Sunday, 5th of February
12:30. Olimpia is unexpectedly late for our rendezvous at the train station. 30 more minutes and we will set off for Istanbul! This should take about 19 hours, but it’s fine, we’re going to sleep most of the time anyway.
13:05. We’re both on the train and Olimpia’s updating her Facebook status and hoping for an adventurous journey! Little did she now what was about to come!
15:00. We pass the Bulgarian boarder without any problems and we start to have fun with our flags. Andra is so happy about her AEGEE-Ploieşti flag!
Monday, 6th of February
04:36. We woke up because of something strange. The train stood still between a hill and a very big river. Andra is panicking and worrying that it will get closer and sweep us away. Olimpia is laughing and we need to go to the bathroom. However, all the lights in the train are out, it’s cold and nobody’s around. We tell ourselves: “This is how all the horror movies start” and we decide to remain in our locked compartment and go back to sleep.
09:16. We are woken up by voices and we’re happy that there are still people on the train. The train had not moved one meter. The voices belong to other travelers who let us know that the train had derailed due to a landslide and we were stuck there. To protect us from curious bystanders in the middle of nowhere the conductors lock us in while they try to find a solution. 
The derailed engine was put back on the tracks after around 7 hours, and the train slowly took us to nearest train station where we found out that the tracks ahead were flooded and that we could go no further. We thought they were exaggerating as we really wanted to go to Istanbul!
12:00. After giving us some food and water, the conductors, who, of course, didn’t speak English, put us on a mini-bus which was supposed to take us to the other side of the flooded area to another train going to Istanbul. We never saw that train again!
12:30. We reach the wonderful city of Harmanli, half flooded and blocking our way to the Turkish border. 
The police and the bus driver had only one answer to our questions: “Only God knows!”. Not good enough for us so we were determined to cross the knee-high water in the city centre on foot. We also tried to convince half of the group. Nothing could stop us!
15:00. Fortunately, our Turkish-speaking British friend who lives in Istanbul managed to find Turkish bus drivers who were willing to take us to some cheap accommodation 50 km in the opposite direction and who promised to take us to Istanbul the following day. Leaving aside our suspicions we abandon our plan and follow the Turkish-speaking person!
20:00. We finally arrive to Kardzali 4 stars Hotel, where we spend the night for only 15 euro each! Hooray! A hot shower and one dinner later (luckily, we packed food to last one year) we find ourselves drinking European Night’s + Pavel’s (AEGEE-Praha/Network Commissioner) wine to forget about our desperate situation and we start singing childhood songs all night long. And then we slept for about 5 hours. Best sleep ever!
Tuesday, 7th of February
08:30. We wake up for free pancakes from the hotel and 5 cm of snow. We have to leave soon or we’ll be snowed in! Andra calls the Romanian Embassy in Bulgaria which tells us that all roads are closed and their recommendations are to go back to Romania. “Hell no, we won’t go!”
10:30. Our only Turkish-speaking friend = our only communication tool, decides to go back skiing and not risk getting stuck at the border. We decide to follow our brave Turkish drivers all the way to Istanbul.
14:00. We are back to Harmanli and we manage to cross this time only to find out that the regular border is closed and we have to take a big detour. “No matter what, tonight we dine in Istanbul!” we hope. Andra was a little bit pessimistic, but everyone else was keeping their spirits high.
23:00. After many hours through the blizzard and rain and bureaucracy at the only open border we finally reach Istanbul, two days later than originally planned. Poor Andra, who won’t get to see Istanbul, as in a few hours we are supposed to get up and catch the ferry to Bandirma and then the train to Izmir (the promised land).
Wednesday, 8th of February
06:45. We arrive at the port only to find out that our ferry is cancelled because of the weather. Pissed off and without any plan C so far, we go to the train station where they tell us that of course there are no trains to Izmir, or Ankara and then Izmir. With no city map and a few Turkish liras we find our way to Harem bus station after a short but exciting ferry trip across Marmara Sea.
10:00. We are in a 5 stars bus with LCD, coffee and tea, snacks and leather seats and 8 more hours to the EBM. Houston, we’re gonna make it on time!
19:00. Mission accomplished! EBM’12 Izmir, here we are! Nothing, not even nature, could stand in our way!
On the way back, on the 13th, we took a bus to Istanbul (next time we fly!) where we find out that trains to Bucharest are cancelled indefinitely. Thanks for nothing, Balkan Flexi Pass! We ended up just taking a bus on the 14th, hoping that the borders will not be closed, as there was an orange code for snow in the south of Romania.
In conclusion, just keep your spirits high, because your plans are will get messed up anyway but as long as you stay motivated, there’s no place you can’t reach.
And that’s the way the cookie crumbles! :D
Written by Andra Nicu, AEGEE-Ploieşti & Olimpia Parje, AEGEE-Bucureşti
AEGEEans to the bone!