Full Circle: Zagreb and Homeward Bound

After two days of wandering and two nights of dancing in Split we were back on the bus, this time to Zagreb, the city where we started and the city where we'll wrap this up. Most of Friday was driving, Marco faithfully got us to Zagreb on time and we checked into our extremely fancy hotel.

le very fancy hotel

Zagreb is in full Christmas swing, and they do it bigger and better than anywhere I've been so far. The main square (where we met Ena and her friends for ice cream two months ago) is covered in twinkling lights with a huge Christmas tree and a stage set up where there are performances every night from choirs to dancing groups to musicians and bands have been playing. Several of the streets have been transformed into outdoor markets selling all kinds of fun wintery things, luckily for me things like gloves included because it is very cold here.

Winter arrived Friday night while we were walking in the market. The streets were alive with people, music and lights. From every corner we heard laughter and singing, various versions of familiar Christmas songs. Almost everyone on the streets held a steaming cup of something or a hot pastry from one of the stands. We shopped our way up and down the rows of vendors admiring all the interesting things laid out before us. I felt the change in the air and then it started snowing. It doesn't get any more ideal than that my friends.

And fall it did, all through the night and it didn't stop the next morning either, I heard that it was the most snow Zagreb has gotten in a single day in 57 years. By the time we were bundled and ready to go to out on Saturday there was at least a foot and a half of snow in some places. Snowplows of all sizes scurried through the city trying to make it possible to travel again.

My first order of business was to acquire boots. Having lovingly chucked my work boots at the end of the program I didn't have any practical weather shoes left so some friends and I shuffled and slipped through the snow and ice to the shopping district.

With that task finished we moved adventured through the icy city, popping into football shops and coffee shops. We visited the Cathedral along with all the other tourists in Zagreb for awhile before going to lunch.

Tesla under a snow blanket.

Srna and her friend also battled the elements to get to us from the other side of town. It took them almost four hours to reach the city center where we were. It was great to see them one last time before we left. Most of us found our way to a brewery/restaurant with the best beer I've had over here and the rudest service. We all went out to a pub afterwards but I had gotten the plague- the newest cold going around our group and was feeling pretty terrible by the end of the day. At the pub I said goodbye to Srna and Sean who left early the next morning.

The last couple of days in Zagreb were emotional and difficult. The next morning I said goodbye to the people from Florida, then a large group of us from Seattle, the next morning and afternoon even more people from Seattle. By Monday night there were only three of us left and I was an emotional wreck. 

And it's not like I'll never see the Seattlites again. They'll all be back in studio in a few weeks. But it won't be the same.

Tuesday morning at 4:30 my taxi arrived at the hotel. On the drive to the airport I got my last good look at Zagreb lit up by Christmas lights and committed the image to memory. It will be awhile until I get to see it again. So somewhat tearfully, I got on my plane, sat in my seat and watched Zagreb, Croatia and eventually Europe fall away behind me. Homeward bound.

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This experience has been one of the best of my life. It started out on a little bit of shaky ground not knowing exactly where we would be or all the rules of the project having it get set up so quickly. But those unknown elements just added to the adventure of it. I've never worked harder or been more focused on any project. To wake up and have the whole day be about one thing without getting bored or manic is pretty amazing.

I grew emotionally, physically and academically every day. All that schlepping and shoveling did make me stronger, more patient and understanding that just because a job isn't glamorous, doesn't mean it isn't vitally important to the cause. I learned how to work in a group when not just working, but living with them as well. Also, how to keep entertained on a tiny island in the off season is a skill not to be overlooked. It's impossible to count all the lessons I learned, they would be several of their own blog posts. 

So where the heck is Caitlin now? Back in a rainy city in the heart of the Pacific Northwest. 

To be honest I still have mixed emotions about coming home. There is no question of how happy I am to see everyone I love here and how nice it is to see the mountains thick with lush forests of home. But this experience was so wonderful I can barely put it into words, (though I have tried, obviously). 

I'm going to enjoy being home for awhile, but one thing I know for sure that I've been bitten by the travel bug. I've got to get back out there again, and I don't know if it will be Europe, Africa, Asia or a tiny little island no one has ever heard of again. But keep an eye out for me, who knows when I'll be coming your way.

