisoara and Brasov
Possibly Bucharest - still undecided . . .
Belgrade, Serbia
Sarajevo, Bosnia
Mostar, Bosnia
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Possibly Montenegro
Skopje, Macedonia
Either Sofia and Veliko Tarnova in Bulgaria or some place in Greece depending on money
Istanbul! Yay!

My last day in Krakow I ate at possibly the best place on the planet. I was just wandering around with this guy I met, and we ended up in this residential neighborhood where we spotted a milk bar (student cafeteria). We weren't even sure if we were allowed to eat there at first because we had to walk through this student building to get in, but no one stopped us. We ordered and sat down, and I looked at the walls and realized they were covered in Winnie the Pooh murals. It looked like a cafeteria in a preschool room. Only in Poland.

I decided to take the bus to Budapest, because I had read that it goes through the mountains, while the train bypasses them. It was definitely a good choice - absolutely gorgeous - piney, snowy, quaint. Visiting the Tatras would be a must if I returned to Poland. We had to go through passport control on the Slovakian border, although I'm not quite sure what the point was. My passport could have belonged to some old man, since the guard hardly glanced at it. While it's certainly nice not having to deal with passport control ever, I'm a little bummed I won't have many stamps in my passport at the end of my trip. I find it funny that while the States are tightening border security, you can go practically anywhere in Europe without anyone knowing . . .

I went on a pretty awful walking tour yesterday, and much to my displeasure, this annoying Australian girl who was on the same walking tour as me in Krakow was on that one too. I almost left when she walked up. The only part of the tour I found entertaining was when the guide told us they called mountains mounds in Hungary since they weren't very big. I'm looking across the river at these "mounds" just laughing - coming from Illinois, those are mountains as far as I'm concerned.

So I gave up on hand washing my laundry when it got cold and it took three days for a pair of socks to dry, but it's awkward because usually the hostel does it for you. I don't want someone else doing my laundry. This hostel doesn't have a dryer, they just hang everything up in a laundry room. So this male worker was the one who hung up all my laundry. Weird right? Not only did I have to pay $5, but I had let some random guy hang up my underwear.

ughhhhhhhhhhhhh.

today is going to be a loooooooooooong day.

huh. i'm trying so hard to write this post, but nothing coherent is coming out. it's taken me a half and hour to just type this. really. i think i'll try this again later.

i'm heading to budapest at 3pm today - next time i write i'll be in hungary, and hopefully able to put a proper sentence together.

oh - i bought some paczki yesterday and was very disappointed. i like the ones we just get at meijer better. they are very heavy and dense, but the paczki i bought here was light and fluffy, like a gas station jelly doughnut. i asked one of the girls at the hostel, and she said that's normally what they're like, so maybe i just prefer the ones i get from meijer, even if they aren't as authentic.

I'm back in Krakow, in this absolutely wonderful hostel (Greg & Tom - will gladly advertise for them), and even though I wasted a non-refundable night at the hostel in Wroclaw, it was definitely worth it. If only for that fact that it's hamburger night tonight here at Greg & Tom. How awesome is that? I mean, I just said how much I wanted a hamburger.

I was planning on taking a 0ne pm train to Krakow today, but I woke up at about 8:30 and decided I couldn't be in that hostel for one second longer. We were just not meshing. So I threw everything in my bag, did not change my clothes or eat breakfast, and managed to make it on the 9:30 train. I kind of regretted the no breakfast decision after awhile, because all I had by way of sustenance was a package of Tucs (the European version of Ritz crackers) and half a bottle of water for a 51/2 hour train journey, but alas I survived. Just remembered - before I leave Poland I HAVE to go to a bakery and get some Paczki (jelly doughnuts that are delicious). I've been avoiding it, because I knew once I started, I wouldn't stop - sort of like with the Hits and Nutella. But I only have one day left, so I think I'm safe.

I've spent the afternoon trying to decide where to go on the rest of my trip. I heading to Budapest on Wednesday, but after that, I don't have any plans. I found an extremely cheap flight ($24) to this town in Romania, and from there I can take a bus to Brasov, the main Transylvanian town. Without planning it at all, it seems I'll end up there over Halloween, which should be very cool. After Brasov, I'll probably head to Bucharest, the capital, and go from there. It's so great that flights are cheap. Not only am I avoiding having to spend 14 hours alone on a possibly unsafe overnight train, I'm saving about $75 in transportation costs.

They have these high-tech showers here, and I just realized today that they even have a little seat you can pull out and sit on. Cool, but I don't think I would sit on it in a hostel. Wait. I just realized I sit on communal toilets with my bare butt all the time. A shower would actually be cleaner. Now I'm really disgusted. That's one of those things I try not to think about, because it's not like I ever develop a butt rash or anything, but communal toilets are gross. Uh. New topic.

