"Home"

An authentic Communist-era lodge. My home for the next week.

God, I feel like I'm at summer camp. I'm sharing a room with Adriana from Timisoara and Francesca from Italy. Our beds are more like cots but they're clean. The bathroom can only be described as quaint.

At least there's a toilet. The shower, however...

There's a drain in the floor. And a handheld shower head on the wall. That's it. No curtain, not place to stand. Basically, the whole bathroom is this self-contained shower unit. After a shower, water is everywhere.

The view is spectacular though. We're right in the middle of the mountains, a few kilometres from the Macedonian border. I could stand on the balcony forever staring at the mountains.

Bulgarian cheeses rule. Sort of like a softer version of feta with cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.

We had a meet and greet where we got to meet everyone at the conference. So far, there's a Portuguese, two French, an Italian, several Macedonians, two Serbs, three Romanians and me, the lone North American.

Because this is Europe, alcohol flowed freely and we all got sloshed. The Serbs and Macedonians danced and I spent the evening talking to Nuno (.pt) and Nicolae (.ro). The night didn't end until very very late.