When I was a little girl and I would be grumpy or angry, my mom would tell me to just smile. “The corners of your mouth will release endorphins and you will be happy,” she would say. “Just try it. I bet you can’t stop once you start.” She was right. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. The endorphins feed themselves.

Driving to Kosovo

We had a long day of driving ahead of us, the longest day we would have in total. We were driving over the Serbian border, into Kosovo, and then ending the day along the Albanian coastline. In total, it was estimated to take around seven hours, not including the many stops we had.

We hit the road early, knowing that we would drive into Serbia and stop for a coffee. I have been to Serbia before but it was a new place for both of my sisters. The border crossing was pretty seamless, minus a short line of cars. And the town we found just 30 minutes across the border was cute. We found a nice little café to have our first coffee of the day in, and as we were people watching out the window, we noticed that all of the neighboring cafes and streets were lined with men. There were only one or two women to be seen, and dozens and dozens of men. And of course we were the only light haired women, so the eyeballs on us were pretty constant. After my time in the Middle East, I had adapted to this, but both of my sisters commented on it, expressing the same feelings I had when I first encountered it a few weeks back.