-Caitlin

The Dedication, Sibenik & Split

Tuesday was the big day, the dedication of the site. Vesna had meetings with us through the weekend and on Monday to get everything arranged for the event, making sure the site was ready, determining the content of the dedication and arranging a performance. A week or so before, Vesna talked to Winterbottom about the dedication and he volunteered a couple people to perform, myself among them. So the morning of the dedication everyone else leisurely went down at 10:15 while I scrambled running into Kampor and back at the last minute to get things for my outfit.

There was a presentation in the administration building by Vesna and a powerpoint narrated by Winterbottom that made us tear up. It covered the whole process from site analysis to future projections of what the plants will look like. Then the whole audience, over 50 people, including press got up and moved down to the site. We stood on the road looking into the garden while a two minute performance to soft relaxing music happened with performers showing the potential uses for the site like reading, playing music, gardening, physical therapy, exercise, talking etc. It was intended to show the audience how the garden will be used by not just the patients but the staff and visitors as well.

As their soft music came to a close I situated myself near the entrance at the front of the crowd and got ready. A moment later a loud reggaeton beat came over the speakers set up in the shelter. Carl moved down into the plaza and did a back flip out of Biruk's hands; the audience on the street started to cheer and on my cue I Cha-Cha'd my way out into the site by the entrance to the boardwalk. The rest of the performance is a blur, I know Carl and I met at the center of the boardwalk, jumped down into the plaza and danced very fast to the very energetic, fun song. Vesna wanted people to understand that the site is multi-versatile, and because dance is therapeutic and exciting she wanted it as an exclamation point at the end of the dedication.

After the bow at the end much of the audience came down into the plaza and learned two salsa steps from Carl then everyone danced in the plaza. All of us students, a lot of the staff, even some patients came down to dance. Then, because it's Croatia and I don't understand a lot of it St. Nicholas came out and gave everyone candy and sticks spray painted gold with ribbons attached. I moved through hugging everyone, Vesna, our volunteers, even the kitchen and laundry staff came out to see what was going on and I hugged them goodbye too.

After the dedication a few of us took one last walk through the site. Seeing it completely finished, shiny and new is surreal. Now we have to hand it over to the users, the people that will love it, hate it, maintain it and vandalize it. I wish we could have stayed just a few days longer to see how it's used; but such is life. The project is finished, our job is done and it's time to move on.
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The next morning we met Marco in the driveway with all of our bags in tow. I think my red backpack developed an attitude problem being used as a dirty clothes hamper for two and a half months, if possible it has become more cumbersome and definitely more heavy even without my work boots and several articles of clothing I'm leaving here. It grumbled and groaned but I eventually got everything into it and it into the van.
Then we drove away, and left our island, the hospital, the project and everyone we've met, off to continue the adventure together for the time being.

Having stayed out very late the night before I slept almost the entire way to Split, which is on the coast, further south than Zadar. On the way we stopped in Sibenik, an old city on a steep hill that has spectacular, steep, mysterious stairways.

 I immediately took off up one of the small twisty ones between two rows of houses, then another and another and another until I reached the gates of the cemetery at the top of the hill (somehow I always end up in graveyards). The cemetery butts up against St. Michele's castle on the very apex of the hill but the road from the city was closed and gated. Over the castle wall I could hear heavy machinery breaking rocks apart. No matter, I hopped the wall and lowered myself down the six or so feet to the path below.

The castle from what I can tell is just the outside wall right now, piles and piles of stones are within it where the construction was happening. I made sure the construction guys saw me before I walked to a part they weren't working on, where the road continued on the outside wall. The view from the castle was spectacular and definitely worth some mild trespassing. From up there I could see all along the coast in either direction, the entire city, new and old town rolling over the hilly landscape. In the bright afternoon sun it looked like a perfect depiction of paradise.

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Another few sleepy hours in the van and we arrived in Split. A biggish city centered around a walled city center complex, Diocletian's Palace.

 At first glance old town Split feels a lot like Venice minus the canals. They used the same kind of stone, the buildings create narrow alleys with the same verticality, and there are small plazas everywhere that have strings of lights across for Christmas.

