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This post is about hiking and exploring in Slovenia, getting dumped by my girlfriend while travelling together in Vienna, starting to recover in Germany, and skiing in Switzerland. It’s long, so feel free to just look at the photos (the captions tell a summarized story), or just read the sections that you’re interested in.
Slovenia
Slovenia was one of my favorite
destinations on this trip so far. It’s a tiny country situated in the east end
of the Alps, bordering Austria, Italy, Hungary, and Croatia, and has a small
coastline on the Adriatic Sea. The country has everything. It has the natural
beauty of Switzerland, the sunny beaches of Italy, an impeccably clean and
beautiful capital city, the prices of Eastern Europe, and is a mecca for
adventure sports enthusiasts. I arrived to Ljubljana (the capital city, pronounced
something like Lube-lee-ah-na) in the evening and met some Australians staying
at my hostel. I hung out with them for the evening and they were planning a day
trip to Lake Bled the following morning, so I tagged along. Lake Bled is a
beautiful lake at the base of the mountains, with a small island in the middle
and a beautiful old Slavic church on the island. Though at first the lake didn’t
look so amazing, when we walked to the far side we were treated to its real
beauty, backed by mountains that are only visible from one side. We rented a
rowboat, learned how to row a rowboat, and somehow made it to the island and
back without tipping over.
Castle above Lake Bled, Slovenia, on the edge of the Alps, taken from a rowboat on the lake |
After
Lake Bled, the Australians went back to Ljubljana and I continued on to the
next lake, Lake Bohinj, to check it out before it got dark. Lake Bohinj was
even more beautiful, with snow right up to the shore and surrounded on all
sides by mountains. I did a short hike there, bee-lining it straight up a
mountain instead of taking the trail so that I could get to a higher vantage
point and beat the setting sun. After checking out the view, I headed to the
bus stop and went back to Ljubljana, where I met up with Dan, a friend from my
internship program in Germany who was also travelling around Europe.
Lake Bohinj, Slovenia, in the Alps |
Dan and
I chilled around Ljubljana that night and got a bus to Kranjska Gora the next morning,
a ski village up in the Alps. The entire bus ride was gorgeous but the last
part was the best, as we came up on the Italian border where the mountains were
even more huge and craggy. We got out at the last stop before the border and
started hiking directly from there. After about two hours of straddling the Slovenian-Italian border, we finally reached the Austria at the top of
the ridge. There was a large pole thing to mark the corner where Italy,
Austria, and Slovenia converged on that ridge. The views were amazing in all 3
directions, but the mountains were the most impressive on the Slovenian side.
Standing on the border of Italy, Austria, and Slovenia |
We headed
towards Kranjska Gora as the sun started to set, making it there just in time to
see the amazing view from our hostel. We were pretty exhausted from hiking for
6 hours, so we ate some crepes and went to a bar for a beer or two.
the view from next to our hostel, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia |
The next day we went on another
hike, in the other direction towards the bigger mountains. It was pretty flat
and easy most of the way, but the views were incredible. Huge rocky cliffs
towered above us on either side with spiky peaks in every direction.
beautiful Slovenian Alps in the winter |
more amazing mountains from a hike near Kranjska Gora |
That
afternoon we headed back to Ljubljana to see the city. With 20 minutes until
the bus came, we decided to try hitchhiking while we waited. Within a minute,
someone had stopped and we were jumping in his car. It was a guy who worked
part-time editing scripts for plays, and part-time as a tour guide. He knew
everything about Slovenia and was able to answer all of our questions and was a
really fun guy to ride with. After an hour and a half he dropped us off at a
bus stop in the city where we could easily get to the city center. For the rest
of the afternoon we walked around the city, spending most of our time in
Metelkova—a semi-autonomous hippie/squatter community that is kind of like a smaller version of
Kristiania in Copenhagen. The walls of every building were completely covered
in murals, grafitti, sculptures, and some really cool art.
mural on the wall in Metelkova, the semi-autonomous hippie commune in Ljubljana |
people live in this building |
more art on the outside walls |
That
evening we walked up to the castle on a hill above the downtown where we could
see a view over the city, and discovered a raw milk vending machine in the city
center, which was maybe the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. It was some of the best milk I've ever tasted.
view over the capital city, Ljubljana, from the castle at night |
Raw milk vending machine in the city center. Put in a euro and fill up a bottle. It was delicious. |
The
next morning I got a few liters of milk from the vending machine and wandered
around the city until my bus to Klagenfurt, Austria arrived, where I would
spend a night on my way to Vienna. Slovenia was a success.
