April - May: Life in Zagreb & Youth exchange "Back to the roots"
I’m back! After seven months break in Latvia (writing my thesis and getting my bachelor), I’m back in Croatia! And this time for real – twelve months in this wonderful country working as an EVS volunteer in Outward Bound Croatia.
Honestly talking last september when I left Croatia after three months internship in OBC, I had no idea that I’ll come back, but plans change and here I am. And I must say – after one month here I’m truly happy that I did.
So what has happened during the last month? My adventure started already before entering the borders of Croatia, as I decided to fly through Istanbul and stay there for 20 hours between my flights. Surprisingly how much you can actually experience in such a short amount of time, especially if 8 hours are spent sleeping (well, not completely if I count in the moments when I woke up at 5 o’clock wondering what are the wierd sounds coming outside of my window. Yes, that happens when you book a hostel that is located right next to the biggest cathedral). But Istanbul was fantastic – starting with a surprise that instead of staying in a room with 13 more people I got a private double suite for the same price, ending with a beutiful day spent together with a friend of mine that I met back in Latvia. And all the tulips and smell of spring in the air! After couple of dark months in Latvia it was just the fresh breath of air that I needed. Oh – and I even managed to cross the Bosphorus by small ferry and step on the Asian part of Istanbul. Couples of hours later – I landed in Croatia.
First days in Croatia run by super fast – we moved in to the new apartment (I have a huge king-size bed!), I got to know better my wonderful EVS gang-family, met some of the OBC people that I knew from the last summer spent here, worked in an office, had our first official Croatian lessons, remembered the danger of bakeries and pizzas all over Croatia and quite quickly got back to the Croatian lifestyle. A day hasn’t officially started if we haven’t had a cup of coffee here.
And the Croatian weather – there’s nothing that can make a Latvian person smile so much as +25 degrees and sunny weather in the beginning of April. I’m sure everyone is already exhausted from my never ending excitement about sun, but I can’t do anything about that.
What else? We climbed the Sljeme peak close from Zagreb, attended a karaokee evening together with volunteers from Syncro Croatia organization, enjoyed blossoming magnolias, finally heard Croatian music that I actually liked, bought tickets for a music festival in the end of June, represented OBC in an organisation fare (with almost no other people than the organization reprezentatives themselves), got my bike, got my bike fixed - twice.
But the greatest experience – youth exchange “Back to the roots” that happened in a city nearby – Samobor. We spent 10 days together with people from Macedonia, Croatia, Czech republic and UK. Lots, lots of laughing, new vocabulary of Croatian words, hiking, bonfire evenings, learning about herbs, leading energizers, laughing on the floor, visiting dinozaur exhibition, trying out rakija and then regretting it (twice), and food, lots of it. I can see where the extra kilos for the previous volunteers came from.
After returning back in Zagreb our commune lifestyle continued – dinner together, barbecues, conversations on our chill-ax balcony, and just a good feeling of people around you. I’m really happy that we got to know so many wonderful people!
So that’s more or less it. Right now we’re on our way to Orahovice – place of our EVS arrival training where we’re gonna spend next 5 days. As I’ve heard – lots of food and swimming pool (I officialy announce this may to be “No-shape May”.)
Here are also some pictures I took. Vidimo se!
Honestly talking last september when I left Croatia after three months internship in OBC, I had no idea that I’ll come back, but plans change and here I am. And I must say – after one month here I’m truly happy that I did.
So what has happened during the last month? My adventure started already before entering the borders of Croatia, as I decided to fly through Istanbul and stay there for 20 hours between my flights. Surprisingly how much you can actually experience in such a short amount of time, especially if 8 hours are spent sleeping (well, not completely if I count in the moments when I woke up at 5 o’clock wondering what are the wierd sounds coming outside of my window. Yes, that happens when you book a hostel that is located right next to the biggest cathedral). But Istanbul was fantastic – starting with a surprise that instead of staying in a room with 13 more people I got a private double suite for the same price, ending with a beutiful day spent together with a friend of mine that I met back in Latvia. And all the tulips and smell of spring in the air! After couple of dark months in Latvia it was just the fresh breath of air that I needed. Oh – and I even managed to cross the Bosphorus by small ferry and step on the Asian part of Istanbul. Couples of hours later – I landed in Croatia.
First days in Croatia run by super fast – we moved in to the new apartment (I have a huge king-size bed!), I got to know better my wonderful EVS gang-family, met some of the OBC people that I knew from the last summer spent here, worked in an office, had our first official Croatian lessons, remembered the danger of bakeries and pizzas all over Croatia and quite quickly got back to the Croatian lifestyle. A day hasn’t officially started if we haven’t had a cup of coffee here.
And the Croatian weather – there’s nothing that can make a Latvian person smile so much as +25 degrees and sunny weather in the beginning of April. I’m sure everyone is already exhausted from my never ending excitement about sun, but I can’t do anything about that.
What else? We climbed the Sljeme peak close from Zagreb, attended a karaokee evening together with volunteers from Syncro Croatia organization, enjoyed blossoming magnolias, finally heard Croatian music that I actually liked, bought tickets for a music festival in the end of June, represented OBC in an organisation fare (with almost no other people than the organization reprezentatives themselves), got my bike, got my bike fixed - twice.
But the greatest experience – youth exchange “Back to the roots” that happened in a city nearby – Samobor. We spent 10 days together with people from Macedonia, Croatia, Czech republic and UK. Lots, lots of laughing, new vocabulary of Croatian words, hiking, bonfire evenings, learning about herbs, leading energizers, laughing on the floor, visiting dinozaur exhibition, trying out rakija and then regretting it (twice), and food, lots of it. I can see where the extra kilos for the previous volunteers came from.
After returning back in Zagreb our commune lifestyle continued – dinner together, barbecues, conversations on our chill-ax balcony, and just a good feeling of people around you. I’m really happy that we got to know so many wonderful people!
So that’s more or less it. Right now we’re on our way to Orahovice – place of our EVS arrival training where we’re gonna spend next 5 days. As I’ve heard – lots of food and swimming pool (I officialy announce this may to be “No-shape May”.)
Here are also some pictures I took. Vidimo se!