Return to Rift

I re-subbed to Rift and started two characters, both named Ninakas, both Rogues. The first is on the German server Terminus and the second on the American server Wolfsbane.

Why am I playing two rogues? Honestly I love bards. Bards have been my favorite class in MMOs since Dark Age of Camelot. I just can't resist playing one. Not to mention the soul system in Rift allows my Rogues to be very different from each other.

I'm playing on the German server to help improve my German. I'm taking the time to read every quest I can, which is making leveling a very slow going process. I'm a little bit nervous about joining a guild and interacting with people, but I will do it.

The American rogue is primarily to get to play with my boyfriend. He's not a huge fan of MMOs and generally finds them to be easy and boring. So far in Rift he finds this to be the case. I keep promising him it will get more challenging as we progress. Once we hit 20 we'll see if it's worth him buying the game.

Rift has changed a lot since I played at launch. I really like the new soul suggestion system. It feels a lot less daunting than picking souls one a time. Now you pick a general class you want to play and it gives you a soul build for that class, along with suggestions at every level for how to allocate your points. Before you just bought one soul at a time and rearranged your spec depending on how you wanted to play. You still have that option, but it's nice having a general build instead.

The latest Rift update added a lot of content. Mentoring, Conquest, new Instant Adventures, and Summerfest. I'll write more as I experience these new changes.

{Tales of Regensburg} Adventures in Kosovo

This is the first post in a series of posts called Tales of Regensburg in English. I meant to post this in conjunction with my German post about Kosovo, but you English readers got to wait a while... I plan on writing several more posts about the adventures my friends and I had while I was studying at the University of Regensburg in Regensburg Germany.

While I was studying in Germany we had a two and a half month break between semesters. We were done with finals about mid-February and classes began again in May. My friend M decided it would be fun to go through eastern Europe with his brother and somehow four of us agreed this was an excellent idea and decided to join them. We started in Croatia, stayed a few days in Serbia, and then ended up in Pristina, Kosovo. This was last year in March 2011.

Beautiful smog filled Pristina

In case you don't know Kosovo was a war zone in the 90s. M is strongly interested in international political affairs, thus he felt going to Kosovo would be a great cultural experience. Before we left I told my aunt in Regensburg, Germany about our plans to go to Kosovo. The conversation went a little like this,

K: "So, you and your friends are going to eastern Europe, have you decided where you're going yet?"
Me: "Well I think we're starting in Croatia."
K: "Oh Croatia is lovely, are you going to the beaches?"
Me: "No, to the capital, Zagreb."
K: "Well you should really go to the beaches, but where else are you going?"
Me: "Belgrade Serbia."
K: "Oh, I haven't been there, but your grandparents have I think."
Me: "Then we're going to Kosovo."
K: She looked at me in shock, "You can't go to Kosovo."
Me: "Why not?"
K: "It's not a place for tourist, you really shouldn't go. It's dangerous."
Me: "Well we're going, so... thanks for the warning."
K: "No I'm serious, don't go to Kosovo, why would you ever want to go to Kosovo?"


My grandparents had about the same reaction. I don't think I told my parents we went until I got back to Germany. I ignored everyone's advice and went to Kosovo anyway. I was travelling with 5 guys, I wasn't terribly worried. In order to assuage any fears I might have about going to Kosovo my friends decided to post on my Facebook some of the lovely things that happen in Kosovo such as the sex trade, human trafficking, and organ trafficking. Great. Love my friends. /end sarcasm. As a warning, those articles are a bit haunting.

Our trip to Kosovo started with a bus from Belgrade, Serbia. The bus was an aged coach, think Greyhound, without air conditioning. The trip took a total of 6 hours. There was one stop for a bathroom break. In the women's bathroom there were toilets, the boys were not as lucky. They did have holes in the ground at least. We saw many fun things on this bus, my favorite is this sign.

Hey, tanks need speed limits too.

When we crossed the border from Serbia into Kosovo, border control came aboard to check passports and IDs. E and I were sitting ahead of our friends so E was the one to talk to the border control man. We gathered our 6 passports and handed them to him. He spoke English and the conversation was as follows:

BC: Americans? What are you doing here?
E: We're here as tourists.
BC: (shocked look) Tourists... How much money do you have?
Me: Um I think I have 5 euros.
Friends sitting behind us: I think we have around 20 euro in total.
BC: Ok... (takes our passports) Tourists.... (he muttered shaking his head as he walked away)

He returned shortly thereafter with our passports. It is safe to assume Kosovo does not see many tourists, let alone American ones.

We arrived at the bus station for Prisitina and decided to hail a cab to get us to our hostel. The trip was crazy, I'm pretty sure the only traffic law in Kosovo is don't get hit by another car. Our cab driver zipped around streets and got us to the hostel quickly. The folks at the hostel were friendly and we ended up with two three person rooms and split our group up. Each room had 3 beds, a TV, and a bathroom. This was certainly one of the nicer hostels we stayed in. We dropped off our stuff and decided to go find some food. The sun was starting to set so we wandered out to find a grocery store.

The store we found we're pretty sure was a front for illegal activities. There were two men talking when we walked in. They immediately stopped there conversations and asked in English, "What are you doing here?" One of the boys responded, "Um we're here to buy things." The men looked at each other and the first responded, "Well make it quick." The store had very little product. I found a Milka bar sitting alone covered in dust and figured that it would probably be safe to consume, I mean it was wrapped. We bought the few items we deemed edible, paid the man and left. My friend G as an afterthought asked how much a fresh orange would cost. The guy told him to just take it and leave.

We later found little restaurants that sold "hamburgers". It was a meat sandwich with veggies and some sort of weird sauce. The boys loved eating these, I thought they were pretty gross, but for only a euro you can't complain too much. The next day we found an expat restaurant that served a bunch of random food from various countries. I think I had a chicken teriyaki dish with a Fanta. One of the guys decided to get an "American" steak. The food wasn't bad, and the restaurant was pretty nice. The waiter came over to fill our drinks and wine any time our glasses got to half. Total cost of a full 4 course meal: 20 euro (per person), including wine.

Here are some pictures of our wanderings during the day in Prisinta, so you can get a feel for what it looks like.

A library

Hotel Victory, there was a strong American influence in many of the buildings of Pristina

A typical street

Our group, wandering around

 We ended the evening with a couple beers in a park. The highlight was watching a guy on a motorcycle make a couple rounds through the park.

Motorcycle man

The following morning G and I got back on the bus to Belgrade, Serbia, because we needed to get back to Regensburg sooner than our friends. I was heading back early to meet my best friend who visited for two weeks. G needed to go back earlier to meet his parents who were visiting.

I spent only two nights in Kosovo, but it honestly was enough for me. It was interesting to see Pristina, but I doubt I will go back any time soon. Belgrade on the other hand was a fascinating city and I hope to see it again. I suppose my next Tales of Regensburg story will be about Belgrade, Serbia!