This week I traveled in two very different directions. First, I went about an hour north to the capital city of Skopje for a meeting. Then on the weekend, I went an hour southwest to the city of Prilep to run a 13-kilometer mountain race through the massive boulder fields and fortress ruins of Markovi Kuli, the legendary palace of King Marko. Imagine running through giant rock formations that look like a natural obstacle course built by nature and history at the same time.
On this journey so far, I’ve had the chance to travel in two other very different directions. To the east, I traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, for an Erasmus+ project where I met students from across the country, and we learned together about culture and education. To the west, I traveled to Rome, Italy, when my former boss from the U.S. came to Europe, and I met her there during the holidays. What struck me most was how different these two places felt. Istanbul is a city filled with beautiful mosques and the deep history of the Eastern Roman and Ottoman worlds, while Rome is the historic center of the Catholic Church. Living here in North Macedonia means I’m right in the middle of a region where so many cultures, religions and empires have crossed paths over thousands of years—and you can really feel that history when you travel.
