Weekly Updates

Hello everyone! I know I have not been posting as frequently as I have in the past, but with school starting and trying to study, go out, and write a blog, daily updates become quite difficult. So from now on I will write my blog once, maybe twice a week. This will allow me to avoid burning myself out from blog writing. 

So this week on Monday all the exchange students went to a Mexican Cantina. There was over 25 of us at the restaurant. We filled up the entire back room. It was really a Mexican oasis in Croatia, the food was super authentic, the beer was imported from Mexico (Corona and Dos Equis), and they had one of the best mariachi bands I have ever heard. All the players were from Croatia but they were FANTASTIC. I did not suspect them to be of such a high quality. Later in the week I found out that they went and played in a competition in Mexico and won. They had 3 violins, two trumpets, one bass guitar and two classical guitars. You could tell that these were real musicians, everything was played with perfect pitch and style, The music really made the food. We ordered a ton of different food and it was served family style. I ate so much I thought I was going to explode! The food was kinda pricey for Croatia, realistically it only cost about $26 per person, including drinks but for Croatia that is a lot of money. I talked to the girl from America again, it was funny because I asked her what she did only to find out that just the day before I was reading a huge article all about the conference she is working on. It is really an impressive thing, I want to go to it but I it is invite only and they already sent out invitations. I think I will write the embassy and see if they can let me be just a little fly on the wall. It is an economic forum about entrepreneurship between Croatia and the USA. I really badly want to go, I know they will broadcast it live online, but it is the networking that I really want.

The outside of of the art gallery, this is just one building.

Then this Wednesday I met with Zvanko. He took me to the release of a book, it was on a famous Croatian sculptor. His photos were in the book so he was invited to the big release. It was actually really cool. It was in a huge museum that I did not know existed. It was a big, it use to be an old leather tanning factory and it was converted into an art exhibit. The gallery is of all the famous artwork in Croatia, but copies. All the art is plaster or replicas of the real work. There are over 13,000 different pieces in the entire building. Sadly most parts of the building were closed. We did get to see one. It was the gravestones of a famous cemetery. They look like tombs, but they are actually giant headstones. I also saw some painting from a church. I want to go to the church because you could tell that being in the church the paintings would be much more powerful. It was really cool to walk around with no one there tho. Zvanko brought his camera and was shooting the whole day. It was really amazing to get to watch him work. His photos are beyond fantastic. I really hope I can learn how to be a better photographer from watching him and following him around. I swear his stuff is national geographic level.

To give you some perspective of the size of each headstone.

These are some of the work from the artist.

 After Zvanko took me to the art gallery, we went to the Mexican Cantina! I was super excited, the food was really good the first time, and it did not disappoint the second time either. It was really nice just to have lunch with Zvanko, he is such an interesting guy. He is full of interesting facts and stories. I think he is one of the smartest people I know, hands down. It was a wonderful start to my day. I went home wrote my last blog then I took a short nap and it was out partying with the group again. We went to Peppermint club. On Wednesdays they play all 60's music and it is a riot. I know all the words to the songs because its all Ray Charles and Elvis type of music. It is awesome, and they dance swing in the club so I fit right in. I know some of the other students are getting bored of the club but it is a really fun time!

That was most my week, today I went out with a friend who showed me around town. It was really nice too because she is from an American school here and speaks really good english and has a similar upbringing so it is nice to find a similar person in that respect here. Then I went appartment hunting with Kristina, we went to one place that look really, really bad on the outside. Piles of garbage and really run down, but the apartment was SUPER nice. I really wanted to take it but the outside was really bad. Not a neighborhood for a forigner. But I think I found a place only a block away from Kristina so I am really excited. We go tomorrow to check it out. I hope it is as nice as in the pictures! 

Beyond that this week has been pretty normal. I will mention that a guy got onto the tram and had all these balloons and it made my entire day Tuesday. The whole thing was crowded and when he got on everyone smiled and started laughing for a long time. Anyway hope everyone is safe where ever you guys are! 

Benda out