It’s wild to think about, but it’s been six years since Michael’s second cancer diagnosis. Yep—second. The first one? A decade before that. We like to think of it as his version of a ten-year class reunion, except instead of bad 2000s pop music and awkward small talk, it came with surgery, scans, and many hospital snacks. The first time…
We enjoyed our time in Budva. It was relaxing, and the weather warmed up as the month went on. A large group of us took a two-hour hike along the coast from Budva to Sveti Stefan. It is a small resort town home to a five-star resort. The resort was not open, but we had a lovely lunch by the…
Montenegro is a small country located in the west-central Balkans. It became a sovereign state in 2006 when it opted for independence and broke away from Serbia, just three years after the Union of Serbia and Montenegro broke away from the former Yugoslavia. Montenegro means “Black Mountain”. The country borders Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Serbia’s breakaway province of Kosovo, and Albania.…
We met back up with our worldschooling family in Montenegro after a long, five-month separation. We were last with our friends in Southeast Asia. We met the Sigtons at a worldschool hub in Bankso, Bulgaria, in 2023. We met the Blackbourns in Chiang Mai at the end of 2023 after Michael met Renee through Facebook. We met the Crabtrees at…
Everywhere you turn in Istanbul a pair of watchful green eyes might peer at you from beneath a café table, or a fluffy tail might flick lazily as a feline lounges on a centuries-old stone wall. Istanbul belongs to the cats, and the people wouldn’t have it any other way. Unlike many cities where stray animals are seen as a…
The next part of our worldschooling journey started in Türkiye. We flew from Atlanta to Istanbul with frequent flyer miles, so it only cost us $100 for our four flights. Michael and Henry had a direct flight from Atlanta. Lucas and I did have to backtrack with a layover in Houston, but it was worth it. Our visit to Türkiye…
We made a pit stop in the Netherlands on our way back to the United States to pick up our niece Vivian. She is spending her school break with us in North Carolina. We had a marathon 24-hour trip from Siwa to the Netherlands. It started with a 9-hour drive from Siwa to Cairo. We spent eight hours in the…
We said goodbye to our new friends and Bulgaria and flew to Cyprus. Cyprus is a beautiful island nation located in the Eastern Mediterranean. The history of Cyprus dates back thousands of years, with evidence of human activity on the island dating back to the Neolithic era. We watched some YouTube videos about Cyprus to help us understand its history.…
Our last full week in Bulgaria was a busy one. We attended the family dinner this week at Victoria Restaurant. The restaurant is one of our favorites. They have pizza, pasta, and traditional Bulgarian food like most of the restaurants in Bansko, but they also have sushi, which is Lucas’ favorite. Michael organized another roundtable. This one was about education,…
We started the week with a day trip to the Rila Monastery. It is a medieval Eastern Orthodox monastery an hour and a half from Bansko. It is one of the most important cultural, historical, and architectural landmarks in Bulgaria and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Rila Monastery was founded in the 10th century by the Bulgarian hermit St.…