It's not that I don't love my sister. It's not that I'm not excited to see her in Istanbul November 18. It's just that I wish I had told her to meet me in Belgrade.
Every night is a party in this city. Even the nights when you stay in.
I just .... don't ......... want .............. TO LEAVE! How many days has it been already? I don't even know -- but what I do know is that it hasn't been long enough.
Best time of my life -- I know that, too.
"Are you from here, also?" What a surprise it was to meet yet another gorgeous girl at Mladen's place when I emerged from my room this morning. As if I wasn't already bummed enough at having to leave Belgrade, now I had another reason to mourn.
"No, I'm from Poland, actually," the mystery girl said.
"Poland!" Another place that I have not been, and regret not having done so, especially at the sight of a hot, heady girl like this. "So you're just traveling, too?"
"No, I study here actually." Which is what I want to do, too.
"So how long have you been here?"
The mystery girl -- later identified as Natalia -- kind of smiled, because she knew what kind of reaction her reply was going to generate.
"Well, I came about a month ago, and stayed here for three nights. But after such a short time, I met so many people, had such good party, that I didn't want to leave." Inspirational. "So I started to look for an apartment."
Mladen then came in the room, and Natalia asked him if he was going to be able to make it to her house warming party tomorrow night. I had already planned on leaving tomorrow afternoon, just so I didn't have to make the 30-hour trek to Turkey in one shot.
But leaving the black hole isn't as easy as saying, "I'm leaving the black hole."
"What about you?" Natalia asked. "Are you going to be at my party?"
Ireallyshouldn'tI'vegottogotoTurkeytomeetmysisterokayfineI'llbethere.
"Well that was easy," my new Australian surrogate sister Nadine said, laughing.
Welcome to the Hotel California.
As much as I would love to get stuck in the black hole permanently, the fact is that I must leave soon. Sure, I could always come back -- but I say that about every place that I leave, and I know that the odds aren't good.
Who knows? Maybe in a week, I will be raving about Istanbul for all the same reasons as why I have fallen in love with Belgrade: The people are so nice; I have so many friends; Sometimes I wish I hadn't met this many people, because I have no time to just chill; All this fun is bad for my health; The history is amazing; The girls are so beautiful...
Vamos a ver.
Even if the next stop is awesome, it will never dampen the fire I have burning inside me for the Balkans. It's not just this place; it's the whole place. So here is my guarantee: I will be back here someday.
And maybe someday soon.
And I'll have friends waiting for me.
1 comment:
''Even if the next stop is awesome, it will never dampen the fire I have burning inside me for the Balkans. It's not just this place; it's the whole place. So here is my guarantee: I will be back here someday.
''
This is so good story I read here man! I rarely get to someone's blog and read from the top to the bottom.
And Mladen (u say Mladin) gave me the link. Cuz I knew he's got bunch of interesting people going through his hostel and I'm just having a web site dealing with such things... So i thought he might let me know should any interesting story come by. And I'm so glad he gave me this link. I really enjoyed reading. You do write so good! And again, it confirms my theory, that people's passion for life is just the one that makes them really alive, different and recognizable. Thanx for such a good story and yes, be sure, you will have friends here waiting once you come back.
Greetings, Nel.
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