A Spontaneous Trip to Montenegro

The most memorable moments in life are the moments unplanned

Originally I was supposed to be going to Skopje, Macedonia and Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend, but when I went to the bus station Thursday night to get the bus to Skopje I was told no such bus exists. Most of my friends were going to Rome this weekend and I had a 4 day weekend so I figured I'd travel to some cool places alone. So on Friday morning I went to the bus station to find a bus that was leaving and I hopped on a bus to Podgorica, Montenegro. I was told Podgorica wasn't the nicest of cities, but I figured I'd go somewhere inland to experience something a little different and different is exactly what I got.

The bus ride to Podgorica was beautiful. We rode along the coast and through the mountains and saw the sunset. But once the sun was down the sky was pitch black. The bus arrived in Podgorica around 7:30PM and of course I got lost walking to the hostel. I love staying in hostels because it gives you the chance to meet he most interesting people and boy did I meet some interesting people in Hostel Podgorica.

The typical first conversation between fellow travelers is "Where are you from?" "What city did you come before here?" "Why are you in (Insert current city)?" "Where are you going next?"

I was staying in a 5 bed mixed room and there were only 2 other beds occupied. They were 2 guys from Moscow named Nikita and Elias. They explained to me that they are from Moscow, but their families are part of a very small community that has their own language and own culture. They then explained that they are came to Montenegro because it is a better place than Moscow and they hope to stay there forever. They said they want to start some kind of "society"...I didn't ask for details because I didn't think it was in my best interest to know. They then pointed to some animal bones that were lying next to the bed. Originally I thought they were just some decoration from the hostel, but turns out they found the bones at the Albanian border (yes, I took a selfie with the bones when they left the room). While they seemed to be hiding some details of their journey and their background they were super nice and very engaging. They asked me questions about the United States and they even asked me my opinion of the NSA. I tried to keep all my answers as neutral as possible. Before we went to sleep Elias reached in his pocket, pulled out a Russian Ruble, and tossed it to me telling me to remember my new friends. In return I gave him a Croatian Kuna. While my new "friends" were definitely hiding something, they made my visit to Podgorica worth it. It was a very quite and boring city so in the morning a caught the first bus to Kotor.

It's funny how a simple question to a couple strangers can turn into a friendship. There were 2 girls sitting in front of my on the bus to Kotor and I asked them where they were coming from. That question led to a conversation that was held for the entire bus ride. Lily and Stella are both studying abroad in Paris and were headed to Kotor then Dubrovnik.

Once I arrived to Old Town Hostel Kotor the guy at reception asked me if I was only staying for 1 night and when I confirmed that statement he laughed and said "you know you're going to stay for more than 1 night, right?" I laughed, grabbed my keys, and dropped my bags off in my room. Kotor is almost like a smaller version of Dubrovnik. It has a small Old Town and is on the sea. I explored the city for a while and then decided to climb to the fortress at the top of the mountain before sunset. The fortress is 1350 steps up to Castle of San Giovanni (St John) that offers a fabulous birds-eye-view of the Old Town.

The next morning I packed my bags, returned my keys, and before my bus took off I went with Lily and Stella to try out a highly recommended local lunch joint. What we thought was going to be a restaurant turned out to be a butcher shop with a grill inside of it. The owner asked us if we were hungry and if we ate meat. Both answers of course were YES! Within minutes the man brought us 3 plates of deliciousness. The flavors were like nothing I have ever tasted before.

During our wonderful meal Stella and Lily were discussing visiting Budva for the day. Budva is another coastal town not too far from Kotor. I decided to miss my bus and explore Budva with them. I went back to the hostel, asked for my keys back, and dropped my bags off again. Nikola was right and I ended up staying a total of 3 nights. He even tried to convince me to stay a 4th night because the hostel has a deal when you book 3 nights you get your 4th night free, but I had to leave the 4th day to make it to class. Budva was was a nice town, but it was very small. We spent most of our time sitting on the beach listening to Russian tourists sing songs and play guitar.

