I'm so glad I skipped off to bed after dinner yesterday because I slept so hard last night and woke up feeling quite good. Especially good if you compare me to the most of the other AustraLearners because many of them had been out late in the bars. Silly people. They looked a little miserable at breakfast leaning over their granola and toast.

After breakfast it was on the bus to get to another three hours of orientation power point slides full of things I already knew. It is hard to pay attention and be chill with all this "hand-holding" type information when I've heard it all before and would rather just settle into my cute house waiting in Dunedin. But I realize the organizers mean well and that it is worth a refresher so I'm doing my best to deal with my frustration accordingly.

Afterwards was cool though because we got to go Zorbing! That's when you zip yourself into a big plastic ball and roll down a hill. It's way more fun than it sounds especially doing it wet because they put water in there with you so you slide around and can't stand up properly at all. I went down the zig-zag one and felt really ridiculous falling around and bouncing off the walls of the ball. I mean I had a great time but it's just a bit silly at the same time.

Zorbing! It looks dreary here because of all the rain.

It's raining so hard outside now and I'm wondering if we're still going to do our village traditional Hangi dinner if this places floods over. What is it with me and rain?!

The rain held off for our dinner for which I'm very grateful. I was happily surprised with the whole village visit, even with the rather large crowd of other tourists that accompanied us. The costumes and dances all seemed well performed and avoiding all sense of cheesiness. And oh the food! So much deliciousness in one place with potatoes and stuffing and fish and chicken. It was like Thanksgiving dinner! I also braved a mussel despite my belief that they simply shouldn't be eaten. They're like barnacles! I wasn't a fan of it but at least I finally tried them. We finished up the evening with a few more songs and a performance of the haka by the AustraLearn group which I of course participated in.

This guy made the village visit much more enjoyable... Shannon, you are totally right about men in skirts.

The women aren't supposed to stick their tongues out to intimidate enemies like the guys do (it's a phallic symbol) so they have to make do with just bugging their eyes out. She was really, really good at it.

I seem to be plagued with airport problems and Sydney Airport was no different. I was told that an inbound flight was no enough to get me to New Zealand... I also needed an outbound flight. So with very little freaking out and a few deep breaths I walked over to the ticket counter, calmly bought a one way ticket from Auckland to Fiji for April 18th and checked into my flight. Hope I remember to change that flight!

On the plane I started to get excited about orientation for AustraLearn... being herded around with other Americans like a bunch of sheep... nice padded corners and nothing to be responsible for. I had just one more night by myself in the Auckland airport, so carrying my chemically cleaned shoes still dripping with whatever blue liquid the Biosecurity people use I set off to find a cozy corner.

While sitting around I met a German girl who was also planning for a night in the airport. Before I curled up on my bench for some Zzzs I was told by a security guard that there were better benches upstairs where it was quieter. I followed his advice and yes it was quieter....

...until I woke up at 4 in the morning with the usual airport crowd of international chaos swarming around me. Ugh, not my favorite thing to wake up to and I felt quite odd in my pajamas and stolen airline blankets sitting admist mostly business suits and briefcase. I quickly changed and went down to meet up with AustraLearn.

The first thing that made me realize how much I've been through and how ridiculous this orientation was going to be was the phone card I was handed with instructions to call my parents to let them know I was safe. Hahaha! I didn't even know what time it was back home and there was no way I was going to call my parents at some god-forsaken hour to let them know I was okay when I haven't called them in weeks. They'd probably think I was in some kind of awful trouble or needed help!

The rest of orientation followed a similar theme of padded corners and concentrated American-ness. I quickly discovered that this environment was not good for me, as I was so used to traveling on my own and being among hostelers of all nationalities. I made a pitiful effort at making friends with the other AustraLearners but my heart wasn't really in it. I'm not saying I didn't have fun. I did have a blast. I was just not into being super excited about a new country, which is what everyone else was. New Zealand felt too much like home to me, and the last thing I wanted to be was a tourist.

But a tourist I was and gosh darn, I did some touristy things:

I learned the Haka, a traditional Maori dance...

...went spelunking and absailing in the Waitomo Caves, including an underground zipline...

...and chilled with some sheep.

My last day in Sydney. The last day and of course it became beautiful and sunny with not one sign of the raininess that had plagued my week long holiday here. So it goes.

I was sad to pack up my little nest in room three and say good-bye to the nice breezy balcony view. A couple American guys that had been staying in the hostel as long as I had took off in their rented van this morning with a chorus of goodbyes from the rooftop lounge. It seemed like everyone was leaving! I didn't want to spend the last bit of sunny Sydney in the hostel, no matter how home-y it was, so I headed out for the aquarium to check off another thing on my list: see Nemo.