I just had two "hamburgers" but I'm not sure how much real meat was involved. I got really excited, and then I actually saw the patties - these skin-thin, crispy, orangish things . . . Oh well, it was free, and they had a ton of fresh veggies, so it still ended up being good. But alas, it did not sate my desire for a giant cheeseburger.

A friend that I made at the hostel in Istanbul is heading to Cairo next week and asked if I wanted to come - what an extremely tempting offer. I mean it's Egypt! I would probably have to fly home early if I went, since I'd run out of money. I think it might be worth it though, even if I have to sacrifice the rest of Eastern Europe. Chances are it would be easier to get back here than it would be to ever go to Cairo in the future. Plus Cairo alone isn't advisable, so shouldn't I jump on the chance to go with someone else? Whereas I can always go to Eastern Europe alone. I'll have to do a bit more research before I make any decisions, especially such a radical one as this . . . and judging by my past life decisions/trip decisions I probably won't go . . . I guess I'll sleep on it and see where I end up tomorrow morning. I have the whole day tomorrow to just chill, so I should be able to sort some things out. Let me know what you think I should do . . .

Happy Birthday Amy! Grandma asked me to send a postcard . . . but I didn't . . . I always think of things like that when I'm laying in bed in the middle of the night, and never when I'm out during the day. And since I can't read any of these languages, it's not like I ever notice post offices to remind me . . . and then I lose track of time . . .


****Wow. I didn't realize how cheap Cairo was. Hostels are about $8 a night, nicer meals are about $5, the metro costs 20 cents, and it's only $6 to roam the Pyramids . . .

12pm
Yesterday I got into Wroclaw, Poland at about 7pm after a cramped, excessively long train ride. 7 hours to cover 187 miles. Awesome. The trains to both Krakow and Warsaw were pretty empty, so I wasn't planning on this one being busy. However, I'd failed to realize that it was a Saturday afternoon train. Days of the week get all jumbled when you travel like this. I probably would have gotten a decent seat if I hadn't accidently gotten in a first class car when the train first arrived. So when I finally found a second class compartment that wasn't completely full, I had to sit in the crack between two different seats. Very uncomfortable. So much for the sleep I desperately needed. I've had a cold for a couple of days now - thanks mom for making me think I have H1/N1! I spent some time panicking about that one last night. Anyway, I'm sure it's just a normal cold brought on by the unexpected weather, but it's annoying, plus I feel bad since I'm sleeping in dorms, etc. I felt awful on the train since there were six people in our tiny compartment, and I kept coughing and sneezing. All I wanted to do was blow my nose, but I felt that would be rude. And I didn't want to leave the compartment since there were a bunch of drunk polish guys in the corridor yelling and throwing things out the window. Oh the wonders of riding the train with the locals.

I get to my hostel to discover that there are only Polish people in my room. There was an older man laying in his bed, and he just stared at me while I unpacked my bag. So creepy. I'm hoping that most of them will leave today since it's the end of the weekend. Not that there's anything wrong with Polish people (for the most part), but only one of them speaks English. Funny enough, he's lived in Bloomington and has been to Champaign. The first person I meet who's familiar with my hometown is Polish.

It's noon now, and the only place I've been in Wroclaw is the mall. The Polish LOVE their malls. They're gigantic and I'm pretty sure there's one every five blocks in every direction. Anyway, there's always a grocery store in the basement of each mall - I went to pick up some orange juice. This was some hoity toity speciality store - one where they put all the bows on their jams and sauces, etc. Yet it was still really cheap - have I mentioned how great Poland is?

I think the funniest thing about Poland is how hard they seem to try to be a Westernized country. But Polish people are just so dorky. Everything looks Westernized, but then you see the Poles - the way they dress, talk act - they have a ways to go. Which reminds me - Mom, I saw some woman in Warsaw wearing that pretty, embroidered wool coat you have - didn't you get it at TJ Maxx? I bet that's why. Whoever made it found out it was selling in Poland, and they decided they couldn't have that, so they resigned the rest of them to TJ Maxx. Ha.

6pm

Today hasn't been the greatest of days. It's rained pretty much nonstop, and neither of my shoes are waterproof. I'm pissed about these boots I spent $60 on - they're already falling apart. To be fair I do a lot of walking on cobbled streets, but still, I bought them less than three weeks ago. Shoes over here are all so expensive; you'd think they'd hold up better. Anyway, I went out twice today, both times returning with sopping wet shoes and socks.

