And Guess Who We Ran Into...

Remember how I said I was going to do Oktoberfest?

Well plans fell through. I was going to mosey on around Athens for the weekend, but then Amber came up to me and asked me to go to Thessaloniki and Skopje with her and a few others.

And on a whim, I bought my tickets!

On the 26th, Carolyn (my roommate), Emily, Amber, Mae and I met in front of CYA at 3am to catch a bus that dropped us off at the airport. It was rough to say the least, but because we woke up so early the flight only seemed like a minute because we slept the whole time.

Amber, me, Emily, Carolyn, and Mae at the Skopje Winefest

We got to Thessaloniki. It is a wonderful and charming city! But it was a little hard to enjoy it thoroughly because a cold front swept over all of Greece and it's surrounding countries. Oh it was cold. It was so cold that I ended up wearing my flannel, as well as a sweater I bought my sister, every day. Isa, I'm sorry if your Christmas-gift sweater is a little stretched out.

So! It was cold. We wandered around and shopped a bit, got some coffee, and relaxed. We were drained from waking up that early and traveling.

Then, we boarded our 4 hour train, which turned into 5 hours by the end. The train was cold and we were tired, so we attempted to sleep, but every time all of us dozed off, the door would fly open and the customs man would shout "TEEKIT!" and we would flail and fall out of our chairs from sheer fright. But, hey, worth it because I got several new stamps in my passport.

While we were on the train, several times we saw this tall, thin, blond guy walk past our little train room. I wanted to talk to him in all honesty, but I didn't have the guts. But, the moment Emily said, "I'll give you a euro if you talk to him!" I was hauling butt down the train to meet my new friends!

And so began the friendship between Danielle, Jas, Johannes, Bettina, and Barney.

Jas is from India, but moved to England. He has traveled across the US and around Europe several times. He's an older man, but he has spunk, that drive that all avid travelers have. Oh, and he's a foodie. He should really consider writing a book on foods to try in countries people visit because he has tried it all and it is convincing. I was never so excited to go home and have Five Guys!

Bettina and Barney are from Vienna, Austria. They have been dating for five years and have traveled extensively in the past and on this run of adventure. They aura they emit is chill. They are those truly genuine people that seem too cool to associate with. I think they like me, so I appreciate that!

Johannes is from Munster, Germany. He's about my age and has traveled around Europe for the past month and a half. He basically stays two days in each city, but he has seen and done so much! He is a fun guy with a great sense of humor. He's sorta like a puppy, always bouncing around and being playful.

Carolyn and Kim hanging out at the hostel

After making friends and parting ways at the train stop, my group made our way to the hostel. Long story short, there were some solid people at that hostel. Christine and her mother from Latvia. Anna is from Slovakia. Kim (who is a dude) is from Munster, Germany as well! Yiannis and Amir were from Israel. Leo is from Frankfurt. Lutfi and Murat from the area (they worked there). And then some Chinese dude that didn't talk to anyone really.

Amir and Yiannis were going to go out, so they offered to walk us to the main square so we could grab some dinner, because at this point it was 9pm and we were starving. Amir and Yiannis were the cutest and sweetest. Every time we crossed the street, Amir would count us and make sure no one got lost. They pointed out every wonked up piece of sidewalk and made us aware of every little puddle. Every homeless man they passed they asked if he needed help. And they tried to communicate with us as much as they could even though neither of us knew the others language.

Gate leading to the main square of Skopje

Amir and Yiannis dropped us off at the square and we wandered around until we found a restaurant we wanted.

And guess what we found. MEXICAN FOOD!

OH MY GOD. I have missed Mexican food so, so much! I was so tempted to inhale my food, but I managed to savor each bite because that food was divine. Afterwards all of us were like, eh we should have tried some authentic Macedonian food, but at the same time, how many people can say they had Mexican food in Macedonia?


The next day, Amber and Mae decided to go kayaking and explore more of the nature of Macedonia. Carolyn, Emily, and I opted to venture into the city. So we wandered.

The night before, Lutfi was telling me how Skopje has been obsessed with erecting statues. Oh. Man. He was not joking. There were easily nine statues visible at every angle from every spot in the main square of Skopje. I think when I was counting I got up to 41 statues, and that was just on main streets and counting fountains as a whole. So. There were a lot.

