I'm still here...

hehe, wow - sorry it took me so long to get back to this....

Well, my studying program is finished and I am (not-quite-officially) a college graduate! After the program Trent came and met me in Athens. We spent a couple nights there - being tourists during the day and hanging out with stragglers from my program in the night. We went out for Greek meals, drank at the Jazz bar and hung out in the street cafes until 4am - and we were going to bed early apparently. From there we headed up to Meteora and camped at a very nice campground. We hiked around the first day and then a caught a bus up to the monestaries the next. We went in a couple monasteries - perched way up on the top of vertical granite cliffs they were very impressive. There were twelve in all but after seeing a couple we decided to make our way down. That evening we decided to head back to Athens and check out a beach the next day. We caught a train and got stuck without seats - standing between cars and trying to pass the time. We chatted it up with Greeks who came and hid in the bathroom or stairwell to smoke cigarettes on the non-smoking train. The next day we headed to the island just north of Greece which is really only separated from the mainland by a tiny channel. The beach there were pretty bad but we made the best of it and got some pretty good pizza in a colorful cafe on the waterfront street. Then back to Athens for one more day of wandering before Trent had to take off. We said our goodbyes on the Metro just after getting pickpocketed and went our separate ways. Trent lost his wallet and I lost my camera - so from here on out it's just descriptions - no more pictures!!

From Athens I went out to the Island of Amorgos to meet some friends that were traveling after our program. I got off the 10 hour ferry at 2am and was greeted by my three filos - Christian, Ali and Hana - at the ferry drop off. It was a full moon so we headed to the beach to sleep for the night. We couldn't do without a swim under the incredibly bright moon and then slept. We awoke to a group of older folks just down the beach from us doing tai chi in the quiet dawn light. We played some guitar and swam some more then spent the day on the beach. The rest of our time on the island went something like that. The next day we went to the other side of the island and found a great cafe - we hung out all day and were invited back for a delicious supper of roasted vegetables. Christian and Ali had to take off so Hana and I stayed one more night then went to the even more laid back island of Donousa. Here we again slept on the beach at a semi-official campground and napped and drank tea and swam all day - our last day in the Greek Isles. We said our goodbyes the next day in the Athens Metro as she went to sleep at the airport for her 6am flight and I caught an overnight train after watching Germany beat Turkey in the Eurocup semifinal match.

Two trains later I found myself in Edessa - a tree filled town built high on a plateau overlooking vast valleys of farmland. Three small creeks run through the town and pour over the cliff-side in cascading waterfalls. I spent the day wandering, napping on park benches and using the internet before heading to the last Greek town before the Macedonian border. I planned to stay the night here but could not find cheap accommodations so I called a taxi I had heard about from macedonia - (no public transportation over the border) and caught a ride to Bitola. Here I watched Spain crush Russia and wandered around till the power went out.

The next day I caught a bus to Lake Ohrid on the Macedonia/Albania border. I let myself get stuck here for a full five days it was so pleasant. The guest house I stayed at four of the nights was just a family home with the upstairs rooms let out to guests. The owners were very friendly - sharing meals and coffee with me and showing me their garden. It was like having a family for a few days! The town was nice as well - a great bustling pedestrian street and the first three nights were occupied by a Balkan Folk Dance Festival. I swam and wandered and played guitar by the lake and generally enjoyed myself. I hung out a couple days with an Englishwoman and we checked out a monastery on the Albanian border and caught a ferry boat back. She took care of me as I came down with nasty 24 bug and then took off for Albania. When I recovered I headed into the adjacent national park and hiked into the hills and camped out for the night. I hiked about 30 km and only saw 5 people - all shepherds tending their cattle or harvesting hay high in the hills. I caught a ride back to the city from the other side of the park from a very friendly Macedonian named Borris. He explained some Greek-Macedonian history to me and stopped at the pass between Ohrid and Prespa Lakes and let me look around with his binoculars.
The next day I left for Prishtina, Kosovo. I hadn't really planned on going there but I had met a couple from there with a guitar in Ohrid and they invited me up. I arrived to discover that they were actually staying in Skopje, Macedonia for a few days longer and so I was on my own. I wandered around and checked out an art gallery and ate some pizza but mostly just wrote some letters, read and made a few phone calls. It was interesting spending my Fourth of July in Kosovo, the newest country in the world. But all in all my time there was incredibly uneventful - which is probably just as well.

After two nights I decided to go straight to Sofia, Bulgaria to wait for Zach and Mark who are meeting me tomorrow. I was looking for the bus station and overheard an English conversation so I asked the two men if they knew where the bus station was. They said it was quite a ways and would give me a lift - they were walking to their car and heading to Skopje. Turns out i was looking for a bus to Skopje to transfer to Sofia. They read my thoughts as I ventured to ask for a ride and so they gave me a ride all the way to Skopje instead of just the bus station! From their I caught a bus into Sofia. What a city - especially coming from Kosovo! The place is beautiful - with trees everywhere, cobbled streets, old street cars and great big buildings and churches everywhere! I caught a tram to the hostel I had booked - only to find they had overbooked and had no room for me! They redirected me around the corner and invited me back for a beer. I left my guitar with them - checked into my room and then headed back for the beer.

It was a Bulgarian kid's birthday and so a group was gathered and celebrating. We drank and talked, discussing traveling and music and Hugh Grant and all sorts of things. There were people from Norway, Canada, Denmark, England, and lots of locals. We hung out and enjoyed ourselves till around 4 am the birthday group left and things started winding down. I got out the guitar and played every song I knew until I was struggling through some I don't and a French kid wandered downstairs and began drumming on the table to the beat. When i stopped he asked if he could have a go - and boy did he go. He played all kinds of funky improvised blues riffs while i banged out a beat on an old snare they had laying around. Finally he mentioned that he doesn't really play guitar - he;s a violinist. As soon as we found out he had is violin with him we made him go get it and he played and played. Finally it was just me, him, the bartender and the receptionist. The sun was up and we called it a night.

Today I just wandered around the beautiful parks and city streets and then chatted with a Canadian at my hostel who actually knew some people from Bellingham.

Whew - well - that brings me up to speed i guess - hope it wasn't too much "word vomit" as Christian would say. More to come as Mark and Zach arrive tomorrow!