Wroclaw is a gorgeous town - I find it prettier than both Krakow and Prague - it's just much quainter/less overrun with tourists. However, there isn't much to see, and with no one to talk to, I covered all the sights in a few hours. I'm back at the hostel now, probably for the night. Wroclaw's night life is apparently great, but alas I don't feel comfortable walking into a bar alone in a foreign country. If only I were a man . . . I feel like I say that at least once a day on this trip (and about 40 times a day when I was in Istanbul). I think Wroclaw would be a lot of fun if I were here with someone, but since that's not the case, I'm going back to Krakow tomorrow morning. Hopefully, this time tomorrow I'll have just got done eating at that awesome Polish restaurant with the potato pancakes.

I went through such a hassle to end up spending one day here, most of it in the hostel, but I've realized that I'm happy to just have the experiences - be it good, bad, embarassing, or seemingly a waste of time. Doing nothing in Nathan's Villa Hostel in Wroclaw is still much more interesting than doing nothing in my bedroom back home. For example, I wouldn't have the Creepy Old Polish Man staring at me (again) in the kitchen as I write this. Thankfully he checked out of the room, along with everyone else, as I thought would happen. But now my room's empty except for this one guy my age that came in today. I think he's an Aussie, but he seems really quite, and quite and Aussie are not two words that EVER go together. So maybe he's British. At least he's not Creepy Old Polish Man. Who snored really, really loud.

I was excited about my dinner tonight, because I splurged on some gourmet pesto sauce, but it turned out to be more olive oil than pesto, and now my pasta is all greasy. Nothing can go right here apparently. Now that I look at the jar, there's a picture of an olive oil bottle next to what says "Pesto alla Genovese". Maybe that means extra oily pesto. Once again I buy the wrong thing. One of the things I miss the most about the states is food. Knowing exactly what you're ordering or buying, asking questions or making specifications about what you want, etc. I've eaten a meal with mushrooms twice now. I've already decided that the first thing I'm doing upon being back in the States is ordering a giant cheeseburger, and relishing in my ability to ask for it well done with Swiss instead of cheddar and no onions please.

I feel like the world's biggest idiot.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I've come to Warsaw during the 25th annual Warsaw Film Festival. I was even happier when I discovered that the two venues showing the films were right down the street and tickets were only $5 a piece. This afternoon I went and saw a British mockumentary with a guy I'd met at the hostel last night. The film turned out to be rubbish unfortunately, but it was nice to sit in a theatre and watch an english language film. Tonight I decided I wanted to go see this weird Korean vampire film, but it ended up being sold out along with my backup, an American comedy. I saw that a Venezuelan film playing at the other theatre wasn't sold out so I decided to go over there. I got there at about 9:15 and since the film wasn't till 10 I plopped down and immediately became absorbed in my iTouch crossword app. I was listening to my music, totally unawares, but at about 9:40 I look up, and I realize the whole theatre lobby is completely empty. What? Wait!? Where did everyone go? Shit!!! 21:00 is 9pm NOT 10pm. My film started 40 minutes ago and it was only 82 minutes long! I considered going in for a minute, but seeing as I had no clue what the film was even about, and it was almost half over . . . I guess I could have seen if they would have let me switch my ticket to one of the two films that started at 9:30, but the embarrassment wasn't worth the $5 ticket. It sure explains why all the shows for 9pm at the one theatre were sold out when I got there at about 9:05. Looking on the bright side - at least it wasn't a bus or a train . . .

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Now I'm sitting in my hostel all alone except for some old people. What a waste of a night. I feel like screaming. And then sticking my head in the toilet to try to wash away my embarassment.

Well I'm on the train to Warsaw, stewing in my own body odor. I made the colossal mistake of forgetting to put on deoderant this morning before I left my hostel. It's a 25 minute walk to the train station, and with a 30 lb pack on my shoulders, I was drenched in sweat by the time I finally got to sit down on the train. At first, I thought it was someone else in my carriage, but nope it's me. Which sucks, because not only is my deoderant packed within the catacombs of my bag, but I also cannot wear the three shirts I have on again until I wash them properly.

It's a complete blizzard outside. They kept saying heavy snow, but I was skeptical - I thought it would just be flurries, and I definitely didn't think it would stick. Ha. Everything is completely white. It's actually really pretty, but I still have seven weeks left, and I don't know if I can deal with this weather for quite that long. I usually spend so much time outside exploring, but this weather makes me want to curl up with a cup of tea and a book.

I got to the train station about 30 minutes before my train left, and I went to sit in the waiting room, only to find it occupied by homeless men and about twenty pigeons. Seriously? How awkward.

I picked up a collection of adult short stories by Roald Dahl at my last hostel - he's such a fantastic writer. The stories are all quite odd and based in irony - kind of along the lines of "karmas a bitch". It's a good easy read, plus it's nice to be able to read one story at a time. It fits the nomadic nature of backpacking.

