I think that one of the things that I have found out about
myself on this journey so far is that I am unstoppable. There were always jokes
about me during my undergraduate career that I never seemed to stop, or that I
didn’t seem to have an off button. But I never imagined myself capable of what
I just did.
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| My lands only borders lie around my heart |
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| Not all who wander are lost |
I took off on my own and backpacked through the Balkans, I
didn’t speak the language, I didn’t know anyone where I was going, I just
packed my LL Bean backpack and hit the road. It was an eye opening adventure
for me. This post will cover the first night as well as Croatia. I traveled to:
The Istanbul airport, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania,
Kosovo, and Macedonia. Which would be a lot for my first post back. So for
tonight you get the opening up to my bus to Bosnia! Enjoy!
To begin:
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| Well, that's one way to spend the night with David Tennant lol |
I took a bus from Burgas to Sofia after spending a few
nights in my new flat getting ready. Then I took a plane from Sofia to Turkey.
I stayed up for ten hours in the Istanbul airport, which was a blog post worthy
event in itself! I watched Dr. Who on my iPod touch; David Tennant kept me
awake and enticed. But 10 hours is still a long time when you just got over jet
lag, and you’ve already been up for 24 hours now. It was a crazy night that
reminded me of “the Terminal” as I was stuck in one part of the airport that I
couldn’t eat in and there was a tour group of Asians that all kept jumping up
and down to stay awake! I walked
everywhere trying to connect to wifi and let my mom know I was in Istanbul and all
right. But all I managed to do was reenact “Love Actually” watching people
board flights for destinations we only dream about in America, and see people
reunite. But ladies and gentlemen I saw the sun rise in Istanbul in that
airport. I stayed up all night by myself in that airport, watching episodes of
Dr. Who that had inspired me to make the world a better place, and I got on a
plane 10 hours later to go to Zagreb Croatia.
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| Sunrise in Istanbul |
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| I decided to try 3 days! |
Getting to Zagreb was interesting. By this point I was
exhausted and just wanted food and sleep, but got neither. When I arrived at
the airport I found the information center and got a bus map after taking some
money out. I found a bus stop and got myself from bus to bus to tram to buy my
ticket to Sarajevo that Friday and to find a tram that would take me to my
rented apartment. My apartment was not even on the map and when I got off the
tram I ended up meeting a legally blind man who offered me help. He tried to
read the map, then tried to understand what I was reading to him and after a
few moments glances up at me and says “You’ll get there, destiny” then pats my
shoulder and walks on leaving me with the mail man. The mailman, then the
construction crew, then the man who I call “internet guy” because he looked up
where I needed to get to on the internet but I still don’t know what his office
really did, and eventually my neighbor who tried to give me a chicken…all could
not help me. But I finally found my way.
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| He really tried to give me a chicken |
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| I surrender! |
After settling in I was contacted by some Fulbrighters who
were in Zagreb and we arranged to meet for dinner. I got changed, and still not
having slept for well over 36 hours now, found a tram and hit the town! I found
the city center, got a map and planned out my days there. Walked around the old
town, found the cathedral, and amazing donuts! When I met my friends it was
like we had been apart for months instead of days. We hugged and discussed our
crazy adventure stories then walked around the cathedral, the old town, found a
great place for dinner where we ordered in a mixture of languages. After we had
asked the tourist information center about a good place to eat and we bonded
with Caroline who gave us free “Zagreb” hearts. It was a great dinner where
everyone shared what they ordered so we could try different dishes while we
heard the story of Morgan’s braces, and everyone’s bus ride to Croatia. At one
point I was laughing so hard I held up my white napkin to surrender!
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| Just some Fulbrighters reuniting! |
What was truly touching about that night was that I had just
received great news from home that I would not be forced to return home to
testify, and as I am crying with joy from news that’s when my friends stumbled
upon me. Kaitlyn told me that that is one of the things they like most about
me. I take a horrible situation and just find the good. To me bad things have
happened but hiding them won’t make them go away, or get better. It’s facing
them, and helping others to face their issues that make it better. I was
honored to be told by my friends how much their respect me and appreciate my
attitude, and it renewed my vigor for what I want to do in Bulgaria.
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| The story of Zagreb! |
Too soon the night was over and though we had trekked
through much of Zagreb I knew I needed to take it on with gusto in the morning!
So we sadly parted and I finally made it to bed well over 2 days later since my
last sleep.
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| Yeah... |
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| Bunny breakup |
The next day I went to the famous outdoor market in Zagreb,
the “Museum of Broken Relationships” (seriously, best idea ever Kelly, Alex,
etc) I saw all of upper and lower town and was able to make it to the hostel my
other friends were staying in, Jake and Rebecca. We hit the town and found a
nice place where they could get wine and I could get some soda and just relax
after seeing all the museums, libraries, statues and sites of the day. They
were taking off to go to Plivitce national park in the morning and invited me
along. It was great because I had finished site seeing early in Zagreb so we
arranged to meet at the bus station for the 8 am bus!
