Pictures!

I got two new photo albums up on my picasa page from my trip so far, check them out!

Raining on my Parade

I am sitting inside right now in Slovenia, waiting for a thunderstorm to pass over so that I can go out on a day trip I had been planning to a nearby town. The weather here has been less than stellar the last few days, although we did get a break yesterday and had absolutely perfect conditions to go out and visit lake Bled.

(Bled Castle)

The lake was gorgeous, and was even cooler looking than I expected. We spent the day strolling around the shore, visiting a few nearby towns, and visited the castle overlooking the lake as well.
The first day here though it rained half the day, and we got soaked trying to get to our place to stay. It cleared up after lunch, and we got a chance to go check out the old town of Ljubljana, but then we got caught in a bit more rain. Ljubljana is a sweet city, and if the weather clears up then hopefully we will get some more time to wander the center tomorrow, but the bummer part was that on Saturday and Sunday, practically everything is closed. Even all the markets are closed on Sundays past noon, so while its cool to walk around and look, there is hardly anything really to do. Hopefully today and tomorrow will turn out better.

Belgrade or Bust

Well, after a few more days of wrapping stuff up, I finally finished up my work here in Bulgaria and started off on my grand adventure. We set off a day later than I had been hoping for because the night train that I had been planning on taking left the country before midnight, which I was not allowed to do since I was still officially a volunteer until midnight on the night of the 7th, but there was an early morning bus up to Belgrade the next day, so it all worked out.

We ran in to a few problems after reaching Belgrade, however. We were supposed to meet up with our couchsurfer in the afternoon that day, but after waiting around that the pre-arraigned meeting spot, she never showed up. We asked all the people we could find if we could borrow a cell phone to call her, but no one was willing to help us out at all. Serbs are apparently not the friendliest people to strangers, but then again, maybe it was just bad luck that all the ones we were meeting were rude. Either way, we got stuck having to search out a hostel at the last minute and found a place with the least friendliest and helpful staff that I have ever stayed at. The receptionist couldn't even point us in the direction of a restaurant for dinner, she just said "They're out there, I'm sure you'll find one." Gee, thanks lady.We ended up having a nice time walking around the old city though, checking out the sights. We even got to watch the old guys in the park playing speed chess, which was pretty sweet as well. Belgrade is a lively and interesting city, but it also still bears scars of the war. Bombed out buildings still stand in stark contrast to all the improvements and reconstruction that has been completed, and it serves as a reminder of the dark history that Serbia is still working to overcome.
Anyway, it was a nice day that ended with a crazy dinner. We finally found a little diner-cafe joint that we sat down at to have our meal, and after looking through the menu for a while at a bunch of dished we didn't recognize, we decided to ask the waiter what he recommend. He pointed out two items that he said were "fantastic" so we each decided to order one of them. I ended up with a Serbian style hamburger, and Braden got a plate of sausage. It sounds good at first, until you realize that ALL I had was one giant two pound hamburger, sans bun, toppings or side dish, and all Braden had was a mound of sausage, also with no side dish or dressing. It was just one giant pile of meat. There was no way either of us could have hoped to finish such a meal, and I remember just looking at each other laughing at the ridiculousness of it all when the plates were served. Crazy old Serbia....
The last night in Serbia ended up with Braden and I catching a night train out to Slovenia. We reserved a private room for the two of us complete with bunk beds and a little table/sink. Braden set up his laptop and we were able to enjoy a movie before going to bed while the train whisked us away to our next destination.

I will try to get more pictures posted soon, but my net is super slow at the moment and I was lucky even to get these ones posted as it is. I should have a new post up in the next few days. Peace

Sofia!

So far I have made it to Sofia, and things are going great! I had a decent sent off from my organization, followed by a weekend of visiting friends and final goodbyes in Burgas. Then Braden and I caught a train across the country to Sofia, where we have been for the last few days taking care of the last bit of paperwork before my volunteer service is complete. I have another two nights here, then it’s off to Belgrade, the first stop on our trip.

I got all my stuff down to one backpack (although barely) that I will be taking with me. The weather is great and I am pretty much prepared to go right now. I Just have to wait until midnight of my last official day before I am allowed to leave the country. Until then, I’m pretty much just hanging out. Here are a few pictures of the last days out in Burgas.