 That night the hostel cooked dinner for all the guests and it was a very tasty free meal. During dinner I met Alan Isaacs. I know I have said that I already met the most interesting people, but everyone I meet is worth describing as the most interesting. Picture a bigger version of Bob Marley, with mannerisms that remind you of friendly people from he Caribbean. Alan was actually born and raised in India and currently lives in Thailand. He is one of the best story tellers and most insightful people I've met. One thing that mostly stuck out to me was his passion. Over dinner we asked him what he does back in Thailand and he put his fork down, looked up at the table with a huge smile on his face, and said "I am a writer." His face lit up with excitement like I've never seen before. Most people I've met while traveling either hate their job or just quit and are traveling on their time off. His emotion was contagious and you could see the entire table had a smile on their face. When I commented on how nice it was to see the joy in his face he told us "Happiness is not doing what you like, but it's liking what you do." When I left the hostel I gave Alan my smiley bean, which is a bean that is supposed to remind us to not forget to smile in our everyday life. Alan is someone who spreads happiness wherever he goes and even though I love my smiley bean I knew I could get another one.

 My last day in Kotor was spent on a north tour operated by the hostel. It was 8 of us from the hostel with a tour guide in a little van driving up north to the Durmitor National Park. On the drive through the mountains one of the main roads was closed so we had to take a detour. This detour consisted of us driving over small cliffs and driving past cars coming the opposite direction of us. Keep in mind the roads are very narrow so when we had to pass other cars we were centimeters apart. Living in Florida we don't get to experience the excitement of seasons and leaves changing color, so I was loving every second of the beautiful colorful trees along the way. After about 3 hours we started arriving at different points throughout the tour. My favorite stop was at Devil's Lake where the shore of the lake was a light green color and towards the center got dark blue.

 While we were driving we noticed an interesting house that our guide said he never noticed before. It was built with rocks and tree trunks. He said that for the past couple of years the house was covered and he thinks its because the owner didn't want people to see it until it was finished. We all happened to get out the van to take pictures of the house at the same moment the owner drove into his driveway. He invited us all in to explore his newly built home. While he didn't speak any English our guide was able to translate for us and you could see in his face how proud of his home he was, especially because it took him 3 years to build by himself. When we walked into the house his little puppy ran up to us and we all fell in love. His children and wife were very confused as to why 9 strangers were entering their home, but we all warmed up to each other. When we left the house the family invited us to stop by for coffee on our way home. Everyone in Montenegro were so friendly and hospitable. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stop by the house again.

Our last stop of the tour was at the top of a mountain that overlooked the entire area. We were able to see the Tara River Canyon, which is the deepest river canyon in Europe. It's bright turquoise water next to the colorful fall tree was a stunning sight.  Sometimes we must do risky things to get great pictures, even if that means standing on the edge of a cliff and making sure we keep our body weight forward so we don't fall.

After 4 very interesting nights in Montenegro it was time to catch an 8:30AM bus to make it back to Dubrovnik in time for my 12:30PM class. During the ride back to Dubrovnik we drove along the coast through the clouds. It was unreal.

It's funny how things work out. A trip to Skopje and Sofia turned into an adventure around Montenegro. Beautiful scenery, delicious food, and interesting people seems to be the trend around Europe. And people wonder why I never want to come home....

Dubrovnik Adventures

Our new motto for the semester is "Do it for the stories!" When we are questioning a decision we just remind ourselves that a good story will come from it and we are usually right.

Everyday there is a new adventure waiting for us. Even on the dullest days we find ourselves sitting on the steps in the Old City people watching, which is probably the most interest activity you can do. We even made a game out of it. We see who can spot the cutest old coupe or the funniest looking tourist. It is quite amusing and can last for hours. Of course that's after long days of learning and being studious...

Next to Dubrovnik there is a little island named Lokrum and my friends (who are both swimmers) decided they wanted to swim to Lokrum, despite the local's advice not to swim there. My friend Makenzie and I rented a kayak that way we can make sure if boats pass they will see us and not hit our friends who were swimming. Since Dubrovnik is a very touristy city there are a lot of companies that do kayaking tours, but we just wanted to rent a single kayak for a couple hours. Well in order to do that you must have prior kayaking experience...which we told the company that we both has experience (that might have been a white lie). Once Makenzie and I got in the kayak they could definitely tell we did not have much experienced. We all laughed and eventually we figured out the correct way to paddle and we were off to meet Tiffany and Shantel who were waiting for us at the harbor to start their swim.  The second they jumped in the water you could see in their faces how cold the water was, but they were troopers. After only 15 minutes we made it to the Lokrum!

