Greetings from Macedonia!

It didn’t really hit me that I was leaving until I arrived to the airport and was told to pay an enormous amount for my luggage. If my mom hasn’t told you already, I had to pay $762 for overweight and excess luggage, okay, okay, my parents eventually had to, but it still was A LOT!!! All of my flights went well. In fact, the food was fantastic on all the flights. As a sort of welcome to Europe, I noticed how good-looking Europeans are as they were taking their seats on the plane. I was then feeling guilty about the snickers bar I bought and held off on eating it, until a girl sat next to me mid way during the flight and ate a candy bar. She was a cute thin Slovakian, so why not indulge with her? I finally arrived to Skopje and customs was nothing. I couldn’t believe how easy it was.

The country is absolutely beautiful. I haven’t figured out the language yet, the script isn’t helping much. I did learn a new word today. Sit. I was walking to the town center, about a 45 minute walk. It was around 9 am. There were a lot of older men and couples walking. It’s in the open also, so I wasn’t worried. As I was walking, there was a man on a bench (as there was on several benches I had passed). I glance at him and made eye contact, and then noticed his pants were open and he was fondling himself. That’s when I learned the word sit because he said “Sadeuch”. I remembered the word and thought it was some awful meaning, so when I came back to the hotel I asked the receptionist who is my Macedonian consultant. She said it meant sit, so the man wanted me to sit next to him while he enjoyed himself. I know it was very disgusting, but it’s kind of comical looking back and it’s something I won’t forget. Also, there are many stray dogs, harmless, but sad. I counted seven on my walk today. They just lay around and some look for food. They don’t follow people. I was thinking “Thank God Brandi isn’t here, her heart would be broken and so would her wallet from trying to save these dogs.”

Other than that I had a great day with the new friends I’ve meet. The other girl from the states is great. We clicked right away. She has a lot of view points that I do, she loves coffee. Who can’t get a long with someone like that? Tomorrow I will go to the university and put my stuff in the room, but return to the capital to have dinner with more colleagues. I have a phone number that I will write below. You might want to ask my mom how to call exactly. I better get to sleep now. I love you all and miss you.