Serbia?!

I made it to Serbia, obviously!

Thursday afternoon I walked to Syntagma and hopped on the bus and headed to the airport. I got there with a perfect amount of time to get my boarding pass and get through security and wait at my gate. It worked out well since we left on time and got in to Belgrade early! Praise God! On the plane, it was not crowded and I had my 2 seat area to myself, which was stellar. And, we got a little dinner and dessert! The flight was quick and we got there in no time. Walking around in the airport, I didn’t think my friend Neal would be there yet, but he was and my dad was too! It was great to see both of them for sure! We drove back about 3 hours to their town, picking up McDonald’s on the way! It was great to have that time to chat and catch up. We got to town and we visited the rest of the family, but then headed over to Mirela’s to get ready for bed. She’s so sweet to be letting me stay there and she gave me everything I need. I even got to use the internet, which I didn’t expect, so that was great. We chatted for a while, but then headed to bed.

Friday was my birthday! 21! So I woke up and Mirela made me French toast! Yum yum! She said I may not think it is good since it is not sweet and like our French toast. But it was great. We had tons of things to put on top of it, chocolate, jam, cheese, meat, everything! And I had this yummy yogurt! It is yogurt, but it is pourable. So good! I don’t think we have it in Greece, but I’m going to look for sure! Then we walked to the police station to register me as a visitor and where I was staying. Then we walked through town and went to the house of the family I know here! It was great to see them! We saw the men (Dad, Neal, Dennis, and a few of their friend) chopping wood and helping out a neighbor. Then, we relaxed upstairs, visited with friends, and had a nice time with lunch and a cake! So good! We did a lot more relaxing and visiting as the day went on and after having friends over for some time together, we went over to where I was staying with Mirela and had another cake and more visiting! A very fun day, full of relaxing and cake and friends. I do have to say that it is so weird to hear another language than Greek now! I’m getting used to being around a foreign language and now it’s different again! So weird! Anyway, I got online and talked a bit and headed to bed.

Saturday, I woke up and had breakfast with Mirela again! She makes such good food. She made hotdogs cut up with eggs and cheese. Don’t judge, it’s super good! We also had some more yogurt and bread! Later on, I took a taxi to the family’s house and visited with them a bit, then we walked about an hour or so to visit with my new Serbian grandmother! She is the sweetest thing! It’s cool because she knows my dad, and knows my sister, and now she knows me! She fed us tons and tons of food! So sweet and yummy! So we spent time talking to her, even though she speaks no English. My friend Stephanie translated for us, which was great, and we just enjoyed some down time eating lovely food! (Seeing a trend for my trip here?...) Afterwards, we relaxed and while the men chopped more wood, finishing up what the rain had interrupted, and I relaxed at my Stephanie’s house and enjoyed some time to relax and chat, once again! Later, we had dinner at their neighbor’s house! We had great pizza with mushrooms and ham! Sooo good! That lasted late into the night as we chatted and ate! Pizza after pizza came out, and we kept eating! We also watched American Football!!! Exciting, I know! I was insanely excited about it and was super into it! We watched the Michigan State/Michigan game! It was a great game! I kept getting all worked up over it and gasped and everything! Our host was so surprised that I liked it, which was hilarious, and I told her that I recently had started to enjoy it! I guess that’s Nick’s fault! Anyway, afterwards we all went back to bed and got ready for some of our last day!

Sunday I was getting used to waking up and having Mirela make me coffee and breakfast! I’m spoiled! We had French toast again, by my choice, and it was just as yummy as the first time! We got a lot of time to talk and get to know each other better, just before my ride came to get me and bring me to their place for time together! Friends of Neal and Stephanie had friends and family to visit, so all of us got together and chatted for a while in the morning and had coffee. I could get used to this European thing of lots of chatting/coffee!!!! What a shock I’ll have when I come home! Anyway, after many of us parted ways, we hopped in the van to get some yummy Serbian burgers and head to Belgrade! We were doing some sightseeing and having some quality time together before I was set to fly out in the evening and Dad and Dennis were going to fly in the morning! So, after quite a drive, full of fun singing and goofing around, as well as laughing at the ‘old men’ falling asleep every five minutes, we made it to the city! We may or may not have gotten lost, and I may or may not have found where we were heading, but regardless, I got to see the city and enjoy even more time together with friends and family! Can’t have too much of that! …? We walked up a nice street and visited lots of little street vendors, finishing up with some wandering around what I think was called Kalemegdan. It was pretty cool and had an absolutely gorgeous view overlooking a couple of rivers. We had to rush a bit to get me to the airport in time, only for me to realize that our flight was delayed a half hour or so. Woohoo airports. It was really hard to leave my friends and family after seeing them these mere three days. I cried a little! It was so great seeing friends from home and Dad, and I’m really glad I got to visit them, and make great new friends!!! I can’t wait to see all of them again!

Getting back into Athens around midnight, I hopped on the bus to head to Syntagma, but the bus stopped at Evangelismos! I guess Syntagma was crazy for Elections!!! Anyway, I taxi'd home and slept!