I'm so much more comfortable, as well as confident, traveling than I was before. I think I can start moving between destinations more frequently. Plus, I don't like being somewhere and not having anything to do because I've exhausted all options of interest. While I loved Krakow, I am extremely glad I'll be in a different city tonight. Once I get tired of someplace I tend to get homesick - yesterday it was all "I still have 7 weeks left! That's soooo long" and today, with the prospect of a new environment it's all "I only have seven weeks left?! Oh no!". This solo traveling ordeal kinda makes me feel bipolar.

We just passed this pine forest where a good deal of the trees were bent - some of the tops were touching the ground yet the trunks weren't cracked at all . . . very cool. Riley, if you're reading, that's mostly for you and your fascination with trees :)

Because I'm bored - a brief narration in the life of an Aussie:
"This morning I had some vegemite on toast for brekkie, while I caught the news on the telly. I donned my sunnies and my runners and headed out to meet my mate before uni. As I was leaving, I waved g'day to the garbo as he was picking up our rubbish."

Later today:

My first impression upon leaving the Warsaw train station today was in fact "huh, this place is a shithole." But I think it was mainly due to the sleeting, slushy mess that I walked into. This weather is absolutely unbelievable. I'm just not ready for it this early in the year. Anyway, after a change of clothes, liberal amounts of deoderant, and some research on Warsaw, I've found that the city has quite a bit to offer. Despite the weather, I'm looking forward to going out to explore the city tomorrow. Thankfully I didn't have to go back out today since two Aussies volunteered to go to the store to get food for a group stir fry.

This hostel is quite nice, except there's practically no one here. I guess I'll be running into that more now that it's getting later in the year. Thankfully the people that are here are cool. It's a very homey atmosphere - the workers are just sitting in the common room with us watching a football game, and they made us popcorn and gave us cookies. Or I guess I should say biscuits.

I'll have two full days here, which hopefully will be enough, and then I'm over to Wroclaw. I really need to stop booking so far ahead. I've already booked my hostel in Wroclaw, which annoys me, because what if I want to stay here longer? I need to learn to be more spur of the moment. I did wait until today to buy my train ticket, so I certainly am getting better.

I just did some heavy duty organization in order to fit everything
into my tiny backpack. I have to say, I think it's pretty impressive
what I've managed to fit in there. I think I've tripled the amount of
clothes I started with, but I definitely need them. It's freezing! And
apparently there's supposed to be heavy snow on Thursday. Great. At
least I have boots now.

I decided to do a little inventory of what I started with compared to
what I have now. It's pretty funny - needless to say, I underpacked.

What I started with:

2 long sleeve shirts
2 short sleeve shirts
A tanktop
2 pairs of cargo pants
A pair of gym shorts
A fleece jacket

What I've had to buy:

Hat, gloves, scarf, wool socks, tights
2 pairs of leggings
3 sweaters
2 long sleeve shirts
A skirt
A short sleeved dress
Leather boots

And like I just said, I made it all fit in my bag! I think when I get
back I should become a professional bag packer. I need to post a
picture of how small this bag is, so that everyone can get an idea of
just how amazing I am . . .

One of the workers just brought a space heater into our room. Nooooo.
Why is it so cold already? And would it kill the sun to come out? I
think the only sunny day I've had in over two weeks was last Saturday.
How depressing.

Yesterday I went and had Georgian food, but the place was pretty
commercialized, and the food tasted like box restaurant food, except
worse. I could tell from my first bite that they had used MSG, and
sure enough I spent the whole night wanting to vomit "Georgian cheese
pie". I think I'll stick to the smaller, home-grown type restaurants
for the rest of my trip.

I found Hits in the grocery store here in Poland. They're cookies with
hazelnut filling that mom used to buy me and Erik when we were
younger. I can get this giant pack for $1. I'm on my third pack since
Friday. At least I've moved on from Nutella. Sort of. I'm not eating
it straight out of the jar with a spoon like I was in Prague.

It would seem like you'd lose weight backpacking with all the walking
you do, but I think I'll probably gain weight. I don't think I'm
eating all that well (see above paragraph), and I'm not running like I
did back home.

I wrote this yesterday, but I'm just now posting it, so it's Wednesday morning - and it's snowing like mad. On October 14. What a joke.

Today is day number six in Krakow. While this city has defininitely held my interest more so than Berlin and Prague, I think I'm ready to move on. From this point on I'll be spending only a few days each place I go, instead of a whole week. It's often too long of a time and now that I'm more confident in traveling I think I'll be hopping around a lot more. I pushed my bus ticket to Budapest back a week and instead I'm spending that time in Poland. I'm planning on doing three nights in both Warsaw and Wroclaw before heading back to Krakow to catch my bus south. Wroclaw is supposed to be a nice college town, and while all I've heard about Warsaw from the locals is that it "is a shithole" I still would like to see it. And I figure since I'll only be there for two days, it's no big deal if I hate it.

