Rujan

I know it’s not the end of the month or anything or have much to say about Rujan (or september) but I wanted to blog about my experiences so far in Zagreb. As you know things didn’t go so well the first week that I was here. They started off well with good flights and a great stay in Seline but up until I got sick it was awesome. So being quarantined for about five days really sucked because it made my homesickness even worse and the culture shock was a little weird for me. Usually when I go on trips they are with friends and family and this one was…well…different because I am alone in the sense of living with a another family. But I know that there are about ten of us who are going through the same thing so I am very happy to know that we are all in the same boat.

After going out with Nora (Quebec), Victor (Brazil), and Paulo (Brazil as well), I have realized how lucky I am to be in the city that I am in and the place. I didn’t realize up until now that I am a very fornutate person to be living in a city such as Zagreb.

Today when I went out with the exchangers we just wandered around aimlessly and went to Old Town…and it was AMAZING! I love love love Zagreb and still can’t believe I am here…I mean it’s now actually hitting me that “yeah I am living in this place…and I actually like it”. I mean my experience could be so much harder than it is right now and I am truly blessed to be here. And school is about to start on Monday…and I am actually excited…for once! ahha. All my friends back at home commented on my pictures saying that they want to trade places with me because they hate school and such! And this makes me really happy because it just makes me feel like I should be here even more. Nora and I are going to the same school but she will be in a grade higher than me…I hope to see her around… and probably will since there are only 500 kids in high school! ah.

I am taking Italian and Spanish which I am psyched about because I know Spanish and Italian is really close to Spanish (or it’s one of the romantic languages) So by the end of the school year I will hopefully be fluent in Croatian (if I work really really hard at it) and know how to say a few phrases in Italian. I am telling you that the school system here has a much higher standard than America does…I mean we only have to learn one language…and it’s not even knowing the language anyway. I bet you anything that only one third of the people at school can speak a different language pretty well with being taught in the classroom. I mean I know a lot of people that love to learn Spanish and French but that is so rare in my school back in home. Here, everybody knows English and on top of that they are learning, Italian, French, German, and Spanish. It’s amazing. I mean I could be totally wrong about the students speaking other languages but if they all speak English I am just guessing they are pretty good at other languages.

SO exciting news…I rode the tram today all by myself…it was so so fulfilling! I felt so independent and one with the culture! ahhaah. And this old guy started to talk to me in Croatian and I felt like I fit in! HAha. I mean everybody looks pretty much the same here so it’s not like I stick out as American but it’s awesome to feel like your in with what’s going on in this city.

Anyway, this is a better start to a wonderful year! And I can’t wait to blog more about it!