Travels to Travnik

    I love days where they originally plan to be quite simple and perhaps even a little mundane and then all of a sudden, your host family announces that you're going to Travnik! So last Sunday morning, bright and early (bright and early? Ha.) my host parents, Irfan, Medina, and I pile into the car and drive off. Now, while it was early, that only added to the prettiness of the drive.

    We arrived at Travnik a few hours (and snacks) later and headed instantly to a restaurant for ćevapi. While we ordered, Medina told me to order a full ten piece ćevapi after convincing me they were very small in Travnik. A while later, our food appears and all I see is this heap of ćevapi and bread and I look at Medina and say, "This isn't small!" She tries again to convince me that it, indeed, is smaller than in Sarajevo, but I couldn't believe her. Instead I just dive in, making it my goal to eat ten. About an hour later, I finished my last ćevapi, stomach bursting, when Nizama loads three more onto my plate. All I could do was stare at it and not touch it in hopes somebody else would eat it.

    Irfan, Medina, and I then took off to climb the mountain to the white fort. I was expecting a bit more of an arduous climb after what Irfan said. But it wasn't too bad at all. Right about the same amount of climbing I have to do to get home everyday after school. We eventually reached the fort after much complaining on Irfan's part, and the view was gorgeous. 

     We then toured around the fort for awhile, taking lots of random pictures and embracing the crisp, fall day. Nizama and Esad eventually came up to meet us where this lovely shot was taken:

Pretty much my host family in a nutshell.

    We walked around a little more, while Esad explained to me (with Irfan nearby for translation) what the fort was used for and how there are Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian flags strung across the city because everybody wants to claim it. Even today there are still grudges about who owns what.

    After descending the mountain, we got in the car and headed to a very large shopping center where everything was so much cheaper than in Sarajevo! It was like bliss! Nizama bought me an absolutely gorgeous scarf and we ventured down to where an entire Christmas set up was. My heart soared with happiness when I saw the red, green, and glitter and the tall, artificial Christmas trees and Irfan just made fun of me. It's alright though. I'm going to introduce a classic Christmas to him when I start blasting Christmas carols from my room and buy a mini Christmas tree and lights. I am excited :)

    Shopping was finished and so was coffee (always include coffee) and we took off back home and in all, it was just a really nice day to get away. And to top it all off, my host mom also bought my chocolate. *Shrug* What can I say? She's awesome.

    Anyway, I have school tomorrow so I should wrap this up.

    Until Christmas carols dominate my iPod,

-Katie