I went to Auschwitz yesterday, and the weather was horrible - raining and about 47 degrees. I could of went another day, but when I looked at the weather it was more of the same with even colder temps. Because I was cold and wet, I had a hard time concentating which was a bit disappointing. The tour through Auschwitz wasn't bad because we were mostly in the buildings, but then we went over to Birkenau and it just started pouring and there was no shelter. Birkenau was built after Auschwitz - it's about thee Km down the road, thee times the size, and where most of the prisoners were mudered. It's such a vast area, and it looked really eerie in the rain. We made our way to the end of the camp where there's a memorial, and then we had to walk back to the entrance - at least 1/4 of a mile directly into the wind and the rain. My pants were completely soaked through and I felt so miserable, but then I felt bad because of where I was and the stories I just
heard. You can't really complain about anything when you're at someplace like Auschwitz. I think the most awful thing I saw were these "stalls" in the basement of one of the buildings. I'd say they were about 3x3 and the only way in was this tiny door you would have to crawl through. Inside, prisoners were made to stand each night, four to a stall, sometimes for two weeks at a time, and then go out and work each day. I can't even begin to comprehend how the ss officers that worked in these camps could be so inhumane. Of the 1,300,000 prisoners brought to Auschwitz, 1,100,000 of them died.

The bus back to Krakow was completely full and I had to stand for the entire two-hour ride. It wasn't the standing I minded so much as the abrupt stopping and going - I got extremely car sick. If I'd had anything to eat recently, I would have thrown up. As it was, it was just an exceptionally queasy ride.

I'm so annoyed - there was a great flea market right across the street from my hostel today. I looked around briefly this morning, but I needed to go to an ATM, so I just decided to come back later. I went to the mall to get an iPod charger (they wanted $50 for the Apple one! I think I paid $5 on eBay) I ended up getting some shady off brand, but thankfully it works fine. Anyway, I came back to the hostel to eat lunch and decided to take a nap. When I woke up - three hours later, oops - the flea market was completely gone! It's only four! There were sweaters I needed! The highs in Poland for the next week and a half don't stretch farther than the upper 40s! I am sacrificing drastically warmer weather to stay in Poland another week. Hopefully it's worth it.

I picked up some yogurt to eat with this muesli I had, and I open it up and apparently it's milk. Vanilla flavored milk in a yogurt container. I saw the word Dannon and grabbed it. Apparently Dannon sells milk in the yogurt section here in Poland. I ended up eating some of it - it wasn't too bad, just a little sweet.

Has anyone heard of Vegemite? It's this paste that Australians eat on bread - I think it's made from yeast - and it's disgusting. I made the mistake of sticking a whole glob in my mouth without knowing what it tasted like - bad decision. It's like eating a spoonful of salt, but about five times worse. Definitely must be an acquired taste. Weird Aussies. I actually don't like Australians much. I think because so many of them travel, you get a much wider range of people, and a lot of them are rather loud and annoying. The girls all seem really preoccupied with hair, makeup, and fashion - something I didn't think I'd run into backpacking, but I've since learned it is apparently possible to live out of a backpack and still look like a model.

Back home I rarely ate pork, but I don't have much choice here. In fact I'm not sure I've eaten any meat that wasn't pork since I left. It's not making me sick though, which makes me think it was the chemicals in the food back home, not the actual pork that made me ill. It's a lot harder to follow dietary guidelines here, but nothing is processed and I know things are healthier just because they don't use all those preservatives.

I actually wrote this post yesterday (Sunday) in two different parts, but I didn't have a
chance to post it. Sorry if it seems sort of disjointed. The hostel I'm at right now is really small and they only have one computer. I felt bad monopolizing it to post an
entry. I ended up writing this on my iTouch so excuse any grammar -
it's a pain typing on this tiny screen.

I'm staying in an 8 bed dorm right now, and seven new people checked
in last night - all Australians. That's seven Australians too many in
my opinion. I have two more full days here, but no one to hang out
with, so I'm not looking forward to them all that much. Tomorrow I'm
taking the bus to this national park - it will be nice to get out of
the city. Four weeks now in big cities is starting to get to me. There
are these beautiful mountains on the Slovakian border, just south of
here that I'd love to go to, but I think it would probably be
freezing. The high in Warsaw on Thursday is only 37! But temperatures
dropped drastically all over Eastern Europe this week, so it's cold
pretty much everywhere now. I'll just have to deal. I got some wool
knee high socks yesterday.

Party Like It's 1985

I can't decide if Krakow is absolutely wonderful or the devil.

I'm leaning towards absolutely wonderful though. I just have a feeling that I'm not going to sleep much while I'm here. The cost of going out is so ridiculously cheap - you can't say no. Last night set me back a whopping $8.

