Skopje,Macedonia

           Easter weekend was a four day weekend, so one of my friends from Skopje decided he wanted to go back home for a visit. On Thursday after class, we had arranged a “taxi” which is really just a regular car that we rent with a driver, which was 25 Euro each from Blagoevgrad to Skopje. The car was not very nice, but it got us there and it beats taking the bus which would entail taking a bus from Blago to Sofia, then Sofia to Skopje which in total would be around 12 hours vs. the 3 – 4 hour taxi ride (and there both within a few Euros of each other. The border crossing took forever, and pissed me off because I was hungry, had to use the bathroom and the border guards were uber slow. 

            Anyways we arrived in Skopje in one piece, dropped our stuff off at my friend’s house and then went out to meet some of his friends. We went to a bar in a lovely part of town that had great drinks, and good music. We ended up going there every night. We also went to a club, which I was a bit taken aback by because everyone was dressed so nice and the club was really nice which I was not expecting. The thing is in countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, and Macedonia if you have money you leave the country to live abroad. Commonly known as the brain drain, these countries are experiencing the youth being sucked out of them.  So here I am in a café with my Macedonian friends, friends and all of them live abroad and are just visiting. France, Austria, Germany. It’s obvious why they want to leave, all you have to do is look around at the conditions and pay.  When you can make 10 times as much in Germany then you can in Macedonia for the same job, and better conditions you’d leave too. What’s going to happen to these countries in the next 20 years I have no idea. I feel like the populations decreasing so fast, the people that are left are just going to be uneducated, low class people. On the other hand one thing I always ask when we go out, is that how is it I’m in a country (such as Macedonia and Bulgaria, where the income is so slow) how can people always be out in Gucci and Prada, driving a BMW and sitting in Cafes all day? Where is this money coming from? For one thing you can guess most of the time it’s not clean money. Corruption is soo common it’s made as a joke here.

            Back to my trip…! We spent a lot of time in cafes, bars, and walking about allowing me to be a tourist. Skopje is a cute town, but I have a feeling I’d get bored with it after a while. Everyone I was with kept telling me how “dangerous” it was to cross the bridge and go to the Turkish side of town. However when we did go I saw 2 American families with cameras walking about so it can’t be too dramatically dangerous. Which brings me to the US Embassy. I’ve heard from Macedonians about this US Embassy with 7 levels underneath it which nobody know what’s in it. Macedonia is the closest country to the Middle East that would allow the US to build such an embassy. The embassy looks like a modern day fortress. Multiple buildings, and with 7 floors down you can only guess what goes on there. (This is all hearsay, I have nothing to back this up, it's just what I've heard.)

            Easter came and went without any big celebration for me. We went to the largest Orthodox Church in Skopje, lit candle and socialized. We then went back to my friends, friends house in which her parents had prepared a meal to be eaten around 2 am which is tradition for them. There was lamb liver, lamb intestines, potatoes, bread, and really good wine. Everyone my age did not touch the lamb, but the dad of the family asked me to try the intestines and I could not really say no…so I did. To be honest the flavor was good. Would I eat it again? No way.  Monday afternoon we left Skopje, and came back to Blagoevgrad for 2 weeks of school.

            Now I’m in the heart of finals week (I only have one paper more to go, which is due tomorrow!) and I’m having serious mixed feelings. I love my life here soo much. The past 9 months have been amazing and on one hand I wish I could really stay here, but on the other I know I have to go back. I know 3 Americans that have liked it here so much they’ve transferred. If  I was a sophomore I would think of doing that, but I’m so close to finishing my Bachelors that I know I need to suck it up and just go back to Washington. I’ve been looking at grad school in Europe and am set on making it work. I really have my heart set on the Central European University in Budapest. I think it will be perfect for me. I want to get my masters in International Relations & European Studies. I know that it’s still a bit far down the road, but I can still dream. =) Originally I’d been set on joining the Peace Corps or trying to get a Fulbright, but now I’m leaning towards just finishing my degree. I’m turning 22 in a couple of days and the thought of starting my career when I’m 28 or 30 scares me. But with all the internships, Peace Corps, degree seeking I want to do it might end up that way.

I start my internship at One Heart Bulgaria on June 3^rd which means between then I have free time to hang about Europe. On Monday I’m going to Spain until the 18^th, then I’ll fly back here to Bulgaria and I think I’ll go to Turkey or Greece until the end of the month.

I booked my ticket for home…I’ll be returning to the good ole’ USA on July 13^th. 

 Border crossing! Took a really long time. First you had to go through the Bulgarian check side, then the Macedonian one. I was thinking, and it's the first time I've had to stop at a border in Europe and show my passport.

 Mother Teresa Museum (she was born here)

 The money can be confusing.

 Building all these building to make Skopje have an "old' feel.

 Turkish side..what a big difference. 

 The US fortress....

 Holy Saturday was started, and followed by drinking. We played a game with the eggs. Your suppose to hit each others eggs, and whoever has the egg that's not cracked wins.

                                                             Outside the Orthodox Church

 All the young people that come to socialize outside the church on Holy Sunday. They come to drink and chat, not pray.

It's tradition to stick you candle stub under your pillow for good luck.