Herceg Novi, Montenegro

And so it begins…It all started with a picture, and next thing you know we were planning our new life in Montenegro. When we told people, most of them didn’t even know where one of the world’s newest countries is. After we told them where Montenegro is, exactly, we got varying degrees of anxious-sounding “awesome” (often followed by a question mark) and an awful lot of “why” (always followed by a question mark).

Of course, then you show people a picture and everything sort of changes in their heads. Think of yourself making twists on a Rubik’s Cube. Except instead of a cube, there’s a head between your hands. And the questions come piling in.

Most Americans primarily associate the Balkans with Eastern European stereotypes and “those wars back in the 90s or whatever.” (Classy, right?) When they see a picture, they change into some sort of maniacal freak in tandem pursuit with jealous rage. “I had no idea it was so beautiful.” I was thinking about that last night as we downed too many peach schnapps and various other delicious treats with our landlord and our neighbors, and one of them was talking about how much she loves Italy. This, as we’re sitting under palm trees, just 100 meters from the beach.

Mostly, I was thinking about how every place is beautiful in its own way. I do not like to compare countries too much, because there are always things to love and dis-love (to avoid using “hate”) about a particular place.

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