A small child and Dugong

The aquarium was a great ending to my holiday. They were showing two of the world's four displayed Dugongs, those big creatures that sailors used to believe were mermaids. They didn't look much like mermaids to me while they swam above me in the glass encased tunnel, but their smiles were infectious and I left that display in a great mood. I spent the rest of my time sitting in front of the world's biggest Great Barrier Reef aquarium, just watching fish swimming by. Very therapeutic. Oh, I did see Nemo and his dad too! They've got a very convincing tank for them with an anemone that looks exactly like their home in the movie. I was impressed!

Nemo and his dad in their anemone

I trotted back to my hostel to say my brief goodbyes to my new friends and catch my shuttle to the airport. I got the front window seat and enjoyed the last warm breezes of Australia.

I still had a few things to cross off my list of things to do in Syndey; see kangaroos and cuddle a koala were two of those I accomplished. Feeling tired of sorting through bus time tables and maps, I decided to go with a prearranged day tour of the Blue Mountains to fill up my Tuesday. On the ride out with the bus driver's voice drilling through my skull and feeling a little claustrophobic with the tourists all around me, I remembered why I preferred to sort out my own sightseeing.

Our first stop was the wildlife reserve and my favorite of the day. There were all sorts of Australian animals in the cages like dingos and kookaburra birds but then there were a lot of kangaroos and their smaller relatives roaming around freely. One of them found my earrings particularly interesting and also nearly bit off my eyebrow piercing while I was trying to take a photo with him. Luckily I've got quick reflexives or that kangaroo would have a nice bit of bling in his teeth now.

I think these are the kind of chickens that my sister Holly should raise, they're so poofy!

Unfortunately the weather that was so beautiful yesterday had turned nasty again and the Blue Mountains were shrouded in fog. This was fine for lunch, a croissant and macchiato in a upper-class hippie cafe, but ScenicWorld was not the most scenic place. I got to ride on the steepest rail in the world though and walked briskly through the wet forest, safe in my North Face rain coat. I didn't really mind not being able to see much since I'm convinced that New Zealand will blow away the competition with beautiful natural landforms.

Lots of green at a canopy overlook

This was how foggy and un-scenic the Blue Mountains were

So then we just had a quick stop at the Olympic Stadium before our rainy ferry ride back to Circular Quay. I stayed outside the whole time even though my pants got quite soaked. I really enjoyed being on the water again, if just for a short time. The weather also reminded me of those fun rainy days working on the boat in Homer so I suppose it was a nice bit of reminiscing.

Me and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, both quite soaking wet

Ahh, I passed out quickly after the last post even though I knew I should try to stay up and keep my internal clock in line. Unfortunately it was raining when I woke up, and continued to rain for the next few days as well. I hadn't planned anything except to relax and enjoy the sunshine so I was a bit put off and ended up staying in and chilling at the hostel. The other people at the hostel were actually really interesting and I really enjoyed the evenings despite the pit-pattering of rain on our rooftop shelter. A big group of us headed out in the search of live music and found it in an Irish pub called O'Mally's, two guys playing good covers of American songs from the 90s. Needless to say, with a Guinness in hand and new English and Slovakian friends singing loudly around me, I was blissfully happy.

Sunday came along with a cloudy morning, but no rain. This was good as I had planned to do a bike ride, and not just any bike ride. This was a bike ride for charity, supporting child cancer research, that I had found online called the Sydney Body Art Ride. I immediately knew I had to do it. I also knew my dad would absolutely love to hear about it as it's just the sort of thing he'd do too. With some help from a friendly guy at the bus stop and a little bit of luck I successfully navigated the Sydney bus system to the start of the ride. I was actually early so I spent some time helping to raise some tents and befriending fellow riders before we were given the go ahead to start painting... ourselves. We stripped down to swimwear and underwear inside the tents and were given a sponge to paint our fronts while volunteers helped us with our backs. I chose to be sky-blue mostly because it was so vibrant. It was there I met Aaron, an Englishman who, like myself, was simply traveling by himself and heard about the ride. He is an artist and an avid bike rider so of course he had to do this ride that combined his two passions. Once we were both sufficiently blue we decided to add a few embellishments of our own, mainly puffy silver clouds and a bright yellow sun to combat against the threatening dark clouds rolling in to rain on our parade.

