The Struggle of Struga

Actually Albania this time around was just a lot of hard clubbing at the hottest spots in Tirana: Mummy,  Honey (I think this is the name...there was a pole there) and I'm sure some others.  It was such a whirlwind.  And I stayed in some embassy compound house.  It really was an extravagant visit, and I was chauffeured around by US Marines everywhere in a Hummer.  There was nothing more exciting than being a superpower tag-along, especially when in Albania.

After I finished with my antics in Tirana, I headed south to Elbasan, where I stayed with another PCV before  making my way to the Macedonian border.  I got ripped off by a furgon driver, and then walked through the border hassle free.  There were a few taxi drivers around the crossing who wanted an exorbitant sum to go all the way to Struga so I decided to walk.  I did ask a bus if I could hop on but they said that within the border zone they weren't allowed to pick up passengers.  I kept walking and then the bus passed me and asked if I wanted a ride, but for some reason I declined.  No idea why I did that because I ended up walking forever until a nice man in a Yugo picked me up.  His name was Slobodan and he took me right to the bus depot, where I learned that a bus to Skopje had just left.

So I walked to the centre of the city which was actually a really nice touristy town perched on Lake Ohrid (but not nearly as scenic as Ohrid itself) and exchanged a very small amount of money, bought a bit of food, and used some free wifi to find out that MY WORK PERMIT HAD ARRIVED.  Shit.  I needed to get on that train and get back to Budapest fast, because I was, like, a working man and all now.

I boarded the bus and began the excruciating 3 hour trip to Skopje, ideally to arrive at 9pm just in time for the 9:10 train to Belgrade.  My nerves were shot the entire time, so luckily I was placated by a Russian movie shot in Malta that I still can't find to this day but it was really intense.  I even understood parts of it.

We then arrived in Skopje at, like, 9:09, and it was unbearable.  I was so overcome with stress I wanted to die.  But after I leapt up the stairs and onto the train and exploded myself into a cabin, I realised that they were in no hurry and decided to wait for an additional half an hour while this couple near me spoke to each other in horribly accented English and kissed and told each other how much they will miss each other.  Gross.