This past weekend was one of the very few recent ones spent without couchsurfers around. It was a nice quiet weekend but also a bit unusual because we prefer when people visit over weekends as it gives us more time to get to know them better.

But we're making an exception this week and will be having Fine (that's, in her own words, pronounced something like "feenai") arriving on Wednesday to stay with us until Friday. Fine, originally from Wunstorf near Hannover, has been living outside of Germany for the past 8 years and will be arriving from Antalya, Turkey where she's spent the last 6 months. What's interesting about Fine is that, while in Turkey, she's been working on an international music podcast interviewing people about their favorite music from their countries. She'll be continuing the project as she travels back towards Germany and, guess what, we'll probably participate in her podcast and talk a bit about our favorite Macedonian music (question to readers from Macedonia: which local artists do you think we should share with Fine for her podcast? Let us know in the comments.). So, we'll let you know how that goes. 

Fine has also worked on a project about the music of the Mediterranean region and you can read more about it at http://cantomediterraneo.com/ (I have to admit, this is a massive project and I still need to find the time to fully explore all its contents).

At the same time, another couchsurfer will be in town. Nellie (a travel writer) - -although not staying with us due to her cat alergies :( - -will spend some time in Macedonia starting from tomorrow. She and I first started talking on Twitter as she was looking for people to meet up with during her visit here. Nellie, originally from Singapore, is currently based (if you can call it that) in Granada,Spain. But the real pleasure in meeting people like Nellie (and Fine) is the extent of travel experiences they've had - something we can only hope to match in our lifetime. Visit Nellie's blog and you'll understand what I mean. So even though Nellie will be staying elsewhere, we will definitely spend some quality time with her and hear some of her stories. And we'll all probably go for a group dinner on Wednesday...can't wait.

It may sound a bit weird, but we typically do a fair amount of research before our guests arrive. Aside from reading their profiles and checking out their websites/blogs (if they have any), we usually research guests' cities and countries. Well, with both Fine and Nellie being such world travelers, we have a lot of reading to do! Stay tuned.

~Elena

Are you heading towards the Balkans? You may want to check this guide out: