Week One in Dubrovnik

Wednesday June 20, 2007

I’m waiting in the Heathrow airport for my connecting flight to Vienna and the trip has been great so far since Jan and John cashed in a ton of miles to let their spoiled daughter fly first class to London. The ten-hour flight was great because I got to recline and sleep in the giant first class seats. I almost asked the flight attendant to take a picture of me but the other first class passengers seemed a little stuffy so I opted not to wake them up with my camera flash. It’s a little past midnight at home but a little past 8am here so my schedule is already pretty thrown off. I’ll have a flight to Vienna and then a connecting flight to Dubrovnik. When my parents dropped me off at the San Francisco airport we met Martin “Mato” (an old friend of my grandfather’s) and his two daughters, who left a little after me and will arrive in Dubrovnik around the same time. They are nice enough to let me stay with them for the first few days in Dubrovnik before my classes start. I’ll take a lot of pictures once I arrive and get them linked up to the blog. Thanks for reading! I miss everybody already.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

It’s been 3 full days and I am finally getting used to the time change (we are 9 hours ahead of the West Coast here). The jet lag was pretty bad but after forcing myself to stay awake I was able to sleep through the night last night. We have spent the last few days down by the water, swimming and enjoying the weather. Mato and his two daughters and I drove from Cavtat (the town that their house is in, near Dubrovnik) to a town about 45 minutes away where Anita’s (Mato’s wife) sister has a vacation house on the water. The house was literally 20 feet from the Adriatic and it was a beautiful day, The weather has been extremely hot and a little humid but luckily it’s been breezy enough so that it is bearable. The ocean temperature is great, warm enough to jump in but cool enough to help with the hot, hot weather.

I don’t have too much to report but I’ve taken a lot of pictures already. The towns here are tiny and look like they are out of a movie. Little houses with red tile roofs poke out between green trees and stop at the rocky beaches along the coastline. There isn’t too much development, just small towns here and there. The water is so clear it is unbelievable.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

We’ve settled into our dorms and classes here in Dubrovnik. The location of the building where we live in our little “apartments” and have class couldn’t be better. We are about a 3-minute walk from the entrance to the old town, which is the area of Dubrovnik that is made completely of white stone and sits directly on the water. My little apartment has a small stove and bathroom and a loft upstairs with two beds. The building is a great old place with four sections built around a courtyard in the center. It’s pretty hot in our rooms but the hallways are cooler when we open the giant windows. Our classroom is one floor below the apartments and we go to class lecture everyday from 10-11:30 and again from 1-2:30. Between classes we have been walking into the city and getting lunch or going for short swims to cool off in the hot weather. At 2:30 everyone has been either napping or heading to the beach for the long hot afternoons. It doesn’t get dark until late and we have been meeting to go to dinner around 8 every night.

The atmosphere in the old city at night is unlike any other place I’ve ever been. The white stone center street stems off into alleys left and right that seem never ending. There are no cars or roads inside, only people walking, shopping and eating at the countless restaurants. There are ton of tourists from all over the world and the streets are full at almost all times of day and night. Each restaurant has outdoor seating, which is great for the warm breezy nights. The first night we all went to a restaurant that sits right along the harbor and has great, affordable seafood. I actually went to the exact same restaurant twice when I was visiting Croatia in November of last year. But it looks entirely different in the summer, and has about 25 more tables outside. Our director, Gordon (who is fluent in about 4 languages and is originally from Split, Croatia) showed us the sights and told us the best places to go. We ordered all kinds of seafood from grilled shrimp to fried squid to cuddle-fish risotto (the seafood risottos here are incredible). There are about 18 of us in the group so it is hard to sit all together but it was great to have our first meal all sitting at one table. The grilled shrimp ended up being served in a big pot that is brought directly to the table and we had to shell them one by one, which was extremely messy but well worth how good they were. The cuddle-fish risotto was great too, although it looks like thick, black tar with rice in it.

Walking through the alleys can be like a maze because they are narrow and almost all identical to each other. We have had a lot of fun exploring the shops, bars and restaurants that line the small streets. The class lectures have been very interesting as well, for the first section we have a professor from the University of Sterling who is an expert on the rise and fall of Yugoslavia. It’s incredible to be in such a beautiful country and to hear about the war and conflict that existed just 15 years ago.

We are only in Dubrovnik until a week from Thursday so everyone is trying to take in as much of the city as possible. I’m so thankful that our location is so convenient because it only takes a few minutes to get anywhere. I’m sure I’ll have more to report in a week or so. I love the relaxing life on the Adriatic.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Today is our last day of classes for the week. We are getting tomorrow off so we’ll have a 3 day weekend to explore Dubrovnik and the surrounding islands. Some of the girls might be taking a ferry over to Italy to travel there. My best friend from high school, Kelsey, has been in Italy since last July and she is coming to Dubrovnik on a night ferry with her sister Melissa to stay with me and spend a few days here.

Tuesday night we went to dinner at a little restaurant that is literally 30 feet from our dorm. We were served sardines (or anchovies I’m not sure what the difference is) at the beginning of the meal, and I had to try a bite for the experience but I think it was one of my least favorite things that I have ever eaten. The rest of the meal was great. The proscuitto, cheese, and olives here are really good. In the middle of the meal we heard high pitched little screeches and when we looked above us there were two mice fighting on the wooden rafter. They each ran in opposite directions directly above our heads, which made us all lose our appetites a bit but it’s at least a good story.

Yesterday after class we took a small ferry to the closest island to explore and swim. The ferry takes about 10 or 15 minutes and it was 35 Kuna (a little over 6 dollars). The island was a lot of fun, I went to the same place back in November when I was in Dubrovnik last time. It was really different in the summer because there were people everywhere. The “beaches” here are not sandy but basically rocks or pebbles, so it’s not the most comfortable place to lie down but it is kind of nice to not come home with sand all over everything. We found a spot that the Croatians call the “dead sea” which is actually a small saltwater lake that is surrounded by rock and connected to the sea through a few little coves. There were a good amount of tourists but it was a great place to hang out in the sun and swim. We stayed there until around 6 and came back for naps and showers before we left for an Italian dinner and a few drinks at one of the 4 Irish bars in Dubrovnik. One of the girls, Katie, and I talked to two Croatians at the bar who were fascinated by our program and why we came all the way to Croatia to study. I asked one of them what important phrases we should learn to say in Croatian and he said something that sounds like “Obojavamante”, which isn’t an easy one to say. I practiced it a few times then asked him what it meant and he said, “I adore you”. I couldn’t stop laughing at that, it must be a good way to pick up tourists here.

I'll post more in a few days, thanks for reading!