A girl travelling alone

In the last 2 months I've been abroad 4 times. Everytime alone, by carpooling and couchsurfing, well to be more exact: staying with people I met there :D Some people say that a girl who travels alone is brave, but I agree with Thomas Jefferson who said: "One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more."

A coincidence? My driver picked me up in Ljubljana and said: "Heey! We've been driving together before! But we were both passengers." I didn't recall that, so after he described our ride, I remembered. How small the world is! Well, this can happen only in Slovenia. :D A guy from Ljubljana, visiting his girlfriend in Austria. It was one of those rides when very soon you feel domestic with that person and 5 hours just fly by. When your co-speaker is extremely honest and open-minded, so you talk with him basically about everything. And when getting out of the car at the end you get a feeling that you have a new good friend. He said: "Damn, now you know too much about me!" :D Another 2 coincidences: he lived at the same street as where I was staying and one day I met him and his girlfriend in the city centre. I said: "I forgot to tell you, but you are really cool!" "Thanks, you are too!"

The Inn river

Innsbruck through my eyes: my second visit here. In the evening I took a walk alone, near the Inn river to the city centre. This area, where you can see those colourful houses looks really nice.

Next days were more animated: hiking, a students party in the meadow, seeing a cute place (Ambras castle) on our way there. There was also time to read a book/drink a beer on a balcony and to visit the shops and bookstores there (they also have Mango). (:

Hiking

The best soup in my life! (the right one) (:

Oh, and I ate the best soup and risotto in my life. The first one (Kartoffelsuppe) was on the top of a mountain, the second was prepared at home by guys. Mmm (:

The view on Innsbruck

The Ambras castle

On Sunday we had parliamentary elections at home in Slovenia (our professor won. I hope this will be a positive change for our messed up country), but here the main event was the FIFA World cup finale, which we watched at the Treibhaus.I'm not that into football, but watching it with guys from Germany was interesting. And I love Germany (:

At the Treibhaus

Selfie at the toilet

Travelling back home the next day from Innsbruck to München and from there to Slovenia with 3 guys was relaxed and we didn't talk much. We were all slightly tired: some because of exams and others because of parties :D

Sometimes we are not the same afterwards

June, my favourite month. Because I was born in this month, but this year I also did a trip in June. An unimportant decision, which looking in a retrospective, turns out to be important, or at least big.

Already on a motorway my heart plays a song (:

München: I traveled through this city for several times, but never actually stopped there. So I was planning to visit it last December and found a host, but plans changed and instead of then I somehow came to his birthday party 6 months later. Furthermore, we were born on the same day! (: Already while walking on their street I got a feeling that this is going to be a cool city. After staying at his place for some time and exploring the city centre on my own something happened in my head. I felt like this is a city where I feel really good, the city where I could and would like to live. 

Exploring the city centre

Being  a guest at the party was also an interesting experience. Watching a football match (Germany vs. Ghana) and later playing some games that I've never seen before: Flunky ball, Beer pong and Looping Louie. It's a fact that at this one party I met more interesting people that I would do somewhere else in a much longer time. And though I love my country, I realised here how small our everyday world at home is. And how much more is it out there. Though I was really looking forward to my trip to Austria, it was hard for me to leave this city.

Looping Louie

Innsbruck: an opposite from München. Staying at my friend's place, where you have a view on the mountains from the balcony, the kitchen and even from the bathroom. If that's not romantic! (: 

On a balcony

Here I did a mountain biking for the first time (with the real mountain bike and everything) to the Nordkette. While for cycling up you need to be persistent, downhill was harder for me. These rocks! :D But lying on the grass on the top, having nothing on my mind, just existing..that was a priceless feeling!

Lying on the grass

On a rainy day we walked through the city centre and since I was hanging out with a photographer, we spontaneously made some cool pictures. From one of them we made a postcard, which I think is a great idea an a personal way of sending postcards. I sent 2 to Slovenia and 2 to Germany (:

A walk in the city centre

On a rainy day

Nordkette

"It's true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names." 
And that's exactly how I feel now.