After a couple celebratory pictures we tried to figure out how they would get back to Dubrovnik because the Kayak only fit 2 people. We came to the conclusion that we would drop them off at Lokrum and they would take the ferry back to Dubrovnik and meet us back at the Kayaking point. One problem was they didn't have any clothes or shoes with them, so Makenzie and I being good friends gave them our clothes and shoes that we had in a waterproof bag on the Kayak. We parted ways and kayaked back to shore. When we returned the kayak the man who was helping us asked where our clothes went and we made up a story about our friends meeting us at Lokrum because we couldn't tell him the truth that we helped them swim to the island. We walked up the path and sat in a chair in our cold, wet bathing suits waiting for our clothes to return. I didn't realize how funny bathing suits were until we noticed we were providing entertainment for many people. A couple local kids ran up to us and asked us if we needed to borrow clothes. After convincing them that our friends would be there soon we noticed tourists pointing at us. About 45 minutes later the little kids ran towards us screaming "Your friends are finally here!" and everyone clapped as Tiffany and Shantel walked down the path with our clothes. Now that I reminisce about the experience I am laughing, but in the moment I was just cold and a little embarrassed.

The next night we were invited to a BBQ hosted by the Croatians in our class. This is one of my favorite parts of my study abroad program! I love that the locals and the study abroad students get along so well. We asked them what a Croatian BBQ was they and they told us we would have to wait and see. One of our friends named Edi picked us up from the Old City and we went to a nearby town named Cavtat, which is where a couple of the Croatian students live. The drive there was beautiful and the town itself was fascinating! We didn't have time to explore, but I'm excited to return. When we arrived to Vlaho's house, Tamara brought the girls outside while the guys went inside and prepared dinner. I know girls usually don't do the BBQing but I expected us to help with something. The boys took care of everything! It was really nice to hangout with everyone outside of a classroom setting. The food was delicious and we had so much fun! By the end of the night we decided that next week we are throwing an American BBQ for them, which should be very interesting.

Mostar: An Adventure in Disguise

Everyone tells me that while I am in Dubrovnik I must visit Mostar and Montenegro. We did not have school because of Croatian Independence Day (we were going to stay in Croatia to experience Independence Day, but we found out it is more of a sad holiday and is not celebrated) so we decided to take a day trip to Mostar. I thought Mostar was in Bosnia until a classmate explained to me that Mostar is municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We mostly decided to visit Mostar because we were told there is cheap shopping compared to Dubrovnik and we wanted to see the pretty bridges everyone talks about.

8 A.M. we board the bus to Mostar expecting to arrive back in Dubrovnik later that day....

Once we arrived in Mostar 4.5 hours later we went to the bus information to find out what time the bus home was at. We assumed there were buses back to Dubrovnik all day. We were wrong. The woman at the information booth told us that the only bus back to Dubrovnik today was leaving in 5 minutes. We knew going back wasn't an option, so we walked away to analyze the situation.

Luckily a friend of mine suggested a hostel to stay at in case we were staying the night and the hostel ended up being only a 5 minute walk from the bus station. We turned down a street and found a small sign with the hostel's name on it, Majdas Hostel. We opened the door to find an empty lot. Picture 4 delirious girls walking in what looked like an abandoned house. When we turned the corner we found a colorful garden with a bunch of people sitting at the table. We were so nervous that we were laughing uncontrollably. I saw a woman that looked like the owner and I asked her if she had 4 beds for one night to accommodate the "4 lost girls". Without hesitation she said yes and brought us her mothers homemade iced tea. Hands down one of the best cups of iced tea I've ever had. She brought us out 4 slips of paper and told us to make name tags and then she asked us where our bags were. We had to explain to her that we were not planning on staying the night so we had no clothes or tooth brushes or anything really. She laughed and assured us that it happened for a reason and that we were lucky to stay the night in Mostar. Of course she was right. Her mother was speaking in Croatian and the owner translated to us that her mother was giving us one of the nicest compliments by telling us that we were all such pretty girls and that she could not tell who was prettier. Normally I do not like compliments, but this little old lady was so cute and so nice and her iced tea was just so wonderful. She came over to all of us and gave us kisses and pinched our cheeks. We knew everything was going to be okay. 