It turned out that this very popular 5-story Polish club was about a block from my hostel: ugly, black, windows still boarded over from the communist era, completely and utterly Polish. Not some place many tourists would stumble upon on their own. It was '80s night - something I wasn't too thrilled about, but I donned some leggings and after a couple of 4 zloty beers (less than $1.50) it didn't really matter that I was dancing to ABBA and who knows what other crap. Inexplicably, the DJ would randomly mix in Kings of Leon and Franz Ferdinand - I understand the Franz Ferdinand (which probably explains why I hate them), that fits right in, but it was a bit odd to hear "Sex on Fire" squeezed in between Michael Jackson and Madonna.

It was a Wednesday night, so by 2 am the dance floor had completely emptied and it was just me, two girls from my hostel, and two Polish guys I met my first day here. The two Polish guys are absolutely hysterical. They do these free walking tours together and are obviously very good friends, but they are complete opposites. One of them has long hair, a goatee, and wears combat boots with shorts, while the other is very clean cut and wears a sport jacket and loafers. They really knew how to dance to that '80s music. It's nice, because the music is so bad, it doesn't matter if the dancing is equally bad. You can kind of do whatever you want without any embarrassment whatsoever.

Today I went with Jill, this British girl I've spent all my time with here, to this massive salt mine located just south of Krakow. I had no clue it existed, but it's absolutely gigantic- something like 3000 km of underground tunnels, passages, chapels, etc. The miners were really religious because there job was so dangerous, and there's something like 35 chapels in the mine. We saw one, the largest underground chapel in the world - it was gorgeous and pretty unbelievable. The overall tour though was a little cheesy - we only got to see about 2 km of the mine and it was pretty commercialized with some dorky displays. Not sure it was worth the money, but it was still interesting seeing as I had no clue it existed.

After the mine we ended up going to the same Polish restaurant we went to my first day in Krakow. It was funny, because we were standing on the street, trying to remember where it was, and Jill turns to the doorway right next to us and is like "wait, isn't this it?" So I had more polish pancakes and after we saw this other girl eating these amazing looking crepes, we had to get those too. It was definitely the best meals I've had since leaving home. It's nice to be able to eat out here - in Prague and Berlin I only ate food from the grocery store. Although I'm not sure I saved much in Prague, because of that dangerously delicious bread and pastry section they had at the Tesco.

I've been trying to write this entry for an entire day now; the internet here is really faulty and will just randomly stop working. It's really annoying. Hopefully I can get this finished before I leave this hostel today. I hate days when you have to move, especially now that I seem to have accumulated twice as much stuff as I started with, so it's a real pain packing my bag.

This is the nicest hostel I've stayed in, and I'll be sad to leave. It's very cozy, and you feel like you're just in someone's house. Like in the kitchen, there's one big table, so you have no choice but to sit around it, and it really helps in socializing. The staff is helpful, the place is immaculate, and they even have wooden floors and interior brick walls. In the TV room, they have the same couches as my mom has in our TV room/Erik's stinky den - go Ikea! I watched some movies last night and it was almost like being at home. Almost.

We watched the Bourne Supremacy, which takes part mostly in Berlin - way more cool to watch since I'd just visited. Then we watched some pretty awful Polish comedy; I think I now know why you never see any movies from Poland. Either the captions were translated poorly, or the Polish say weird things. I think my favorite was when this one woman called this man a "pork chop clown." Not sure what I would do if someone called me that . . .

I'm debating staying in Poland for one more week. If I can switch my bus ticket, I think I will. I really like it here. If I stay, I'll head northwest to Wroclaw (pronounced vrots-wahf - who would have guessed that one?) and then maybe over to Warsaw, before heading back down to Krakow to take the bus to Budapest. I think my body just knows how Polish I am and doesn't want me to leave.

Even if absolutely no one reads this, except maybe you mom, it's nice to FINALLY, after years of wanting to be a writer, be able to write every single day, both here and in my journal. I actually feel like I'm accomplishing something for once.

I had quite an adventurous day yesterday - and the Polish prove to be a fantastic change from the cold, all business manner of the Germans and especially the Czechs. At breakfast, I met a girl my age from a small town on the Welsh border and two middle aged chaps - one from Glasgow and the other from Liverpool. We ended up going on a free tour that started at 11pm and was supposed to end at 3pm, but due to our fun, excellent Polish guide, we didn't stop til one in the morning. Longest, best tour of the city ever (except for maybe the one planned for this evening). The weather was actually dreadful yesterday. I could see my breath! In the first week of October! It started to rain towards the end of our tour, so our guide suggested hot spiced wine at a pub in Kazimierz (the Jewish quarter of the city and the place to party). The entire rest of the people on the tour left after their first drink, but the three people from the UK I met this morning stayed and an American girl whom had met our tour guide previously came and joined us. We continued onto another pub, one boasting 100 different Polish beers, and I had, hands down, the best tasting beer ever. It was a honey beer, and it literally tasted like good honey. We only stayed there for one drink, but I think I would have fallen off the deep end if we stayed for more. That lovely beer hardly tasted like beer, or alcohol in general, but it had a 9% alcohol content, and even one made me feel quite light-headed. After that pub, we headed to dinner at an authentic Polish restaurant where I got pork and potato pancakes in this delicious sauce. I wish I could figure out how to download pictures, because I took a picture of the food, and it would be nice to show what it actually looked like. We continued on to a place that was simply called Wodka ("W" is pronounced "V" in Polish, so Krakow is actually Krakov). There, I got cherry vodka with banana juice (delicious) and honey vodka with sprite and cucumbers (interesting).

