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.