 All of old town slopes gently down to the water where there was recently a giant renovation project that made the waterfront very comfortable and walkable. There are vendors all along the water selling candy, Christmas decorations, coffee, beer and mulled wine.

Split also for some reason has many many shoe stores and book stores. I had to put on the blinders to keep from going into bookstores because I cannot be trusted in them and my luggage is already over packed.

Winterbottom arranged one last field trip for us out of Split, on Saturday we met Marco at one and drove about fifteen minutes outside of the city to Salona, an awesome Roman ruin, complete with a coliseum.

Split was relaxing, we took it easy, wandered the streets, ate delicious food, drank delicious wine and spent time enjoying each other's company. Our second and final night in Split we were all at the waterfront at one of the shack/bars when Winterbottom told us goodbye. He had to leave the program a few days early and fly to China for another project. I'll see him again in Seattle, but watching him walk away marked the beginning of the end of us as a group, and I think it struck a chord with everyone.

The Feast for the Senses: Venice

Thursday night it was difficult to sleep.

It felt like Christmas Eve and all I could do was sit up and wait for Santa to arrive and deliver me an amazing gift. Venice.

I've never been, all I knew was what I had seen in romantic movies and read in historic novels. It is supposed to be one of the most amazing cities in Europe and the world. No streets but canals, pigeons, architecture, gelato, gondolas, singing men in striped shirts. I was ready for all of it.
But the week before departure I was a bit nervous about going because of news stories like this one. Venice was under water. A lot of water. The storms we had here in Rab were just as bad over there and people were swimming their way through San Marco's Square. I didn't care though. Venice was calling and come hell or (literally) high water I was going to go.

Friday morning I met the Catamaran along with a lot of people in the program. It was our first and only three day free weekend and everyone was taking as much advantage of it as possible A whole van full of people left Thursday night to go to Ljubljana (pronounced Loobliana) the capital of Slovenia, three on the Catamaran were renting a car and heading to Serejevo in Bosnia, an ambitious nine hour drive away.  Two were on their way to Trieste, just inside Italy.

Once in Rijeka I had some in-between travel time and spent an hour looking around downtown Rijeka, the outdoor market was on and bustling. Veggies and fruits, sweet and spicy smells, it was a very nice way to start the day.

My travel partner and I rented a car as the fastest way to get there and soon we were zooming through Croatia, then into the EU in Slovenia, and not long after that into Italy. The scenery was beautiful, Slovenia had more of my beloved forests and mountains but by the time we were into Italy it was mostly flat farm land outside of Venice.

The hotel was in Mestre, it was cheaper to stay, had free parking and is also less than a 15 minute train ride from Venice. My hotel room for some reason had four beds, two singles and two more singles pushed together to create a double bed. Besides the overkill on sleeping spaces the bathroom had a tub! A real, beautiful deep bathtub, already I was in love with Italy.

It was almost dark by the time we hopped onto a train to Venice; the cool afternoon turned into a clear cold night very quickly and when we came out of the train station Venice was lit up, sparkling, not under water, and ever so inviting.

We walked through the open square and across Grand Canal on the first bridge. And after that got immediately lost. Venice is all twisting tiny pedestrian streets, odd angles, courtyards, plazas and canals that force you to pick a direction. And that is awesome. Not so great if you are actually trying to get somewhere but for a night of truly wonderful wandering, Venice is the place to do it. Around every corner is some perfect new detail, a paving pattern, a tree, a set of windows or a color of yellow on a building you've never seen before. Every detail is thought out and elegantly put together. Even in parts where walls are crumbling into the canals they do it artistically. It seems like ugliness simply isn't allowed, someone could try to make a gross splatter on the wall and it would turn into the Mona Lisa. Even the graffiti was lovely.

We made it our goal to get to San Marco's Square, the biggest in Venice. It took a long time, a lot of walking, getting lost, going back a new way, getting lost there, stopping for pictures etc. Slowly we made our way in the general direction of the square and under one more lovely columned walk we emerged into San Marco's. 