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| I swear Rebecca survived! |
The next day we met up right on time, and went through the
totally fake security gate in the bus station to get on the bus. Jake does this
thing where he wakes you up by stroking your face and loudly shushing you…yeah
I fell asleep on the bus and he gleefully woke me this way! We made it to the
park and tried to get a taxi to their hotel but the info desk said they didn’t
come out that way and proceeded to try and call the hotel they were staying in
but that was an ordeal in itself because Alex booked it based on the ATV in the
picture with little information. But a man showed up to pick us up and didn’t
care that I was just along for the ride. It turns out he shared a birthday with
Rebecca! He promptly poured everyone shots and Rebecca thankfully told him I am
temperate and when he asked why I faked my answer saying it conflicted with
medication. Dear readers, NEVER DO THAT. It’s a horrible idea in a country like
Croatia where there are many towns that are so rural it turns out there’s no
hospital for 50 km…the person offering you the drink will tell you that this is
medication and what they use instead of going the 50 km. But he was a really
nice man who then told them the electricity was out. So funny these places as
to them it doesn’t matter if you have lights or not, it’s just life. I really
love that mentality but feel it would get to me after a period!
When he drove us back to the park I only had 4 hours to be
there before the only return bus to Zagreb. But it was amazing. When we walked
in we decided we had found Neverland. The water was so beautiful you expected
mermaids to emerge, and the mountains with caves and waterfalls made you want
to call out for Gandalf.
(Seriously Peter Jackson basically directed my entire
backpacking adventure.) We climbed everywhere together and I did it in my
converse sneakers that I take to each destination I visit. We got lost without
caring, and jokingly stuck our thumbs out when we reached a road in the park.
We found paths that were not well worn and took the road less traveled and when
we finally made it to the ferry we ran into all the wonderful people that I had
spent my first night in Zagreb with. And when we reunited it was like
Christmas. They were just getting off the ferry; Morgan, Kaitlyn, Kelly, Alex,
and Scott and we were about to get on. I got this kid to take our picture
reuniting it went like this:
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| Calling all Mermaids |
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| If Frodo stopped to admire the view he would've complained less! |
Me: “Do you speak English?”
Kid: “No”
Me: “Well you understood that much so here take our picture” :) And thankfully he did!
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| Fulbright family! |
We boarded the ferry and tried to find our way out of the
park, Scott joined us and thankfully so as we got separated from Rebecca and
Jake and I was running out of time to reach my bus. Which brings me to the
stressful moment of the epic tale:
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| We are too young to know some things are impossible. So we will do them anyways~ William Wilberforce |
Readers you know in a book how you are left wondering if the
protagonist is going to make her bus? How she only has that one bus to get her
home in time to travel to Sarajevo, and she is over an hour away from where the
bus picks her up but she has 25 minutes to get there and she is running up
hills, over waterfalls, jumping bridges, and not stopping so she can try to
catch her bus? There’s no map and she’s just figuring it out as she goes. And even when the bus should have
already departed-she still keeps running, occasionally looking back to make
sure her friend is still with her and she hopes beyond hope that this is the
one bus in Eastern Europe that isn’t on time. You know those nail biting
events? WELL, this was my nail-biting event. And thankfully this was the one
bus that ran late, and we caught it, and I made it back to Zagreb that night to
pack and leave for Sarajevo in the morning. But readers I can tell you that
when the Sound of Music tells you to climb every mountain they clearly do not
take into consideration warning you not to run up every mountain with a back
pack, in converse and not stopping to breathe!
Lessons we learned from Croatia:
v*Jake really loves to surprise you awake
v *Rebecca is wonderful at splashing water on Jake
to reenact the naming of Zagreb
v *Alex should never take the group photos
v *Morgan is an amazing backpacking fashion icon
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| Look! It's a Zagreb heart necklace! |
v *Kaitlyn has the oddest luck on buses
v *Kelly is a fantastic group organizer
v *Scott is wonderful at morale
v *Always buy a map in a national park
*Converse are not meant to be worn when climbing mountains, but I will wear them for that purpose anyways
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| I swear it was a braces story |
v *If you think positively that you will catch your
bus and you run like crazy, you just might
v *No matter how impossible everything seemed in
getting to Croatia or being in Croatia, it wasn’t nearly as impossible as a
legally blind man trying to read a map and yet he did it
v *I am a force to be reckoned with while
traveling, it doesn’t matter how much I have to walk or carry, or that I don’t
speak the language; I just figure it out and adapt (which is something I didn’t
know about myself)
v *Staying up all night in an Istanbul airport may
be taxing but it is worth it when you see the sun rise in Istanbul and then set
in Croatia all in the same day
Anna
Les Miserables, the epilogue:
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