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.