There were 2 other travelers hanging out when we arrived so the 5 of us went and got some lunch then explored the city. We went to a local restaurant and tried their signature Ćevapi which was delicious. I have yet to eat a bad meal in Europe and hopefully it stays that way. After lunch we were walking to see the Old Bridge that was built by the Ottomans in the 16th century. On our way to the bridge we passed through the old city and had to remind ourselves that we would do our shopping after we saw the bridge so we continued walking. We heard that people jump of the Old Bridge but we didn't believe it...until we saw a man standing on the top and then we saw him jump and eventually heard him smack the water. The water in Mostar is much different than Dubrovnik. It is a much deeper turquoise, still beautiful, just very different. Walking through the city you can see all the bullet holes in the buildings from the war, but it is still very beautiful. We walked down to a garden below the bridge and while we were standing there in the serene environment we were able to hear the Islamic call to prayer. It was a feeling of peace that you can't really describe.

After about an hour of taking pictures of the bridge from different angles it was time to go shopping! In Mostar they use a different currency called a convertible mark which made me really excited to add to my currency collection. We walked up and down the streets of the old town for hours and explored each little shop. It was the first time during my 3 weeks in Europe I actually went shopping, which is very impressive. After hours of shopping we went back to the hostel to relax. We then gathered a group of travelers and went to dinner at Hindin Han. I'm not exactly sure what I ate, but the plate was clear by the end. While we were sitting and chatting a girl came up and asked if she could sit with us because she was by herself. I've learned how amazing interactions with strangers can be. Traveling truly opens your eyes to the world and made me realize that most people are alike. We are just looking for an experience and we are looking to meet inspiring people.

Before we left to make our 10 A.M. bus back home to Dubrovnik (wearing our same clothes as the day before) the owner of the hostel called our names and had breakfast and hot tea waiting for us. It was a perfect end to our adventure.

Everything truly happens for a reason. It was a blessing in disguise that we were stuck in Mostar for the night. We learned that if you keep a positive attitude the journey, no matter what it may be, will be worth it. Mostar is a city of beauty and disaster. It has a rich history, with an unfortunate present, and a hopeful future.

Back to Reality...

After 4 flights, 2 buses, and 1 train I finally made it back to Dubrovnik! Just in time for classes to start the next day. After having a 5 month summer it was hard to think about finally starting class again...then I remembered I was in Dubrovnik. My entire 14 hour journey home I kept telling myself that my vacation was over and I was going home to reality, but the truth is Dubrovnik is not reality.

Dubrovnik International University is a small private school that flies in its professors from all over the world to teach us students. The professors choose when they will have class based on how long they can stay in Dubrovnik. Before classes started I had an idea of how professional and esteemed our professors would be from just looking at DIU's website. I have never been more impressed by professors and their teaching styles than I have been this past week.

Once we received the schedule for the semester I saw that I have European Union for 5 hours Monday-Saturday. 1. I have never sat in a class for 5 hours. 2. I have never had class on a Saturday. I was definitely a little hesitant about how this was going to play out. I am also taking Organizational Behavior, International Business, and Peace & Negotiations. My Peace & Negotiations class doesn't start until November 17th and it lasts 1 week long and each class is 6 hours long...we will see how that goes.