I want to point out that I got lunch, dinner, and four alcoholic drinks for a total of $17.55. How amazing is Poland? And to think that Romania and Bulgaria are even cheaper. The totals for these drinks and meals were about the same prices as you would see in America, except that it's three Zloties to the dollar, so you do the math and your jaw about drops. My huge Polish dinner, the most expensive item on the menu, came to a whopping 14 Zloties (not even $5)

We're doing another tour today at 2:30, this one of the Jewish ghetto and Schindler's factory (all of Schindler's List was filmed on site in Krakow - I haven't seen the movie since I was 15 - I'd really like to see it now) and already have plans to go out again tonight. I have a feeling that I won't have any problem staying in Krakow for another seven days. Especially since the hostel I'm changing to on Friday is across the street from "the place to be" in Kazimierz.

The guy from Liverpool is heading to Lviv next, and I was expressing to him a bit of disappointment at my decision to go south instead of farther east. Later, on the tour we met a guy from Switzerland who was driving that way on Thursday, so the guy from Liverpool is heading with him. It's tempting to go too, but I'd be throwing away a night at this hostel that I've already payed for, as well as my deposit at the second hostel, and my ticket to Budapest. It will be cold anyway. I thought about staying in Poland for a few more weeks, possibly heading north to the coast at Gdansk, but I checked the temps and crossed that idea off my list. I've constantly heard absolutely fantastic things about Romania so I think that's where I'll end up spending a few weeks.

Gettin' Back to those Polish Roots

Today's my first day in Krakow! I checked into my hostel at about 10:15 last night. Thankfully it was very close to the train station, because the streets were deserted and it was a bit foggy. Not something I really wanted to walk around in by myself. This hostel is brand new, a duplicate of one already here in the city, and it's by far the nicest one I've stayed at. The guy who checked me in was extremely nice and showed me all the things to do in Krakow. I'm supposed to be here nine days, but after the six days in Prague that felt like six years, I was really doubting being here for that long. Now though I'm thinking nine days might be fine after all. I'll guess I'll go out today and get a feel for the city and go from there.

Yesterday was my first European train ride, and I've got to say, I'm so glad I was able to travel with the two other girls. Trains aren't the safest way to go in Eastern Europe and unless I have someone to go with, or it's a short ride, I think I'll be sticking to buses. Apparently it's quite frequent on overnight trains to have your chamber gassed while you're sleeping and your belongings stolen. Larissa, one of the girls I was with, had her wallet stolen on an overnight train a couple of weeks ago while they were asleep. If I were by myself on an overnight train, I probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep or even leave my seat to go to the bathroom. Even on a day train I don't think I'd feel comfortable leaving my bags to use the restroom. Whereas on buses, your belongings are safely stored underneath, and it's not like someone is going to drug the whole bus.

Traveling by myself, and just traveling in general, has been much harder than I ever could have imagined. It seems like I'm always tired, and the planning and the moving never stops. After traveling alone for three weeks, it was so much easier being able to travel to Poland with the two Australians. Instead of sitting on an 8 hour train ride, stewing in my own thoughts, I was able to enjoy my time. And for the first time since I came to Europe, I didn't arrive at my hostel exhausted and on the verge of tears, terrified of being in another completely new country and city. I'm sure it will get easier - it already has in ways, but one thing is for sure - travel is no vacation. In fact, I think I've learned more in three weeks than I did in the past 20 years of my life . . . wow. I can't decide if that's depressing or amazing.

I drank about 2 liters of water (fizzy water that is, because apparently the europeans can't bother to label their bottles correctly) on the train in about two hours and had a pretty ridiculous bathroom experience. We were at the back of a long train and it was so shaky, plus the seat of the toilet was dirty, so I'm peeing for approximately two minutes, in a squating position, my calves a'burnin. When I finally finish up I see that the toilet paper is not in it's rightful place (of course), but on the sink across the way. I have to hobble over, peeing on my hand on the way, because I figured it's easier to properly clean the hands than it is to properly clean the clothes . . . After that ordeal is all finished up, I can't figure out how to flush. I then notice a red button next to the sink. Now I don't know if it's because of my grandma's red "panic" button in her bathroom, but I was worried that if I pushed the red button, something really scary was going to happen. I ended up braving it, and it was the flush for the toilet, but you would think they could at least properly label it or something.