Cycling in Austria

Coming back home, my sister asked me:
"Where do you find all these guys?"
"On couchsurfing." Couchsurfing, babe! (:

Days to remember

"Some moments are nice, some are nicer, some are even worth writing about." (Charles Bukowski)

Most of the days just go by, with no specific meaning. When I wished my friends a happy birthday in the past, I often said: "And I wish you lots of moments that will take your breath away." Days to remember. Because that's what life is all about, isn't it?

Last weekend were my days to remember. A friend from Germany was staying at my place. Actually we met just once before. I thought going to the seaside would be a perfect getaway from Ljubljana, so we spent the first day in Portorož and Koper. Walking along the coast, lying on the pier, having a drink on that comfortable couch and looking at the sea. Speaking quite frequently english and german recently, I realised how beautiful our language is.

On the pier in Portorož

When even driving in silence in the rain on a motorway has its charm. Maybe it's because you are aware of how limited your time with that person is and because of that you experience it more intensively.

At the Skyscraper

The next day we spent in Ljubljana. In the morning I attended the women's running in the park, so he was hanging out with my friend in between. Later that day we went to the Nebotičnik (Skyscraper), so he could take the pictures of the city. I waited and at some point he took some pictures of me. The entire happening was so spontaneous, that I thought it's kind of amazing to have such a harmony with someone you don't know that good.

"Don't make an effort. The best things happen when you least expect them."  This is one of my favourite quotes. On the third day he went back home. But the memories remain.

The view

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Her heart was a secret garden and the walls were very high

I found this quote by pure chance on the web and liked it immediately. I kind of recognised myself in it and thought it would be cool to have a photo, related to it. Next day I was spending the afternoon with a girl from France in Ljubljana and of course we were taking pictures. Later at home I have noticed that, though unintentionally,we made that photo (:

The picture

That week I also started reading The top five regrets of the dying (an amazing book, by the way) in which the author also wrote about the walls people build around them. That it is a way of protecting yourself from being hurt, but on a long-term you cause the most damage actually to yourself. One of the top regrets people had before dying was: "I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings." These stories were really very sad. One man told her, that his son just knows he loves him. She asked him: "Did you tell him that?" He replied, that he didn't, but that he just knows it. The truth was that his son believed he has to prove himself for his father to love him, so he didn't know it. At that point I thought about the Chapman's 5 Love languages and how we express our love in different ways. Words of affirmation are just one way.

A decoration

Omnia vincit amor. A quote a man at the Ljubljana Castle (also that week) wrote me and I pasted it in my room. Translation: Love conquers all. Sounds like a cliche at first glance, I know. But looking at it for a while, it crossed my mind that there is actually so much love around us, we just have to see it. Mother, preparing you all the possible things when you are ill. The cousins you can rely on. Your dog seeking for love. A neighbour's cat coming to cuddle with you.

With my youngest cousin last weekend

Like Nena sings: "Liebe ist." 
Love. Liebe. Ljubezen. Ljubav.

An adorable cat, that was following us. So we made a photoshooting with her :D

Cleaning out my wardrobe

Abraham Lincoln once said: "When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that's my religion." Words to internalise, in my opinion.

Last weekend I found my mother in the attic of my parents' house and asked: "Mum, what are you doing?" "I'm gathering the clothes, which we are going to send to people in flooded places in Bosnia." My mother-such a modest and generous woman. A few minutes later I was automatically cleaning out my wardrobe. For the same purpose.

Since it has been a while that I did that, I found a lot of things I don't wear anymore or I forgot I have. Blue jeans, skirts, shirts,.. It's hard to imagine that one person wore them all, due to their different styles, but I'm sure that each of the pieces will find a new owner. Of the clothes I haven't worn for a long time, I kept just those with a story behind. A pullover my deceased grandmother bought me, although it's too big, but maybe one day it will fit me. 

When I finished, I remembered what my cousin, a dentist (with whom I lived in my first year at the faculty), used to say. She was a real enthusiast and we had strict rules about cleaning. When one of us (3 girls living together) finished with cleaning, she asked: "Don't you guys feel so much better now, when everything is so clean?" Oh yes, we surely did (:

I finished in about half an hour and emptied approximately the half of my wardrobe.

But the most important fact: I felt good.