Me painting a sun on Aaron's head

The Captain of the Yellows

Before we organized ourselves to ride out in rainbow formation a photographer wanted to do a 360 degree photo of all of us. By the time we were circled around the camera the clouds were looking really bad and we were all trying to hurry him along so that our paint wouldn't be washed away. Right after he clicked the button a few drops started to fall and everyone dashed away to find shelter beneath the trees. Only a bit of the paint on my shoulders came off leaving raindrop shaped dots of exposed skin that would later get sunburned leaving raindrop shaped tan spots. After ten minutes of shivering under these trees we were given the go ahead to start lining up for our procession.

Oh how fun it was to ride off as part of that big group of crazy people! Our way through the streets was cleared by the marshals who were painted silver, stopping cars to let us pass safely. Some people looked annoyed, especially one guy who passed us illegally and was promptly pulled over by a police car behind us. Some other people looked shocked or confused, hanging off their balconies to get a better view of the madness. But most people were amused and honked their horns in response to our waves and cheered us on through the intersections. I found it quite funny that part of our journey was on Rainbow Road. It was about a 6 kilometer ride and we were going at a leisurely pace but much sooner than I wanted we were dismounting our bikes next to the beach. There was a bit of a kerfuffle when we were told we could not do the normal procession into the sea because the shark alarm had just been set off. Would we have to ride our bikes or the bus in full body paint?

Luckily there was a protected rock pool on one end of the beach where we could wash our paint off safe from shark attacks (there had been two in the last three days!). This was also a crazy experience seeing all the paint wash away, fully biodegradable, leaving all of us looking normal again.

I found it hard to recognize people without their bright colors which was more than a little sad. Still, it was great fun and I made sure to thank the organizer profusely for helping me find a bike so I could take part. I also thanked the photographers who documented the whole thing and who's lovely photos are now adorning this blog. Silly me for forgetting my camera in the hostel!

Photo of my back which had a cool Chinese landscape painted on, it's a bit scruffy here though

It made it into the paper too! (photo in the corner)

So how to follow a day like that? Go to Manly Beach and enjoy my first truly sunny day, of course! I headed out of Sydney on the ferry after enjoying some chocolate ice cream and a great view of the Operahouse against blue sky that greatly resembled the shade I had been the day before. The ferry ride was beautiful and windy, even giving us a little splash before docking in Manly. It soon became clear that I was wearing way too much clothing so I headed to a thrift store to deck myself out in summery clothing for the beach. Ahh, now this is what I wanted to be doing in Australia: soaking up the rays and the negative ions of the crashing ocean waves.

I decided that to get the most out of my return ferry ticket I should wait until dark to see the Sydney skyline at night. So once the sun faded from the beach I ducked into a cafe for the spicy tomato soup advertised on the street-side chalkboard. I was given an enormous bowl of that delicious soup and crusty bread that filled me so perfectly. I felt very fond of this cafe and was happy to find out that the woman who had served me was also the owner. Turns out she had been running it for just over a year. To help her out, if you find yourself in Manly go to Kandi's Coffeehouse on Pitt Street for yummy things for cheap.


It still wasn't that dark when I got to the ferry dock so I walked around on the boardwalks and tried to take some photos of myself. My private photo session was interrupted by a couple of asian guys that also wanted some photos. We ended up helping each other out there and had some laughs, especially when one of them pretended to be at a fashion shoot and kept clicking away on my camera. I stayed and enjoyed a beautiful sunset before getting too chilly and retreating into the warmth of a chocolate bar/cafe in the ferry terminal. It was called Chocolate by the Bald Man and had all sorts of fancy hot chocolates and chocolate desserts. I tried a cup of the Italian Thick Hot Chocolate and was immediately impressed at how much chocolately goodness was stuffed into that little "hug mug". It reminded me a lot of Willy Wonka and I swear that it tasted just like the chocolate in the chocolate river from that book. I also felt a lot like Augustus Gloop--the boy who drinks too much from the river--when I forced myself to finish it to the very last drop.


Feeling entirely warm and satisfied I boarded the ferry and found a good window seat. I abandoned this for a place on the outside railing when we got closer to the city, feeling quite breathless at the view of the Operahouse glinting off the glassy water.

Today finds me sitting on a rooftop enjoying the pleasantly warm breeze in Sydney, Australia. I feel extraordinarily okay for just getting done with a 22 hour journey across many many time zones, but I suppose sitting down here has allowed it all to catch up with me because I am having trouble keeping my eyes open. No matter, I am here now and I have no plans and can just do what I want for the next 7 days.

