Somehow more than 365 days have elapsed since my last post in December of last year.
When I last wrote, I had been back in the U.S. for a few months after spending a full year living and working in Norway, and was struggling to find my stateside footing (update: I'm still working on this, but it's getting better...). At that time, I had accepted a new part-time role with remote flexibility, and I knew that I would be making my way back to Norway in or around May. So I decided to make the leap back across the Atlantic at the end of December, spend New Year's weekend in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and from there take a bus down to Kotor, Montenegro, where I had booked lodging for the month of January.
What was originally intended to be a month based in Kotor turned into two, and from there I explored other parts of the Balkans for an additional two months.
I was able to spend varying lengths of time in Bosnia & Herzegovina (one week), Albania (one month), Kosovo (4 days) and North Macedonia (3 days), and found myself diving into the opportunity to learn more about this part of the world that I knew very little about previously. A highlight was hiking the Peak of the Balkans trail.
At one point, towards the end of my weeklong visit to Sarajevo, a friend (innocently, out of kindness, and having no idea where I was at the time) sent me a text that said 'Are you having fun?'. I was just emerging from a heavy museum fog (I actually got COVID in Sarajevo, so my museum exploring was condensed to one day at the end of my trip - thankfully I spent my isolation time in one of the coolest Airbnbs). I had just visited the Museum of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide and Gallery 11/07/95 – an exhibition space aiming to preserve the memory of the Srebrenica tragedy.
I responded, 'No, but I am learning.'.
As you can imagine, there's much, much more I could write about my time in the Balkans, and I hope to do that at some point (with each country a separate post).
In short, I learned a lot. And I did have some fun too.
After spending a third of the year in the Balkans (with a few side trips to Basque Country, Spain to visit new friends I met while traveling in Albania), I flew from Zagreb, Croatia to Bergen, Norway in early May - arriving just in time for Syttende Mai (Norway's Constitution Day, the 17th of May).
Now a summer spent (mostly) in Bergen has come and gone, I have visited the U.S. for what is becoming my standard three months a year, and as of November 2, I am back in Norway.
And my base for now is a charming village of fewer than 800 inhabitants called Skånevik.
In my next post, I plan to talk more about life in this little farming village, and explain why it features a statue of Irish musician Gary Moore...
Thank you for reading! I'm glad you're still here.
If there's a topic on my blog you'd like me to expand on, let me know, as it can help guide my writing (and after a year absence, clearly I could use the help!).
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