By then it was after ten and there weren't very many people, but a few such as ourselves strolled through the square to the water, the basilica and back. We followed our ears to a very fancy cafe with a very fancy piano and violin duet playing very romantic songs and there we sat and drank very expensive hot chocolates that were very amazing. I sat in the cool night and warm light from lamps listening to a perfect rendition of "The Girl from Ipanema", from a violinist who was a performance all by himself. Drinking a steaming cup of what tasted like a melted chocolate bar with cream. Every sense was engaged and lulled by the best of everything all at once.

the 10 euro cocoa

That feeling only got stronger the next day. Venice feels different between in the light and dark. During the day it vibrates with energy and people. The details we discovered the night before on buildings as little secrets now became shining bold statements. With more people out the canals were alive with taxis, little personal boats and yes, gondolas ferrying people willing to pay the 50 euro fee around in style. 

By way of getting lost we found the more residential end of Venice. The place where I think people actually live. We watched a woman open the gates to her garden right on a canal and use a crank to back her boat from the garden into the canal, then lock the gates and drive away. Just like parallel parking a car - Venetian style. At that end it was less about grandeur, less over the top and more subtly amazing.

The day was spent wandering, ducking into cafes, snacking, drinking coffee, walking some more, sketching, eating more, walking more etc. In other words, exactly what I wanted to do.

I enjoyed the people watching in particular. There were of course, a ton of tourists, and a ton of people catering to tourists. But the interactions were bigger and louder and somehow much more fun than I'm used to. There was also a lot of PDA (public displays of affection) which I have never minded. I like being reminded that there are happy people in love all over the world.

I also very much enjoyed the mix of languages, everything from German, to Japanese, English, Dutch, Spanish and Italian in a variety of accents all mixed together in this throng of humanity moving through the city. Especially in places like San Marco's where huge numbers of people congregate (two wedding parties arrived while we were there) there is a low hum of all the conversation happening at once.

Towards the end of the afternoon we went to the Biennale Architecture Exhibition. A lot of countries from all over the world each choose an architecture group to build an exhibit based on a theme. This year the theme was "Common Ground" and the exhibits were really something to see. Some made complete sense and were full of very useful information, some were inspiring and moving, and others were just odd (ahem, Spain). 

Taiwan: cardboard and plastic.

My favorite was Finland, with a bunch of small, interactive simple pieces, that I of course forgot to take pictures of because I was enjoying them so much.

Russia's exhibit. Querty keys and Ipads.

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Venice is, among many other things, exhausting. Trying to fit everything into two days is impossible, unfortunately, but it's not like I didn't try. By the evening I was sore, tired and hungry for a big meal. As much as I wanted to stay in Venice until the very last second I had to rest and recoup for awhile. A nap for a few hours back in Mestre was just what was needed but upon awakening food was imperative. 

Everyone at the hotel told us to go to a nearby restaurant called  "Bepi." In the window there was a case full of fresh fish on ice and the dining room smelled like cooking fish. Upon sitting down a very big, loud man with a gigantic mustache came over, speaking first in Italian, then switching seamlessly to Spanish to talk to my friend. After their conversation he looked down at me over his reading glasses attached with a chain and said-

"And I'm guessing you would like English." In a mildly patronizing way. 

Yes. I, the white girl with the confused expression trying to translate as fast as possible, but really not following this interaction... would like English. He was teasing, and hilarious and once again fabulously over the top. He told us all about his travels in the Americas and the languages he speaks, how he learned them and why. Then told us roughly what food and wine we wanted and disappeared to the kitchen.

 The food he brought was spectacular. What I had come to expect from Italy. I was presented with a seafood pasta with perfect al dente noodles and fresh mussels, clams, squid and a few other delights and a smooth red wine. And when neither of us could possibly eat anymore he brought a huge platter at least two feet long with five different kinds of fish. I looked at it and almost cried I was so full and it looked so good.

 But slowly, to keep from exploding we ate pieces of the fresh fish grilled to perfection. The meal was long, and we didn't waste a minute. After a final coffee we strolled out at midnight.