I guess that's not totally true, I do have one date to make. The girl sitting next to me on the plane invited me out for drinks with her friends on Friday. I hope I can find the place alright and it all goes well cause it'd be nice to spend some quality time with Aussies in their natural habitat.

But yes, the journey here. Leaving Paris was a piece of cake despite the wind storm that had blown in the night before. I had a casual walk to the train station, train ride to the airport and check in was nothing to fret over. Airports are far easier to navigate than train stations in my opinion; it really was uneventful.

Things got a bit more exciting when I got to London, at least after the three hours of zoning out by the gates. I realized something was wrong when I didn't see my flight number on the Departures screen and I found out I was in the wrong terminal. Thank goodness I had four hours to spare because it was a forty-five minute train ride there and then when I tried to check in the machine wouldn't let me! I was a bit miffed until I was told that I was being denied at check-in because I didn't have a visa for Australia. Yikes, that scared me a bit and I had a few nightmares flash through my head of missing my flight to New Zealand and not being able to go to school and the like. I was pushed off to see the customer service desk where they set up me up properly, then to the ticket sales desk to pay for it, then finally back to the check-in counter. Blah, I hate running around like that but at that point I was mostly glad I had a seat on the airplane that was going to Sydney. I sat down after dropping my backpack and enjoyed a blissful moment with my chocolate mousse.

The flight was fine. It was pleasant and kind of boring but I suppose that is the best that a flight from London to Sydney can be. The food was good, though I was skeptical of the English breakfast. I shouldn't have been surprised since it was British Airways; of course they'd have decent sausages and tomatoes. I was sitting in a middle seat on the side of the plane between an older man and a woman a bit older than me. The man turned out to be a marine biologist who had been studying sea turtles in Italy and Greece for the last eight years. Listening to him talk about the tiny islands he had been living on and the many more he planned on visiting in the South Pacific made me want to start over again with a Marine Science degree. I did get his card though and I plan on contacting him in the future for collaboration or connections, or something. Gosh, anything that will get me to the South Pacific.

Michael, the Marine Biologist, left us at our stopover in Singapore. I had enough time to get a few postcards posted then it was back on the plane again with Mel. She spent some time outlining the sights I should definitely see in Sydney then tried to do some work on her laptop. I say "tried" because the turbulence was so bad that she couldn't type. I passed the time by watching my third movie of the night, then putting on my neat little complimentary eye cover and sleeping in whatever position was least uncomfortable. I've never slept on a flight and woken up feeling better, but both legs of this trip that happened. I was grateful for it though and now I don't feel too bad at all. Even the time difference doesn't seem different at all, as long as I don't think about it too much.

Bats coming out at dusk in the botanical gardens next to the hostel

Sydney skyline

Syndey Operahouse and Harbour Bridge, woot, I'm really in Sydney!

So yep, I'm here at the Wood Duck Inn for the next three days which sounds quite lovely to me. The rooftop is great because it has the kitchen up here as well as couches and tables n such. I think I'll enjoy my time here, thoroughly.

It wasn't difficult to find the hostel but it was late at night and I felt very conspicuous with my backpack and slightly lost look in my eyes. Luckily no one mugged me or anything! I was just thinking that it would be just great to get all the way through this trip and right at the end encounter some of the worst luck. I suppose staying in room 17 of Peace & Love Hostel in Paris is kind of unlucky because it is 121 steps to your bed. After that climb I wanted nothing more but to fall into my third-tier bunked bed. I wasn't very happy with the hostel at this point, the climb and lack of space in my room being the most prominent concerns. However the next morning I discovered that the three-bed room had it's own en-suite bathroom, including a shower! Granted, it was probably the smallest shower I've seen; I could barely squeeze into it and once I did there was no bending over to pick up the soap. So the bathroom plus the view of the river and intersection below was enough to make up for the deadly staircase climb.

So I drifted off to sleep while watching the snowflakes fall through the silver of window not blocked by the curtains. With no real reason to get up I didn't set an alarm. I leisurely started my day around 10am when the housekeeper came in to clean and didn't actually leave the hostel until around noon. My own goal for the day was to get to the Louvre which was not as much of an adventure as I would have liked. The actual visit was quite incredible though. Everywhere you look there are master paintings or sculptures. I wandered through aimlessly as first getting startled when paintings I studied in Art History jumped from the wall at me. A Caravaggio was particularly intriguing to me and I just couldn't get enough of looking at it, right there, right in front of me. I of course saw the Mona Lisa too and was surprised at how big it was. People always told me they were surprised at how small it was so maybe I just had really low expectations. It was neat to see, but pretty unreal you know. I mean we see the Mona Lisa all around, so seeing the real one doesn't seem all that different.