When I walked into my first class of the semester, European Union, I noticed a couple things. 1. Americans are usually early or on time, while Croatians are usually late. 2. Americans sat in the front of the class, while all the Croatians sat in the back. Our professor began right away. I have a tendency to always ask my professors their background that way I know who I am learning from and to build their credibility. He laughed a little because he felt bad for forgetting to do that in the first place. He begins pronouncing his name which none of us could understand so we all had to Google later. He proceeds by telling us that he used to be a professor at Harvard and has taught all over the world, along with having been in the Croatian Parliament and was an ambassador for Croatia and Montenegro. He also slipped in his introduction that he was a part of the team to help get Croatia to join the EU. No one in the room expected that introduction and you can bet that everyone's mouth dropped by the end.  Yes, Professor Petar Turčinović definitely established credibility with the entire class. That is just a glimpse of one of my professors. My professor for international business, Janice McCormic (she likes us to call her Janice), just retired from 30 years of administrative and academic work at Harvard Business School. While classes are long, it is the first time I have actually enjoyed learning in a classroom setting.

 This is the view outside of my classroom.

At such a small university it is very easy to become friends with each other. The main difference between my study abroad in Dubrovnik compared to Florence is that I am actually able to interact with and get to know locals in my classes. During our breaks and after class we all go to a nearby cafe and hangout for hours. I have also become very close with all of the American's at the university. All of them except for me are on the API study abroad program so they became a tight knit community very fast, but they were more than welcoming for me to join.

Everyday after class my friends and I find a new way to entertain ourselves and just enjoy life. One day we went to a place called Buza, which means hole in the wall. It is actually a hole in the old city wall that leads to cliffs on the Adriatic Sea. Picture yourself walking along a wall and seeing a small arch that looks like it leads to a dark room, but when you walk through it imagine walking into another dimension. You walk through it and it is blue skies, cliffs locals use for cliff diving, a bar, and a lounge area all built into the rocks. After a long day of class we went to Buza to go cliff diving and to watch the sunset. The next day we went to a small set of cliffs that is just up the hill from the old city and we swam to a cave. The water was bright blue and ice cold, but when you have the opportunity to swim to a cave you take it!

The next 3 months of amazing professors, beautiful views, and many adventures in Dubrovnik are going to make it very difficult to return to reality in Gainesville.

España: Barcelona/Madrid/Valencia

I booked a one way ticket to Barcelona by myself with no plan and no expectations. 

Barcelona                                                                                                                          
I booked my one-way flight to Barcelona with no plans. I figured I would find a hostel and walk around by myself, maybe go to the beach…to my surprise I experienced much more. Enric, a friend I met while he was studying abroad at UF last year, invited me to stay with him.  I didn’t realize when he invited me to stay with him meant that he would be my personal guide for the next 2 days. Enric wanted me to have the best experience possible while in his city and he made sure I saw everything. I was able to experience Barcelona from a local’s point-of-view and that is the best way to do

Day 1: As soon as I arrived Enric pulled up Google Maps and explained to me how the city is set up, we then grabbed 2 helmets and hopped on his moped. Our first stop was up a mountain at beautiful overlook of the city. We then drove to Park Güell, which was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. After riding around for a couple hours we went back to his apartment and got ready for dinner. I didn’t realize how late everyone does things in Spain. We met up with his cousin for dinner at 9pm and ate delicious food. After dinner he invited a couple friends over to hangout. I'm used to being a foreigner and not understanding the language, but Enric made sure his friends spoke English around me and if they didn't speak English he would translate everything for me. It's funny how being friends with locals can make for such a difference and amazing experience.

Day 2: We woke up and explored the city for hours. I enjoy getting lost, mostly because I believe it's the best way to see a city. We stumbled upon many beautiful buildings and after the day of exploring I decided Barcelona is my favorite city I have visited in Europe. Don't get me wrong I love Dubrovnik, but Dubrovnik isn't real life. I could see myself raising a family and settling down in Barcelona when I'm older. Fingers crossed! While we were walking around this little man walked up to us and asked for directions. To his surprise we were very nice to him and we were actually heading in his direction so we offered for him to walk with us. He was shocked. He didn't think locals and tourists were that nice so I'm glad we were able to prove him wrong. When we asked him where he was from his respond was "South Korea like the man from Gangnam Style" and he even did a little dance move along with it. Before he left us he asked to take a picture with us because we were his first friends in Spain. You never know whose day you're going to make just by simply giving them directions. For my last night in Barcelona we went back to Enric's cousin's house. She invited a bunch of her friends over and we ordered Domino's...yes, they actually eat Domino's pizza in Barcelona.I was the only American who did not speak Spanish or Catalan and there was a guy from Portugal who spoke Spanish, Portuguese, & English, and everyone else in the room spoke Spanish, Catalan, and English. I used to laugh when foreigners would tell me that they can't hear the difference between and Australian and an America, but I don't laugh anymore because I realized I can't tell the difference between Spanish and Catalan. The entire night everyone would switch between English, Spanish, and Catalan and it was definitional as humorous as it sounds. I learned you just have to laugh at the entire situation.