The Final Stretch

Well, as you have probably already noticed, I have made a few changes to my blog in preparation for my trip. I added an event calendar that shows the tentative plan of action for the next month and a half, and I created a map that more or less plots the course we will take during our journey. The itinerary is not set in stone; we will be buying train and bus tickets as we go along, so we have the flexibility to stay longer in any city if we really like it, and leave early if we really don't. In fact, the only thing that we really cant miss is our flight out of Amsterdam on Nov 15th, so as long as we get there before then we are fine.
In the mean time, when I'm not sending out couchsurfing requests and double checking train times, I am cleaning up my apartment and sorting things that I will need to bring with me during my travels. I plan to take only one backpack with me, so everything that comes will have to comfortably fit in there. There is nothing worse than starting a huge adventure like this and having to lug around 100 pounds of unneeded stuff across an entire continent. Lightweight is the name of the game.

I am getting pretty excited about the whole thing though. I have been itching for a change for a while now and the moment has finally come. By the end of the week I will be homeless, and come next week I will be unemployed as well! Hurray! Um, wait. Ok, so hopefully I will only temporarily be homeless and unemployed, I imagine that is not a state I would like to remain in indefinitely. But in the mean time, it will nice to have unlimited freedom to go where I want, do what I please, and pretty much just enjoy life for the next two months. Im sure reality will waste no time in crashing down on me once I return to the states and I realize that I have to find a job ASAP, but oh well, I will worry about that when the time comes.

Anyway, wish me luck as I wrap up the last few things here, and I will post again as soon as I can. Peace

Contemplating Bulgaria

I just got back to Malko Turnovo the other day from a few more work related travels around the country. I had to go to Sofia to start filling out some of my end of service paperwork, get checked out by the doctor to make sure I haven't contracted any strange diseases while I was here, and get my teeth cleaned (good news: I don't have any strange diseases). It was nice though because I was able to leave a few days early and go see my host family one last time over in Simitli. It was good to see them again, and gave me some time to reflect on my service here.

(Me contemplating things)

It was strange being back in Simitli two years after I had first got there, and was interesting to compare how I am now to how I was then when I was living there. My perspective on Bulgaria has certainly changed, not better or worse necessarily, but has definitely become more complete and informed. Bulgaria is no longer this new strange place that surprises me at every turn. It has become normal, and after long trips to other countries I return here and am greeted by a sense of familiarity. That being said, I can never see myself feeling completely at home here. I think that the general outlook and way of life for many (but by no means all) of the people I meet here is different than my own, and after spending so much time here I still feel very much like a foreigner in my day to day exchanges. It's a hard to describe situation.

(Field work with the Germans)

The time is almost up though, and pretty soon it will be on to new things. I have less than two weeks left here at my office, and most of that time will be spent finishing up reports, cleaning out my office and apartment, and working with a group of German researchers that just arrived in town today to continue with some bat studies in the field. I have a feeling it will be a very busy two weeks.

One month left!

I will be finished with my service here in exactly one month! Time has been flying by lately and I have already begun to organize my things and pack up my apartment. Next week I will travel out to Simitli to visit my host family one more time, and my brother (who is out gallivanting in Greece at the moment) will join me there. I'm looking forward to seeing them and getting the chance to say goodbye. After that I head to Sofia to take care of some paper work, get checked out by the doctor, and go to the dentist. Then its out to Plovdiv for one final group gathering, and it will probably be the last time I see many of the other volunteers here that are in my group. It should be a good time though, and its nice that we can have one last gathering right before we all head our separate directions.

(Goodbye Malko Turnovo)

After I am done in Bulgaria, Braden and I will begin our epic European tour. I haven't planned out all the details yet, or an exact route that we will take, but its going to be the biggest trip that I have taken yet. We will travel for a month and a half through Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungry, Slovakia, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, England and Ireland, before catching a flight back to Nebraska on November 23rd. I am super excited about it, and have been doing a bit of research on all the stuff we can see and do while we are there. It is sure to be a vacation full of sweet adventures and general tomfoolery. The plan is to couchsurf as much as possible as well, to try and meet lots of people, and so that we don't run out of money after the first week. The good news is that I can get money in lieu of a ticket home from Sofia, so my flight back from Dublin is pretty much free. Not a bad deal.

(Lake Bled, one of our first stops on the trip)

I will do my best to update my blog as often as I can during my travels and post pictures as well, so keep checking in for updates. Also, if any one is interested, I can send out some post cards as I meander my way across Europe. Just email me your address and you will be sure to receive a kick-ass, personally autographed post card from any one of the aforementioned countries. What more could you want?