The next day I reluctantly said goodbye to Italy. And we left in the morning in order to catch the Catamaran back to Rab in the afternoon. I didn't want to go, wasn't ready at all. I hadn't seen enough, heard enough, smelled, touched or tasted nearly enough of Italy to consider myself ready to leave. I loved how friendly the people were and wanted to get to know them.  I'm not done with Italy.

So where the heck is Caitlin now? Dreaming of gelato and coffee in a not so far away place, canals and bridges and San Marco's in the moonlight. Buonanotte, amico mio.

Magic in the Park: Plitvice Lakes

This last week had very full days with almost all of us out in the field. We got a ton of work done, the stone walls are almost finished but are proving to be more persnickety than I had thought they would be, we poured two concrete slabs and a third for the water feature on Friday. The deal was we wouldn't be able to leave for Plitvice Lakes until we got the whole piece done, so we worked extra fast on it.

We were finished by 11:00, ran up to the apartments, changed, finished packing and met Marco, the same driver who drove us to Zadar and his father-in-law Marino. Back on the ferry we made the short crossing to the mainland and took off again down the devil road, this time in the opposite direction. Luckily we didn't stay on it very long, but climbed up the cliffs and foothills by the sea and straight into the heart of the country.

The landscape changed abruptly once we were further away from the coast. On the island very little of the vegetation has changed through October, a lot of it is conifers, palms and other plants that mostly stay green; a lot of the surrounding islands and mountains are bare with white rock and no vegetation. But once we up into the mountains with the coast behind us the scenery blasted into fall color. Croatia has many beech forests and the beech trees are in full colors of oranges and yellows with the occasional red mixed in the bunch.

I was ecstatic to see all the colors and the forests. I hadn't seen anything like it in Croatia so far and I'm sorely missing all the fun fall things going on at home. This weekend everyone is celebrating Halloween and I'm loving all the pictures of the costumes and parties! I miss driving up Highway 2 for a tour of the color in the mountains with a bison burger in Marblemount at the end, picking pumpkins and apples, making pies and cider and watching scary movies when it storms. I miss all of it, and driving up through the mountains here gave me a taste of home that was very needed.

We stopped at a little village outpost about two hours into the journey to a makeshift shop by the road selling honey, cheese wheels and homemade Rakia.  I finally found a Rakia I like, most of it tasting more or less like fingernail polish remover to me. But this one is honey flavored, a little thicker and very sweet; too sweet for mostly everyone else but perfect for sipping. Between the 20 of us we bought a large chunk of their stock and continued on our way.

When straight roads changed again into twisting and switch-backing mountain roads we were almost to our destination. Plitvice is mountainous with deep ravines, and all the mountains are covered in fall brightness. Our homes for the weekend were three apartment houses that reminded me of the chalets I stayed in in the Alps. Small, comfortable, and terribly cute. We were thrilled to see that we not only could stand up straight in the large bathroom but the shower head was actually attached to the wall!

After settling in we went for a walk and spent a long time taking pictures of the scenery. We came to an outlook that overlooked what we found out later was the largest waterfall in the park, falling hundreds of feet to the river below. It was the first taste of Plitvice and what was to come.

Saturday morning we were up early and at the gates of Plitvice National Park by 8:30am bundled and ready for our day of adventure and discovery.

Plitvice is just like all the pictures, a natural phenomenon of rock, water and plants I'm amazed that a place so magical still exists in the world. The water system is essentially a river in a twisting canyon with beech forests on either side. In certain places the river widens creating slower moving lakes. Then cascades down into another lake below. Through the entire park miles and miles of boardwalk lead people through, around and over the water to caves, higher walkways and the upper lakes. The way the boardwalks were built one can see the water below, and often times a stairway will go over a small waterfall so you can experience the water as you move over it. You are engaged in your surroundings by default.

The water is absolutely perfectly clear except for where it is a turquoise or in the deepest places a rich royal blue. Spotted fish are within arm's reach and you can see all the vegetation in the shallower pools.

 Reeds, grasses and Lilly pads the jut up out of the water create barriers and borders for the walkways. If Rivendell were to be built, it would be here.

We spent the day wandering through, taking pictures and being amazed. The upper lakes area isn't so much in a ravine and has more forest along side. The walk along those leaf covered paths was magical, there is no other word to describe it.