Me and a big vase that's probably famous, I was too distracted by playing with the mirrors to find out

I got kind of sick of paintings and people so I tried to leave the Louvre. It ended up taking me 45 minutes to figure my way out of that place, I just kept wandering down dead-ends. Granted they were dead ends full of really old Egyptian wall paintings and Roman statues but dead ends nonetheless.

A famous Venus statue, kept seeing this one while I wandered around looking for the exit

After finally making it back out the big glass pyramid, I was left standing in a rainy Paris street, hungry and tired and sick. It didn't take much effort to find a place to eat though because as I was walking by, a man ushered me into his restaurant and sat me down. At that point I didn't care that this was probably overpriced, I just wanted food and warmth. The crepes I ordered were actually quite good and decently priced but they got me on the bottled water. Oh those tricky Parisians.

I continued wandering down the street by the Seine, hoping to wander upon the Notre Dame Cathedral. I kept passing pet shops with cute puppies in the windows, so I finally just went into a couple of them. No one talked to me, thank goodness, so I was free to fill up on fuzz-therapy without any French directed at me. I miss having pets!

I did make it to Notre Dame after all and I stayed a bit longer because the organs were playing and the atmosphere in the fading light was really something.

Interior of Notre Dame Cathedral, pretty cool building

I ended up meeting Danielle a bit late because of that, but I didn't have problems finding her place so it all evens out in the end. The bar Sarah had suggested was closed so we went to an Irish pub and I got a Guinness, poured right this time. Danielle and I caught up with things over our drinks and, later, over falafel. In the end we parted ways at the metro station, on either side of the pink line. Trains are quite nice and romantic in the way that you can wave goodbye as it slowly pulls away from the station and winds around the corner.

Yet another Guinness shot, this time in Paris

The Stras was so good! Ashton met me at the train station and we made our way back to her place in the rain. Thanks again for the rain jacket Dad, it is finally getting some use! Her host parents live in a beautiful big house outside of the city a little ways and they were so nice and generous. They welcomed me with chocolate chip cookies that Ashton had made for them earlier and we sat down in the kitchen and chatted for awhile. They really enjoyed speaking English with me since Ashton was so good at French they've had no reason to. I followed the half-English half-French conversation pretty well for awhile, but soon my tired brain was shutting down and I was having difficulty even recognizing when the language was switching back and forth. I had my very own room to sleep in, a simply wonderful kids room that even had a Little Prince poster. So cute!

My plaid covered paradise!

I slept very well as I'm still getting over my cold but luckily got up before 11 when Ashton and I were suppose to cook an American-style brunch for our wonderful hosts. We cobbled together a quite good meal of pancakes, eggs and bacon, even with real Maple syrup! I really enjoyed talking with the two of them, Ashton had said they felt like grandparents and she's totally right. They seemed to treat us like their own grandchildren the way they took care of us. After talking about Alaska and my travels for awhile, I was offered an espresso which I heartily accepted. They didn't seem to believe me when I said I liked my coffee strong and said later that I was the first American they've met that enjoyed the super strong espressos of France. Guess it's just the Homer in me. :)

Ashton and I took off to town at this point to see the sights. It was chilly out, but we both enjoyed walking around the city, poking our heads in the cathedral and checking out the menus of the many restaurants lining the canals in the Old Town. We shared a bag of roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, a snack I've seen all over but never actually tried. Mmm, they were much better than the ones we attempted to make at home one Christmas. I suppose remembering to cut those notches in them to prevent them from exploding would have helped though.

Walking along a canal that seemed an awful lot like Venice

Dinner was tarte flambée, heavily suggested by Ashton. We went to a place where we could get all you can eat, which probably wasn't a good idea in retrospect. After two of them each we were quite stuffed and a little late in getting to the train station where we were supposed to meet up with Ashton's host mom. Of course the ticket machine wouldn't take my credit card and the ticket office was closed, so we ran up to the platform and asked if I could get a ticket on the train. Thank goodness I could, so really with five whole minutes to get on the train, I wasn't that late. I do feel bad about making Ashton run around with my backpack though, especially after that huge dinner! I am so glad I accepted her offer of a visit though because I had a great time and of course got to accept the overwhelming hospitality of even more wonderful human beings.

I am literally flying across France now. This train is going so fast that it will only take me two hours and twenty minutes to get from Strasbourg to Paris. It's probably good that it is dark outside because the countryside must be absolutely blurring by. Oh yep, just hit a lighted part of a highway, this is crazy fast!