Madrid:                                                                                                                    
At the end of my journey in Barcelona I planned the rest of my holiday. I was fortunate enough that I was able to visit my friend Natalia who is spending this semester in Madrid.

I didn't think I would like Madrid, mostly because I loved Barcelona so much and I really like cities by the sea. Clearly I was wrong.
Day 1: As soon as I arrived Natalia had our day planned out and it mostly consisted of eating amazing food. We went to a local restaurant for the special of the day which was 2 plates of ham and a pitcher of sangria. What a wonderful way to start my adventure in Spain. After our 2 plates of delicious ham we went and got churros which are basically fried dough that you dip in melted chocolate. After all of the dough was gone we ate the chocolate as if it were soup. I was perfectly content with a day dedicated to eating and relaxing.

Day 2: My second day in Madrid consisted of exploring as usual. I've come to the conclusion that I don't like to do touristy things, especially walking tours or museums. Our first stop was to a really cool street market. After a couple hours of shopping we decided to grab burritos and bring them to a local park to eat. Once we got the burritos it took us about an hour to find the spot in the park that Natalia was dying to sit at. I was in Spain, eating Mexican food, sitting in an Egyptian temple. Yes, Spain is a very cultured country. After we finished out delicious burritos and explored the temple we went to visit the Royal Palace. I definitely wouldn't mind living there.

Madrid definitely exceeded my expectations and it was thanks to Natalia and the amazing food!

Valencia:
This is the first city I have ever stayed in a hostel by myself. Valencia might not have been my favorite city, but I still had an incredible time. The first night in the hostel I met a guy named Lubo. He is originally from Czech, but grew up in Florida and Czech. Coincidentally he graduated from UF! He might be the most interesting and inspiring person I've ever met.

 Day 1: The first night we relied on Yelp for a good restaurant and it was a wonderful decision. We ate the best food I think I've eaten in Spain so far (that says a lot because I ate delicious food everywhere in Spain). Compared to Barcelona or Madrid, Valencia is a pretty quite city. We were sitting at dinner talking and telling stories when all of a sudden a man walks up to us and tells us to be quite. After dinner we wondered the streets of Valencia for a while and we met up with a bunch of travelers from our hostel and just sat outside and talked until it was time to go to sleep.
Day 2: Lubo is also one that doesn't like touristy attractions so we decided to rent bikes and ride to these lakes that were just outside of Valencia. On our way to the lakes we drove through a long park that led to the City of Arts and Sciences. We found a huge rope gym where we climbed to the top and hung on the ropes for a little bit until we continued our bike ride. We stopped at a store that reminded me of a Spanish version of Cosco where we picked up some food for a picnic. What we thought was going to be a13 km ride turned into 23km each way. For us American's that equals approximately 30 miles when we count the time we spent lost. When we finally arrived to what we thought would be beautiful lakes turned out to be a bunch rice fields. On our way back we topped at the beach to relax and swim. Swimming turned into taking a siesta on the beach because there were jelly fish everywhere. When we finally got back to Valencia to return the bikes we were able to sign the wall and represent the Gator Nation. After walking around the city a little more and eating Valencia's famous Paella it was time to go to sleep.

My journey through Spain was everything I could’ve hoped for and much more. Spain was never a country that really appealed to me. I ended up traveling Spain because 1. It was the cheapest flight out of Dubrovnik and 2. I wanted to visit my friends. Growing up around Spanish people my entire life I thought I already knew the Spanish culture, clearly I was wrong. I know for a fact I will return!