We wandered. We hung out. We shopped. Oh, there was this hella cool antique shop we went into! There were thimbles, watches, fine china, coins, stamps, old postcards and new ones, helmets and uniforms from wars, books - the whole shebang. Of course being the hipsters we secretly are, Carolyn, Emily, and I were there for a while. After shopping, we were headed towards the museum for Macedonian Independence.

Then guess who we ran into. Johannes.

He tagged along and we went to the museum together. It was interesting but kind of bizarre at the same time. There were one too many wax statues. I would say it rivals Madame Tussaud's in England! They were everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I liked the museum and the set up was pretty interesting, but there were just so many wax figures...

We wandered some more, got some food, counted statues, climbed some statues, and generally had just a good time hanging out.

We also went up to the fortress of Skopje. Johannes and I got separated from Emily and Carolyn at one point so we kicked rocks and chatted about life. He told me about German things. I told him about American things. We talked about this and that. He's now my favorite person in this hemisphere because he is so funny. No joke. He is the epitome of the German stereotype. He's tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed, white as a piece of paper, and has the thickest accent. His humor is on cue with mine. As I recall the day, I remember giggling with him so much about how silly Emily and Carolyn are, or about how stellar the mustaches on the wax figures were, or about our stereotypes. I kept joking about freedom and living up the American stereotype, which he got a crack out of because I'm not that Amurican. But, I did order freedom fries and I cracked a bad joke...Okay, let me tell you.

Why don't you hear Freedom knocking? Cause Freedom rings. And the look on his face, oh I can't even describe it. I could tell he was deciding between walking away, slapping me, or laughing because, face it, it's a damn good joke.

So, it seems like I should have more definitive list of where we went and what we saw, and trust me, we tried to do more and see more museums, but it was getting late and we kept getting lost. So lost, that Emily decided at one point she is going to make an album about people looking at maps, and guess who inspired her. Yup. Johannes and I.

After a whole eight hours of hanging out, Johannes had to leave. All of said good-byes, gave hugs, and left. At this point, we were waiting for Mae and Amber on the main stone bridge of Skopje because we were going to grab dinner then go to the wine-fest. Yeah, a wine-fest.

And guess who we ran into! Bettina and Barney. We only got to chat for a bit because they were catching the same train and Johannes and Jas to Belgrade, but they were happy to have run into me and I was happy to catch them and say good-bye. God, they're just so cool. Like. If you look up the word cool, Bettina and Barney are pictured there.

Sadly, I didn't get to see Jas, but we messaged each other good-byes. He lives right between Oxford and London, so maybe I'll see him someday in the future since I keep getting drawn to London!

Mae and Amber caught up with us, we got some authentic Macedonian food this time, then went to the wine-fest and I had some damn good wine. Yum. We only stayed for a few glasses of wine because it was so damn cold, but it was a chill experience. It wasn't no Oktoberfest, but I really enjoyed the Skopje wine-fest.

Now since this post is forever long: summarizing!

Sleep. Train to Thessaloniki. I hurt my ankle so I sat while my friends toured the museums. Gyros. Rotunda. White Tower. Dogs and more dogs. Starbucks. Bus. That's the summary. We managed to cram a lot of Thessaloniki into a few hours, which I would say was pretty stellar! We rushed through, but it wasn't like I was pressed for time.

But. It doesn't end there. We got to the airport and guess who we ran into.

Maria. The Maria from my childhood. The Maria whose little sister is my little sister's best friend. That Maria. Literally she saw me at the airport and hollered for me. We had no clue! It was a complete surprise to see her! Entirely coincidentally we happened to be in Thessaloniki! I have now hugged this girl in three different countries! America, Italy, and Greece, if you're curious. It made me way too happy. I still can't believe it happened! Like, what is this life?!

So overview:
Thessaloniki is a stellar city. The atmosphere is great and has so much history.
Skopje is quaint, but strange. Too many statues and too many wax figures, but the number of awesome people makes up for those oddities haha
And overall, the trip was unforgettable.