Staying with Banta and Drew was such a good side trip. Banta picked me up at the station and on our walk to her place we bought some cheese, house salami and a pretzel bread baguette for a snack. Gotta love Germany! Banta is working at a US military run resort so I had to present my passport to enter the building complex where she lives. Her and Drew live in a building that used to be a hotel and, before that, a Nazi hospital so it had kind of an odd feel to it. It even has an underground passageway to the cemetery next to it, so maybe that was the source of the weird vibes. Banta's room was coziness in the midst of all this though, and I truly appreciated the fluffy comforter-topped bed made up just for me. She cooked a dinner of chicken pot pie and with poptarts in the morning I definitely felt right at home. Since the resort is US military, they get all sorts of things imported in from America like peanut butter and girl scout cookies. I didn't indulge in those things, but that's just because I forgot on my way out the door! :)

At Garmisch train station

No worries because I got to Munchen Hbf with plenty of time to cross the street to the Montana Kebap place that the Texan recommended to our hostel group the night before last. I ordered another Doner Kebap and happily munched on that while watching people pass by in the station, listening to Bittersweet Symphony by the Verve and Viva la Vida by Coldplay. If you are wondering, these are great songs to listen to while watching crowds of people; I'm not really sure why.

The rest of Germany is blurring past now as I continue my way westward to Strasbourg. I'm meeting my friend Ashton at the train station there and spending the night with her host family. She is from DePauw as well, taking a semester off-campus and offered to show me the sights of Strasbourg if I stopped by. It just so happens that Strasbourg is right in between Munich and Paris, so it's almost like this stop was meant to be! I don't know much about the city though so I'm glad Ashton will be there.

I seem to be getting better at this eurotrip style traveling. Either that or it is easier and easier the further west I go, where trains run on time and platforms are clearly marked. Getting to Munich was a breeze and I checked into the hostel no problem. It was a sunny day--huge difference from rainy Vienna--so I figured I better go enjoy it and soak up some much needed vitamin D. Wandering on my own without knowing anything about a city isn't really that entertaining though so I ducked into a department store just for fun. It seemed like a normal Sears type place, until I went to the top floor and was surrounded by traditional Bavarian clothing, lederhosen and all. It made me laugh, or at least I would have laughed had I wanted to frighten the shoppers around me.

I was getting hungry at this point and walked into a place called AliBaba and ordered a couple lamacun, the Turkish pizzas I was so fond of in Skopje. They helped dampen my longing for Macedonian food and as a bonus I got to watch the chef make another batch in front of me while I ate. Once I get a kitchen that'll be one of my first cooking experiments!

I was quite satisfied with myself at this point and was really thinking about going to bed when Hao, one of my roomies from Korea, suggested we go down to the hostel bar for a beer. I agreed because I figured I'd just have my one beer and go to bed nice and early. Wrong! Chatting with Hao and my other roomie Martin from Germany while drinking Augustiner beer turned out to be great fun and we ended up adding a couple Kiwi girls, a couple Canadian guys and another American to our drinking group as well. We stayed until closing, then proceeded to play a drinking game with the staff of the hostel, finally crawling upstairs to our nearby beds around 4am.

Luckily I didn't sleep in too late or else my friend Banta would have had to roll me out of bed to go out sightseeing. I met her at DePauw on the rugby team and since she is working in Garmisch at a German ski resort she took a train up to Munich to see me. It was a nice laid back day of walking around and eating sauerkraut, cappaccinos and cake, sausages of all sorts and, of course, more beer. I was sorry to see her off at the train station that night, but she convinced me (quite easily) to come down to Garmisch to visit before I left Germany. I spent a few minutes sorting out the details of that, then with plans to leave for Garmisch the next morning I went back down the the bar hoping to find my new friends.

Great success! They were all there and after happy hour was over at the hostel bar we took off towards the Hofbaunhaus, Munich's most famous beer hall. It was odd to be in a large group of English speaking people again and even though we were being such obvious tourists, I enjoyed the safe feeling of being with nice people. Everyone ordered one of the typical buckets of beer, one whole liter of happiness. We were a bit of a raucous group, clapping along with the band and banging on the table, but it was a good atmosphere and I don't think anyone around us minded. After our beers (some people had TWO!) a few split off to go back to the hostel and I was easily convinced by the Kiwis to accompany them to another bar. I didn't drink anymore there, already quite satisfied by the bucket earlier, but it was fun to chat with the bar tender and Moose, a guy from Oregon, while watching our new friend James fall asleep on one of the tables. We woke him up of course when we went back to our hostel, stopping for doner sandwiches on the way. Seriously, I will miss those kebab places so much... miles and miles better than Taco Bell.