Vienna
I don’t have anything really
exciting to say about Vienna, since it was definitely the low point of my
entire Europe experience so far. This had nothing to do with the city itself—I
had a terrible visit because my girlfriend broke up with me there. She arrived just after me and we had a great
time together for the first half of the weekend, exploring the Habsburgs’ old
palace and the musical history of the city, but I spent most of the second half
of the weekend locked in a hostel room crying, which really tainted my memories
of the beauty and personality of the city. It came as a huge surprise to me,
one moment we were the happiest couple on Earth planning a Valentine’s Day trip, and then next moment she was gone. I
felt completely lost with nowhere to go home to, nobody to make me feel loved,
and no idea what to do or where to go next.
Dealing with a breakup while
homeless and travelling in a foreign country was one of the most difficult
things I’ve ever experienced emotionally. I didn’t want to break up, I didn’t
agree with her reasoning, I was still head-over-heels in love with her, and I
had grown to rely on her for my own happiness. I put everything I had, mentally
and emotionally, into our relationship and suddenly it was all gone. This was
compounded by the fact that my only future plans were to go live with her in
Madrid and work there for the next
few months while I learned Spanish, so I had to rethink all of my plans and I
didn’t have much time to do it. I was really fucking depressed and had no
motivation to continue travelling or to try to find a job and live anywhere
else. I had to re-learn how to create my own happiness, a very difficult
process after over two years of always having someone by your side.
Looking back on it, she had valid reasoning—because
we had pretty different ideas of what we wanted out of the next year of our
lives. She wanted to stay in Madrid another year and really get to know the
city, which I imagine is much easier without being tied down to a relationship,
and I wanted to stay in Spain long enough to explore the country and learn
Spanish, but didn’t want to stay there for too long because I wanted to explore
the rest of the world too (like South America). At the time I was too overcome
with emotion to think logically though, and I could not possibly think of worse
timing for a breakup after the incredible experiences we had shared together
over the previous few weeks in Israel, Jordan, and the first half of Vienna.
Luckily I have an amazing family
who talked me through it, and great friends in Germany and Spain who offered me
places to stay for the next few weeks and gave me an opportunity to take my mind
off of my ex-girlfriend while I figure out what to do next with my life. I bought a bus ticket to Germany and the next
day got on a 10 hour bus from Vienna to Frankfurt, to head back to Darmstadt the
city where I had spent the last 6 months. For the next few weeks I spent a lot of time being sad about the break up, and I still go through sad spells, but I think what has helped the most was surrounding myself with friends, doing things I love like skiing, and going new places and meeting people who are excited about travelling to restore my motivation and excitement.
Here's a picture to show that I did something that weekend other than cry in the hotel room the whole time. The palace in Vienna, where the Habsburgs used to rule the Austro-Hungarian empire from |
Darmstadt
After a
miserable 10 hours of feeling shitty about myself on a bus, I finally arrived
in Darmstadt and was greeted by some friends. It was great to see friendly
faces and hang out with them and get my mind off of everything else. The first
night I slept on some friends’ floor—other Merck interns—and the rest of the
time I slept in my old apartment, which still had an empty room since nobody
took my place. I hung out with my friends, went ice skating, made homemade
pizza, and had a pretty good time.
While my friends worked during the
day, I spent my time figuring out what I needed to do to extend my visa to stay
in Europe longer. I wasn’t ready to give up on love quite yet (I have since
given up, it’s hopeless), and even if she didn’t want to date me I was still
determined to learn Spanish and enjoy the next few months exploring Europe. I got my shit together for the visa extension,
and also spent some time trying to figure out where to go next. I had a good
friend who was going skiing in Switzerland that weekend, so I looked into the
possibility of joining her. The prospect of skiing helped me slowly turn my
mind toward the future and find motivation to explore new and exciting
opportunities for the next few months.
