Ups and Downs

This morning I walked back from breakfast with the sun on my back as the wind blew in my face. Wearing my freshly bought olive coat I walked down a paved street on campus of the school still thinking about the hot chocolate and chocolate spread that perfectly accompanied my whole wheat bread. It was a lovely Sunday but this morning I really missed home. I miss going to an English speaking protestant church service. Going to church isn't just a Sunday activity for me but part of my identity and today I hit close to rock bottom. On that street I could look to the left and see the Aegean Sea and to the right freshly grown organic plants. Birds chirped up in a tree while I passed the small vineyard. As beautiful as everything was I felt as though the excitement I would normally have felt was muted into a shade of gray. Later at lunch I sat with one of my sweet friends from Albania. She figured out that I was becoming homesick and began telling me how to keep this from happening. Later after lunch she brought me wild tulips she had picked to make me happy.

Friday night I went out with some students to try honey raki. This strong local alcoholic drink is served hot. After sitting around a table in a bar downtown near the Rotunda we headed to the Polytechnia. The Rotunda was built by Galerius in 306 BC and transitioned from temple of Zeus in 305 AD to Christian church then in the 500's became a mosque until 1912 when it became a church again... then the earthquake in the 70's ruined the structure and now it is a museum. At the Polytechnia (engineering school) college students had orchestrated a massive party... in the building. It was pretty crazy. After dancing to a mix of Beatles, Lady Gaga and European techno I put down my favorite forever 21 coat and it disappeared.

The girls that I had gone out with that night asked me to come to their room the next day. At this point I am used to Balkan hospitality and it's never ending measures but this was a new level of thoughtfulness. When I walked into their room they explained how that their friend had gone through her closet and gotten out her coats she doesn't wear anymore. They gave me one of her coats and they all expressed how terribly they felt about me losing mine.

I write this sitting on a yellow couch in a room that belongs to one of my Albanian friends named Toletho. Earlier when he saw me earlier sitting on the floor in the hallway on my computer he invited me to his room to be more comfortable.

Kate, an American Fulbright student here, told me that living abroad is all about learning to ride the emotional roller coaster with grace. I completely agree with that.

Balkan hospitality is unlike any other... and even though I've missed things and people from home it really helps to know so many people here genuinely care.