Me and my giant beer

New friends, I will miss you!

James falling asleep, aww!

Thelma and I in a really cool stairwell

I didn't think I'd see anyone in the morning so I gave hugs and said my goodbyes in the bar. I just knew I'd pay for staying out so late again and sure enough in the morning my head was a congested balloon. I made a quick decision to sleep in and catch a later train to Garmisch which worked out nicely because I got to see most of my hostel friends again when I checked out. I scored travel karma points by helping Paul with his train tickets and hostel bookings, then ate my other kiwi while just chatting with these nice normal people. It was great to have two nights with them and the camaraderie of our group was a nice break from being on my own.

I'm off on my own again now, in Garmisch-Partenkirchner train station waiting for Banta to meet me. The views even just through the double doors of the station are incredible and I really wish I had time to get in a ski. I don't feel too bad anymore and I think if I keep drinking a ton of water and taking lots of vitamins, one night of good sleep will knock this cold out.

Julia was off someplace warmer, but the place I stayed in last night in Vienna was impressively comforting for a hostel and exactly what I needed. The shower didn't break off the wall when I turned it on which immediately put it up above the last place I stayed. I changed into comfy clothes and my blue wooly socks that always make me happier and went down to make some soup. The kitchen was full of people making pasta and chicken stir-fry and a bunch of other delicious dishes that put my powdered soup mix to shame. I sat down at a table with Andy Knight, a Kiwi who got a two-year visa to travel around Europe and maybe work, eventually. He shared his 2-liter bottle of red wine (only 3,50 euro!) with me and Jessica, an Aussie that was on the last month of her year-long trip. It was lovely talking with those two because they had already been traveling so much and staying in too many hostels that they were tired of the usual hostel-talk. We stuck to other topics like the benefits of old cars, anything to get away from, "so where have you been?". While an Indian girl serenaded us with Beatles songs on a guitar, Andy and I played a drinking game with the last of his wine, a nice simple game that was entertaining but not enough to combat my exhaustion. I hadn't intended on being very social at this hostel since I was just so tired from traveling through Eastern Europe and such little sleep, so when I went upstairs to get my laptop I just stayed up there and fell into my enormous pillow. I feel bad now because I didn't say good-bye to Andy; I hope he wasn't offended! In any case, his hometown is an hour north of Dunedin and I can always try to track him down some way or another. Jessica and him were the two most normal, nice people I've met at a hostel so far!

I left the hostel feeling very refreshed and comforted. I checked train times and saw that there was one in about 40 minutes so I booked it over to the station, picked up some bananas and kiwis on the way and now I'm on my way to Munich. I'm sharing the compartment with a young woman and her very cute baby; they are both asleep now so I'm not going to be creepy and keep looking at them. It made me happy to help her life her bag up into the overhead racks, making up for all the help I got with my backpack on that Serbian train!

Thessaloniki was just as we left it, though without the massive amount of rain that had soaked us for our trip to Athens. It was odd not having Jenna there, we've been quite the trio these past two weeks. We even had our own places in the taxis: Seth in front, Jenna on the right in the back and me on the left. Regardless, it was a great last night in Greece, taken up completely by our delicious dinner. We wandered into an alley looking for a Ozoria and found a bunch of quite empty restaurants and one that had a few people in it. We went in that one, wanting a bit of atmosphere and luckily didn't hear a bit of English the whole night besides ourselves and the waiters talking to us. Gosh, the food! We went with our usual Tzaziki and bread starter, then had a sampler of their fried cheese, vegetables and meats, culminating with fried meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce topped off with more Retsina wine. I was stuffed to the max but so happy. We got back to Hotel Rex and flopped down on our beds to watch CSI and wonder how bid night was going for the FIJIs back at DePauw University.

We took the train back to Skopje the next morning and I must say, it did feel comforting to be back in that smoggy, grey city. Macedonia is a place that grows on you and I'm betting that Seth will still be there in five years, married to a Macedonian woman and happy just like all his friends there. I don't blame him though, I'd move back just for the food. I'm sorry I talk about food so much in my blog but it really is what dominates my traveling and what I enjoy most. And Macedonia has the best food out of all the countries I've been to so far. It might be because the food is incredibly cheap so we can always eat at the best places, but everything seems to be stuffed with cheese, fried and served with pickled vegetables on the side. In other words, delicious.

