Where can you meet the most interesting people?

When we were younger (and single) my friends and me thought that we will meet interesting guys in the clubs. Then you see  that it doesn´t work like this and is therefore more an exeption than the rule. :D

Now, years later and quite a lot of international interactions behind me, my list of top 3 ways/places where you (can) meet interesting people goes like this:

1.) Carsharing: definitely the most sociable way of travelling (especially if you are travelling alone). All of my drivers on long distances were talkative, so also the rides were cool. Actually I can´t stay quite (and I don´t get the people who do that), because you can find out so many interesting things this way. For example: my last driver and me found out that we have a mutual friend (who is not a Slovene and lives in Germany!). When he walked me to his place, this our friend was laughing, like: What are you two doing here together? What a surprise for all of us! :DWith my other driver I was later singing at the karaoke. (: To sum up: 3 really pleasant guys in the last 3 months. 3 new friends, not bad!

2.) Couchsurfing: I have been writing about this before. But once again: via this community I have met truly interesting people. Last week I was hanging out with a guy from Sweden which was so amusingly. A friend recently asked me how is this scene and how are people here like. I said that it´s like all these people are the same nation, because they are not typical representatives of their countries. So if for example some nation is known to be close-minded or not open for meeting new people, these couchsurfers for sure are not like that.

3.) Friends of friends: And  last but not least: friends of your friends. I think it´s very likely to find a cool co-speaker in this group. Yes, I know-it´s not easy for women to find/have true female friends, but hey-maybe you´ll meet some cool person at the babyshower party. :D Or you can meet a new male friend at your friend´s birthday party.

So, that was my top 3 list. A list of people/events/things that made my life richer in the last weeks/months. And how do they say: "To travel is to live?" (:

Where I left my heart

I fell in love again. Not with a man, with a city. It's like everyone has a favourite city, and to me that's Munich. I just don't know why it took me so long to actually go there. :D

The view from the balcony

My second visit. Staying at my new friend's flat on a famous street called Leopoldstraße. The building itself is amazing, but the view from the balcony at night is just breathtaking! It turned out that my host/new friend has a lot of friends from Slovenia who live in Germany. And as he said, he likes us because we are really cool and open people, just our language is strange. :D Hehe. A funny guy.

Dianatempel, Hofgarten (:

"Do you like to walk?" "Ja, sure!" He gave me a guidebook and the exploring began. Actually I just had to walk down this street for about half an hour to the city centre and on my way I say the sights. 

Walking down the street

Since I adore parks, the Hofgarten with it's Dianatempel was really charming! Even the taxies, all in the same colour, are so cool. And the architecture in general. Oh, and the Karlsplatz with it's fountain! (:

Odeonsplatz

An interesting question?

But the highlight for sure was meeting my former host who took me to the Englischer Garten. You know, when you are in a good company at the great place? (: It was already dark outside and I didn't see much, but we saw surfers in the Eisbach river. Oh, and seeing the bats while lying on the grass. :D

Karlsplatz

Eisbach

So many impressions for "just" an ordinary day in the city. After experiencing all these animations, you just can't go back home. At least not for some time. Oh, I also found an interesting quote: "Thomas Wolfe was right when he said that Munich was a German heaven on earth."

The view from a restaurant

A chain of decisions

Do you ever wonder why and/or how some things/events happen? Things that you didn't plan and look like a coinsidence.

Well, I don't believe that things happen by coincidence. I can't neither say that I believe in fate. But I believe in words which I read in the past: "Everything in life is as it should be." And that whole life exists of our choices, or better: decisions. But there's something which fascinates me: how do you find yourself in some place and how a chain of decisions (or actions) brings together two people (and by that I don't mean just a man/woman relation, but in general)?

I had an interesting experience in Austria 2 months ago (this time I was there for business not for pleasure). I was supposed to spend the night in some village, which I arranged already at home. Coming there I decided to take a look around and took a walk on the left side of the village. There I met a girl and we said: "Hallo." Soon I was trying to find my place and figured out that this might be hard since the house numbers weren't in a sequence at all. Then there came again the girl I met before. Great! I asked her if she could help me find that place and the next moment we were searching together. "Did you take a walk when we met?" She said: "Yes." "That was a short walk,ha?" She said something like: "Yoo!" To shorten the story: in the end I didn't stay there due to some misapprehension and was running to catch the girl again so I could ask her for some hotel there because I really didn't want to drive back to the city again. She made a call and said: "No problem, you can stay at my aunt's house." 

And there I was: spending the night in a cute wooden house with a woman my mother's age. My bed had been ready before, like she would be expecting some couchsurfer that day :D I said: "You have a really cute house, I would like to live like that someday." She said: "Oh, I don't like it. I want to move to Bali." Well..who doesn't? :D

My cute austrian room

Thinking about it later, there are some elements that fascinate me. How did this girl and me both find ourselves at the same time in that part of the village (or better: how I caught her there during her few minutes walk). And was I supposed to sleep over at her aunt's place already from the moment I arranged my place on? I know, actually it's just about spending the night somewhere, but I think things like that are quite often also at more important matters in life. Also at finding a partner. (:

The same day I saw some interesting quote in the city centre (of course it was in German) and it goes like this: "Life is more than the notion that we have about it."

A day with cousins

Last Sunday I spent with my 2 cousins. With one I often hang out, the other one (my only male cousin) I met just a few times. I think we sometimes act like a 140 kilometres distant place is on the other side of the world and that the whole procedure is needed to visit someone. And though our country is small, there are still a lot of places we haven't visited yet. So, it was time for some family gathering and discovering unknown parts of Slovenia. (:

The view with my cousins (:

After spending some time at the grandpa's house our cousin took us to Golte (a ski resort above Mozirje). He showed us the best view on the landscape, then to a renovated hotel (where we were staying in 4th grade) and from there we climbed to the reservoir and had a drink at the cabin. This lake was new to me. High away from the world, talking about life, relationships and other stuff. And you don't hang out with your cousins like the that everyday. 

At the revoir

Walking back down to our car we met a man from the cabin who served us-such a positive person. It was a short, but interesting convesation about life. He said: "But in the end you see, it's important just not to complicate things." I agree.    

The hotel. I think it looks cute (:

We agreed it was a quality spent Sunday. It was also time for some carpooling in which case it's good to have an assistant, who answers all the calls while you are driving (: With the last guy that was driving with us we also had a cool conversation and at the end he wanted to pay more. I said: "No,I'll take just as much as I wrote." He replied: "It's been a while since I have had such a pleasant ride." I think we should compliment things so honestly more often. Actually I think the world needs more of that! Not just that his words made my evening, I was in a cheerful mood even the next day. (:

The sunset on our way home

And the cousins? They are closer than we might think! (:

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