I put about 1000 songs on my iPod before I left, not really considering that those would be the only 1000 songs I'd have to listen to for three months of long bus/train rides and lots of time by myself. I put about 100 songs by Bob Dylan on there - so 1/10 of my music is Dylan, and while I do love him, he gets a bit old and repetitive when it's the majority of what you're listening to. On the other hand, I did well to put everything I had by Sigur Ros and M83 on - two ethereal, mainly instrumental European bands. It's gorgeous to listen to their absolutely beautiful music as you ride the train, or tram, or bus, or just wander down unfamiliar cobblestone streets. If you've never listen to Sigur Ros, do it now - I can't imagine anyone not liking their music. I consider it a modern take on classical music, and it's absolutely heartbreaking. I don't think I can listen to it without getting shivers down my spine - it's that beautiful.

If you have 10 minutes and want to watch not only an extremely inspiring music video, but also hear one of my favorite songs by them, check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFOvdSCOfpk

Oh, for anyone that wondered, the countryside fo the Czech Republic looks like southern Michigan, with towns mirroring those of southern Indiana. Besides the old church here and there, I never would have guessed I was in Europe.

I think it's time for breakfast - there's a pretty nice layout in the opposite room that's calling to me. Today I plan on exploring the Jewish part of Krakow - there's a huge cemetary, the old ghetto, and apparently this mound you can climb to see all of Krakow. Tomorrow or the day after I'll probably head over to Auschwitz. There's this tour you can do - the ticket's $30 - but it includes the bus ride, the entrance fee (which I guess they just started charging 2 mos ago), and a guided tour. I think it will be worth it. It definitely wouldn't be the same going without a guide.

Can't Escape That Fashion

I should have done this from the start, but I guess better late then never. And I still have the majority of my trip left. Today is my last day in Prague, but I might as well have been back home for all the use I made of it.

I know it's incredibly shallow, but my clothing choices for this trip have been driving me crazy. For someone that lives in leggings or skinny jeans and her converse all stars at home, it's been really hard having to wear big baggy cargo pants and tennis shoes. I thought I picked simple inconspicuous clothes that would help me blend in, but as it happens there isn't a young girl on the streets here in Europe without her converse all-stars and skinny jeans . . . So after whining about it for the past two weeks, I finally went out and bought a couple must need items, so A) I won't look so much like a tourist/possible terrorist and B) I will actually feel comfortable/confident in my appearance. Just one of the many things I've learned in my short time traveling - you don't have to compromise fashion if backpacking. It's so difficult being alone and so far from home, the more you can do to make yourself comfortable, the happier you'll be.

All of these hostels play the most horrid American pop music and over the past couple of weeks I have kept hearing this song with the most annoying lyrics, something about "wanting to take a ride on your disco stick" whatever that means . . . anyway I finally asked these two Australian girls I'm sharing a room with who sang it, and they gave me this "are you kidding me look?" Apparently it's Lady Gaga - and while I'm very aware of Lady Gaga's eclectic fashion choices - I realized I'd never actually knew anything she sang. I'm out of the loop.

I'll be heading over to Krakow tomorrow and will be there for nine days. I've booked my hostels already, but now I kind of wish I had split the time between two cities. I can still make day trips, and I definitely plan on seeing Auschwitz and Birkenau, but I hope I don't get bored. I booked two really good hostels though, so hopefully they will be a lot more fun than this hostel I've been at in Prague. Apparently the one I'll be staying at on Monday night just stuffs you with free food. Always a plus in my book!

I'm taking the train to Krakow with these two girls from Sydney. They're only 19 and not anyone I'd ever be friends with at home, but they're nice, and they've been traveling now for three months so they've been giving me some good advice. Australia seems like such a great country - I'm sure it has it's flaws, but from what I've heard, it seems like a better deal than America. All the Australians I've met so far seem to save a lot of money in a short amount of time, and then travel for months - I inquired about the minimum wage, and she said it's $14 Australian dollars, which is equal to about $12 US dollars! No wonder they can all afford to travel.

After Krakow, I'm heading to Budapest, but from there, I'm at a loss as to what to do . . . I considered heading over to Spain for a week when I found a $60 round-trip flight, but then they continued to charge an extra $40 for carry-on luggage! I'll more than likely just continue down south over to the coast of the Adriatic and then jet over to Romania before possibly hitting up the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria.

Hopefully I'll figure out a way to download my pics while I'm in Krakow - it'd be nice to add them to this blog. I wish I weren't so intimidated by PC's, especially these really old ones that all the hostels seem to have.