We stayed a few days in Szekesfehervar and I met some of Denes his friends. We went out a few times to parties before we would go to Krakaw, Poland by train. We also visited a farm where people went horseback riding. Some of Denes his friends work here.

A hell of a trainride with two extremely smelling persons later that shared the same wagon as us, we arrived in Krakaw We called our wagon ‘the coffin’ because of the smell the other two men had. They farted all the time and for sure they hadn’t showered in a decade. They also tried to forbid us from opening the window.

In Krakaw we stayed in a nice hotel. We walked around the main square – which is really great – and drank Denes his ‘favourite beer in the world’ in the evening while listening to some life music (drank some vodkas too, though..).

The next day we went on to Lodz (pronounced as ‘Woodzj’), famous for it’s filmschool. Because of this school, the town is also known under the name ‘Hollylodz’.

Allthough I’m very interested in filmmaking and one day hope to make it my profession, we were here for yet another reason; to meet up with another friend who we got to know in Turkey as well. Agnieszka Kuckowska (Aga). During our stay in Turkey the three of us were hard to separate, so you can imagine how good it was seeing each other again. After a few interesting and fun days in Lodz, it was time to go back home. Aga went from Lodz to Warsawa airport because she was flying to her boyfriend in NYC. Denes and me went back to Krakaw. Saying goodbye in these cases is always a bit hard, so we said ‘see you’, instead.

Denes went from Krakow directly to Budapest (but I got a text message from him about 10 hours later that somehow his train had ‘missed’ Budapest) and I went back to Bratislava. The train connections from Krakow to Bratislawa were not that good either, but tired as (we all were) I was, managed to get back to Bratislava in one piece. I spent one more day there where I took a short hike up the castle and where I finished reading my book ‘The Historian’ from Elizabeth … in a quite place. Later back in the old part of town I enjoyed a perfect cappuccino in the lovely old town before flying home the next morning. All together, it was  journey never to forget. But ‘every journey ends the way back home’.

Everyone who knows me, even when it’s just a little, knows I’m a true travel junkey. Last year I travelled mostly alone throughout ‘Turkey and beyond’ after I finished the Cinema & Television semesters at the Anadolu University in Eskisehir.

But this year, I’ll be travelling with one of my best friends again: Vincent Tuntelder. We’ll be heading to Slovakia this year. Vincent and I have known each other since we were in fourth grade, and we’ve allready travelled to Slovenia and Bulgaria together.

Our plane leaves from Dusseldorf (Weeze airport) to Bratislava on the 21st of july and we’ll be traveling till the 4th of august throughout Slovakia.

What we’re going to do exactly is not quite sure yet (it never is, really!), but we’ll definitly travel throughout the country, visiting several villages and mountainess areas such as the higher Tatras. We’ll probably climb and/or hike there for a while and maybe even spend a few nights under the shiny stars in the mountains of the higher tatras. I love climbing and hiking and spending nights in ‘the wild’. Vincent loves caves, so probably we’ll visit some of those as well

Personally I love the people you get to know along the way. Especially the smaller villages where things still go on in a more – traditional way intrege me. Where people still know what it is to ‘live for life’, instead or prosparity and money and a good career.

Also nice to know, we basicly never book a hotel or something else when we leave. When we land, we’ll figure something out along the way to the center. It always works out fine in the end (although in Bulgaria we were awake for about 35 hours or so looking for a place to sleep). Sometimes we get invited into someones house, sometimes we sleep in a hostel or a hotel.

When you travel like this, you get to know a country more the way it really is. Also guarantees better (more honest) pictures, if you ask me!

After the 4th of july, Vincent will fly back home because he has to go back for his work and arrange some stuf for his upcoming school semester. I will stay a bit longer and fly home on the 13th of august. On the 4th of august I will travel to Budapest and meet my Hungarian ‘dostum’ (Turkish for close friend) Denes Tozser there.

I met Denes during my study in Turkey, and we became really good fiends in a short time. After a few days in Budapest we’ll head for Vienna (his favourite city) together and after that we’ll probably enter Poland to visit Agnieszka – I love her name – Kuczkowska.  Agnieszka (Aga) also studied in Turkey and Aga, Denes and me were always hanging out during our time there.

Earlier in 2009 I allready payed Aga a visit in Poznan, Poland with two Dutch girls Baukje Hoffman and Willeke Dijkstra and an American girl Sydney Willson. They all studied in Turkey as well, and I think that’s what makes studying/living/partying/traveling/working abroad so interesting: you get to know so many interesting people and spend time with them, even when your study or internship abroad has allready ended. You stay in touch and you visit each other when you can. That way, your ‘Erasmus expierence’ will never truly end.

When I return from what will probably be another crazy journey, I will upload the photos onto my journal here, as well as on my Facebook. So stay tuned for updates