Bratislava

So...in retrospect, Bratislava was probably not the best airport to fly out of when flying from this part of Europe to France. At the time it seemed like a particularly great idea - I would be in either Budapest or Prague, so Bratislava was close enough to both to make it easy. Instead, I never made it to either city (which I am slightly disappointed about, but not really that much...) and was back in Zagreb for the last 2 days.

But, backtrack - my last night in Ljubljana was SO fun! Wednesday was fairly uneventful. We had all stayed up late, so I slept in, had a lot of coffee, and hung out in the hostel for a long time doing crossword puzzles. Lara (a girl from Canada also staying at Celica) and I finally ventured out into town in the late afternoon after getting a tour of all of the cells at Celica (we didn't actually stay in one, but it was really cool to see how each one was unique). We went to the market, got fresh fruit, ate some yummy burek (basically sketchy meat in a pastry), and saw a small bit of the city.


That night we went out to a cute Slovenian restaurant for Simon's birthday (a British guy staying at the hostel), and I got to taste some Slovenian gouloush (no idea how to spell that). We walked around the city for a bit, then went and had a quick coffee at the hostel before heading out to meet Mateja. She took us down several dark streets to a small compound-like area with graffiti all over it. When we showed up, this man literally looked out of the door through one of those slots that you think are ONLY in movies that look like mail slots but are at eye level (think Miracle Max's door from Princess Bride) and asked us what we were there for. Once she told him (a jazz jam session), he let us in. We went back through the compound through 2 huge doors that looked like barn doors and into a cool, smoky room where a dj was playing some good jazz and people were milling around. we met up with several of mateja's friends there and hung out for a bit. They couldn't have been nicer to us. Talked almost totally in English. Included us in conversations. Seemed generally interested in knowing who we were and what we thought about things. Of course they all speak English almost fluently.
After we had hung out there for a bit, we left and went to the area right outside our hostel. It is a cool area that was at one time military buildings. In the 90's all these buildings were abandoned and squatters started living in them. It then became this big underground artists area to hang out, play music, live, etc. The hostel I was staying in was the jail. The surrounding buildings don't have as many squatters now, but it is an area known for being very "hip" (i hate that word) and artsy. There is a great music scene there, and we went and heard a DJ that I think is pretty popular. They call it "gypsy music" and "balkin beats." I really liked it though i don't know that i could describe it. A hip-hop type beat but with a total different sound - more "eastern."
This is a horrible description of the place and the music, but it was incredibly fun. I was exhausted, but I still dont' think I left until 3:30 because of how much fun I was having. Highlight of the night was definitely when Mateja says, "Kate - wow - you are a great dancer! You are like a real Balkan woman!" I think I smiled the rest of the night about that...


Thursday I hung out with Lara again all morning and had another nice chill morning - lots of coffee, a cafe, crosswords, etc. I was ready to get back to Zagreb though. At some point, it became my base from which I feel comfortable. I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of time I had spent with Lara and Simon - after going to being by myself, having my own room in Zagreb, and choosing when I wanted to be alone, it was a bit surprising to be together with several people for entire days. It was really fun to be with them, but it was also really nice to show up in Zagreb and have Vjeran, Chris, and Marco waiting for me at the train station to take me to ultimate practice.

Being back in Zagreb did feel nicely familiar. Playing ultimate - even only 4 on 4 - was also wonderful. I was exhausted, so it was nice to go to Vjeran's afterwards, eat some pizza and start to watch the movie that he rented for us. When he LEFT for the rental store, he said something about getting the new Christian Bale Vietnam prison movie. yet, when he came back, he had decided to get "Enchanted" instead (which, it turns out, is really nothing at all like a Vietnam prison movie). Just when I was STARTING to think that there was a chance I could get into it (and had actually stopped mocking Vjeran for his choice), Crevar and Anna suddenly rang the bell. They had been walking by and decided to stop in, so we ended up playing Spades for hours (until I literally fell asleep on the couch). I unfortunately still have no idea how Enchanted ends.

Friday was another one of those days when I get to the end of it and think, "what the HECK did i do today?!" And then, because i have stopped panicking some about "what should i do? what should i do?", i was pleasantly happy realizing that i hadn't done much of anything. i was a bit trapped at vjeran's by myself for most of the day since i had, once again (jen pointed out to me yesterday that this is at least the 3rd time i have done this on my trip), put all of my clothes in the laundry at once and was borrowing his old baggy sweats while i waited 18 hours (literally) for them to dry.

But yesterday afternoon was definitely one of my favorite afternoons of my trip. I ran some errands, then met Vjeran after he got done working, and we went to an English language bookstore. I got to get 2 new books (which made it easier to push through finishing the Graham Greene book that just took me forever to read because I could never really get excited about it, but it was my last book...), then we got the paper, sat in a cafe, and did the crossword. It was exciting because it was the first time that I had sat in a Croatian cafe with someone else, staring at all the people walking on the street. For the first time, I got to BE one of the people that sits with friends, facing the same direction, and just staring. It was fabulous! Plus, i am sortof addicted to crosswords now, so that was also exciting to ALMOST complete a friday crossword.

As we were sitting there on the street, Crevar and Anna walked by, and we all ended up going out to dinner together, then going back to Vjeran's and hanging out. Chris and Luca came over to play Settlers of Cataan (not sure when I became addicted to that game, but i sortof am). It was a great last night in Zagreb. I really enjoy the community of people that I met there. I also really just enjoy the city, though I am not even sure why. There are definitely more beautiful places that i have been while traveling, but it just feels comfortable to me in some ways.
Today I slept in, hurriedly got up, packed up everything (i'm hoping i got everything - i had basically moved in, so it is hard to know), and barely made my train to Bratislava. I spent seven hours on a train, which was a bit long. Luckily I was going through Austria for basically the whole trip, so it was incredibly gorgeous. Big mountains, quaint villages, beautiful churches. I was in Wien for all of 20 minutes before catching my transfer and heading to Bratislava, but in that short amount of time, I managed to get totally ripped going to the bathroom. Public restrooms often have some small fee in Europe, but I paid this woman 2,50 euros (which is basically $25 right now bc the dollar is so bad) even though the sign on the stall said ,52 euro. So annoying. First time I feel like I have genuinely been ripped off just bc i am an idiot and didn't stop to say, "wait a minute - that isn't how much it costs!"

So far Bratislava has been a bit ugly and overwhelming. I asked several people in the train station for help finding how to get public transportation, and they were completely unhelpful. It always makes me a little skeptical when I say, "excuse me. do you speak english?" and they say, "no!" in a really firm, clear accent. It makes me feel like they do actually speak it quite fluently but just can't be bothered with me. either way, i was feeling totally disoriented and finally got fed up enough that i took my first cab ride of my trip to my hostel. it is nice and clean, with a fairly friendly, quiet vibe. i am sitting here now reading my new book dreaming about my bed.

sorry this post is so long, but i wanted to take the time to write when i got the chance.

kate