I stayed with Seth for one last night, mostly because I was too stuffed to move after another incredible dinner and more Scopsco (Macedonian national beer) but also because there was a Superbowl party at Shankley's, the English pub near Seth's place. It was odd to have so many Americans in one place, and also to be watching American football with a British announcer. But no worries, I just drank my Guinness and cheered on the Kards to their spectacular loss. It was around 5am when I finally got to bed so the morning buses were out of the question.

At the Superbowl party with Mima

Seth brought me to the bus station and we ate more Burek with spinach while waiting. With ten minutes to go I gave him a hug and said goodbye with a promise that I could take care of myself from here. Ha! Apparently not! I walked out confidently to the right bus berth but since there was no one on the bus, I just sat down with the other people waiting around it, figuring they were going to Belgrade too. I noticed the bus start moving away and panic set in. I quickly asked the guy next to me if he was going to Belgrade and he shook his head and then I motioned at the bus that was pulling out, frantically saying, "Beograd? Beograd?". Not waiting for a response I took off running. Luckily the bus wasn't going very fast because my backpack made running difficult, but I did catch the attention of the driver and he stopped and let me on, giving me a perplexed look.

Here's what I felt like after I made it on the bus

I switched buses in a random town on the way to Belgrade, then started worrying about the minutes ticking away and catching my night train. The bus rolled into Belgrade right at 21:20, which happened to be when my train left. I was pretty much resigned to missing that already so I just walked around the bus and train station trying to find someone official to talk to. Piecing together the wide ranging information, I decided that I'd simply have to stay the night in Belgrade and catch something the next morning. I was prepared with an address for the Happy Hostel, but after walking up and down in front of the train station without seeing a single road sign and unwilling to venture down the poorly-lit side streets, I paused in front of a hotel with a 24 hour sign on it and just went for it. I booked a double as there were no singles left but it was a pretty seedy place so it was only around 24 euro. The girl at the front desk called the train station for me, but then hung up and said her uncle worked at the train station and she was just going to call him instead. Gotta love these accommodating, overly-generous countries!

Thinking I was finished with my adventures for the day, I decided to take a shower. It didn't look too bad at first, but when I turned the tap on water would alternate between a trickle and bursting out explosively. Then, when I turned the cold tap on too, the pressure was just too much and the whole shower head pipe just flew off the taps and water was spraying everywhere! Not one to be deterred by adversity, I set about fitting the pipe back together and ended up just holding it together during my shower. Great success.

I just handed my passport to the tallest and most intimidating man. His head was way past the door frame of the compartment and I'm not in those little cramped trains anymore either. Yikes, I wouldn't ever mess with him.

I'm on a train to Vienna now after another day spent fretting about timetables and tickets and platforms. I got on the 7:30am train our of Belgrade and laughed to myself about not being worried about being on the right train this time since I just wanted to get out of Belgrade. I was on the right one and got into Budapest at about 2:55pm. I seemed to switch into autopilot there because when I saw a 3:15pm train to Vienna pop onto the screen I booked it to a ticket office, bought a ticket to Vienna and half-jogged to the platform before realizing that I just overlapped on the Belgrade-Vienna ticket in my pocket. Having two tickets for the same train made me feel a little silly and damped the happiness of making the quick connection, but as long as 6810 Hungarian dollars isn't worth too much it's nothing to worry about. Fingers crossed on the exchange rate!

This train is far nicer and faster than the ones I was on previously so I was feeling pretty good about everything. I started reading my book, happy to be on my way to the Western world, when I heard American accents in the compartment next to me. I contemplated going and talking to them, just to get a fix of English after a day in Serbia, but before I could one of the girls came out of it and was taking pictures of the others. I was kind of watching her for a bit then she looked over at me and I tried a smile. I don't know what got lost in that bit of communication, but she turned back to the others and said, "I don't think that girl in the other compartment likes me very much" with an added sarcastic "welcome to Europe!" comment. First off, I don't think she realized the glass windows/door don't block sound very well or that I was not a "local" European. Secondly, I must have developed what Seth called the "Balkan stare", the stern look that people have on their face while walking down the street, and not realized that I was intimidating innocent Americans. Needless to say, I was taken aback and a little hurt by her comments... so I've worked on smiling at anyone walking by.

Wow, I just saw a familiar subway stop so I have officially made it back to Vienna. Not sure if I'll be able to meet up with Julia, but I've got a hostel address in case she's taken off for a warmer climate.