Switzerland
Somehow
the ski trip idea magically worked out, and it was exactly what I needed. Two
people cancelled their plans to go at the last minute, opening up space for me
to stay at a house right on the slopes, owned by the parents of the girlfriend
of the TA of the boyfriend of a friend. On a Friday morning I hopped on a blablacar
headed to Switzerland (blablacar is a website for organized hitchhiking that
costs money but is way cheaper than trains). The driver was in his mid-twenties
and we got along quite well, having a great time as we drove through 4
countries—Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. He was going to a
different part of Switzerland than me, so I had him drop me off at a rest stop
about 2 hours from my destination, where I hitchhiked from. It was incredibly
easy to find a ride there—I asked everybody coming out of the rest stop if they
were going towards Bellinzona, and after about 10 people an older woman said
yes. She was from the Italian part of Switzerland and didn’t speak a word of
English, but we communicated pretty well in broken German. She was incredibly nice and even gave me the
phone number of her son, who she thought might be able to get me a summer job
in Switzerland. After one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever been on past
glaciers and snowy mountain passes, she took me out of her way to drop me off
at the train station where I would meet my friend Cassandra.
Soon
after arriving, I met Hellen, Magda, Trevor, and Maddy, my new friends who I
would spend the weekend with. Jaysen and Cassandra were also there, the only
two who I already knew. It was an incredibly positive and fun group of people
to spend the weekend with. The first night we stayed in Hellen’s house in Gudo,
a little town in a valley surrounded by vineyards in the Italian part of
Switzerland. Her mom cooked us an amazing meal of gnocchi, the first of a
series of very Swiss and very amazing meals that we would have on this trip.
The next morning we woke up and got on the bus to Bosco Gurin, a small ski
resort in the Alps right on the border of Switzerland and Italy.
The
house was in the most amazing location imaginable. Right on the slopes,
possible to wake up, ski the whole day, and come home without walking a single
step. It had a small solar panel which didn’t seem to be functioning very well,
and had no running water in the winter, but it had a wood stove to keep warm
and had everything we needed. Some friends of Hellen came down from the slopes
early that day and still had two lift tickets that were good for the whole day,
so Jaysen and I took the tickets and went out for a couple hours of afternoon
snowboarding. I didn’t want to pay to rent skis for only 2 hours, so I borrowed
Hellen’s snowboard and attempted to learn how to ride. Being a longboarder, I
had the balance down when going in a straight line, but I had to learn how to
move my feet to control the snowboard, which is very different from a
longboard. I fell on my ass countless times, but made it down the hill and had
a good time. I still think skiing is way better though.
The
next day was a full day so I rented skis this time. After having to take it
slow while learning to snowboard the day before, it felt amazing to feel
comfortable racing down the mountain, top to bottom, as fast as I could. Though
small, the mountain had some really fun runs which we lapped over and over.
That
evening we finished the day with beer and fondue, an amazing end to an amazing
day. The next day was even better—I found the good pow. There was one run which
leisurely switchbacked down the mountain, but the off-piste areas in between
the switchbacks were lightly forested, pretty steep, and held the best snow on
the mountain. One spot had a natural jump on a steep slope with the most
perfect powdery landing, which was incredibly fun to lap over and over again,
flying 20 feet downhill and landing in the softest pillow imaginable. It was
another amazing day of skiing, though it ended a bit unfortunately when my tips
went under in the uneven snow and my momentum carried me forward, careening down
the mountain while my ejected ski chased me down and hit me in the face,
cutting my lip. I finished the day bleeding in the snow, but I think half of
the blood was because my lip wouldn’t heal since I couldn’t stop smiling.
The
next morning we woke up and said goodbye to Bosco Gurin, and headed towards
Locarno, a small city on a lake where we hung out for the day. There was a
monastery that we walked up a million stairs to get to, with an amazing view
over the lake and surrounding mountains. We also tried the local hot chocolate,
which was actually more like hot chocolate pudding. It was amazing. That
evening Hellen’s mom cooked us another amazing meal, and the next morning we
woke up and got a train to Milan, Italy, where a flight was waiting to take me
to Barcelona.
Since then, I’ve spent the last three weeks in Spain—a night in Barcelona, a week and a half with my friend Ryan in Bilbao, a few days in Madrid at a hostel, a few days in Caceres with my friend Matt, a night in Sevilla, a weekend in Cadiz for the biggest Carnival celebration in mainland Spain with Ryan, Matt, and Andy, and then a night in Gibraltar, a British colony on the southern tip of Spain which mainly consists of a large famous rock. As I finish writing this post, I’m on a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar, headed to Tangier, Morocco, for a few nights and then to Granada, Spain for a few nights before returning to Germany for a little while. All of these Spanish adventures will be covered in my next post. Hasta Luego!
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