The trees and water feel alive, not just in a "it's a tree, it's alive" kind of way but in a "It's a tree, it's moving and it's going to get up and dance any second now." I felt like I could really breathe there and take it all in, but there is also a vibrancy to every element involved. The constant rippling, dripping and cascading of the water to the quaking leaves in the trees and at this time of year the occasional rain of yellow leaves falling to the ground to be swept up again by a gust of wind through the canyon. The life of the place moves about, around and through you as a connected part of it. One of our number couldn't resist the waterfalls and hopped off the boardwalk to briefly bathe in one. An action we found out later was extremely illegal but I have a feeling it was worth it.

At the end of the day Marino drove us home to a lovely home cooked dinner by our hostess. The meal was festive to say the least, at the end of it no one was ready to go to bed. Marco knew of a bowling alley nearby and without any hesitation we were off, back on the bus.

We arrived fifteen minutes later to the abandoned except for two employees, four lane alley, but we definitely brought the party. The game itself wasn't normal bowling, it was done with smaller orange balls with no finger holes, rolled down the lane to hit 10 pins in a diamond shape that had strings like puppets to pull them back up. The counters on the lanes kept track of how many had been knocked down and how many turns had been taken, but none of us knew the rules and the owner didn't feel like explaining. We just did our best and had as much fun as possible, which was a lot.

The Wolf Team and one photo-bomber

This morning I woke up an hour early because of the daylight savings time switch but had time to take a long walk in the snow. Yes snow. It turned from a beautiful crisp fall day to the dead of winter in 12 hours flat. At the beginning of my walk the snow was mostly just freezing rain that I thought would let up, but no, by breakfast time big fluffy flakes flitted to the ground and began piling up fast.

After breakfast a few people took it upon themselves to be snowball mercenaries and pelt anyone emerging from breakfast. This lead to a fairly intense retaliation and with red cheeks and cold hands we got back into the vans to drive home.

Politics and Ice Cream: Zagreb

Saturday morning I took a long shower, ate a big breakfast and prepared myself for the next few days of travel. My flight to Frankfurt wasn’t until the evening, so I spent the morning and afternoon working on the computer and figuring out school arrangements.

I left the hotel at little after three, took a bus to a bus to the airport and was sitting at my gate by 5:30. The plane was late, but other than that the whole experience was as pleasant as it could be with the exception of getting frisked at security because I forgot to take my sunglasses off my head when I went through the metal detector. Sunglasses = terrorist obviously.

I flew Lufthansa to Frankfurt, and the flight attendant giving the safety protocol speech had a serious case of the giggles over the speaker which set the mood for the whole flight. Everyone was giggling the whole time (especially after the cart came around with free alcohol.) I had a glass of wine, my first drink of alcohol this trip hoping it might relax me enough to get to sleep.

We landed in Frankfurt, into possibly the largest airport I’ve ever seen. The signs said “Frankfurt AirCity” and they were not lying.

In the terminal I wandered around a bit, by now it was a little after 10pm but with no windows or glass doors to the outside everything was in a perpetual noon light. The only indicators that it was nighttime were the lack of people and the fact that Starbucks was closed.

I pumped Euros into a free-standing computer long enough to get a frantic facebook message to my family to tell them I had made it to Frankfurt, everything was ok, and that I wouldn’t have much internet access. Then I found a set of three seats in a quieter corner of the terminal looped my hand through the strap in my bag and tried to go to sleep; beginning the long wait to my next flight in the morning.

As you can imagine sleep was less than restful. I woke up every half hour or so because my arm was numb or the intercom was particularly loud, or the guy with the ride-around floor waxer drove past my head. But it was better than nothing. At about 3:00am I gave up and read until I could go to my terminal at 8:00.

There I found John and Ann, two people from my program and very welcome familiar faces. They had just flown over from Seattle and we were on the same flight to Zagreb.

The temperature and the way the air felt were the first things that struck me about Zagreb as soon as we got off the plane. It was comfortably warm, and the air very humid. I started sweating immediately in my long underwear left over from Scotland. Not quite tropical flowers scented the air, creating a complex, spicy smell I really liked.

We took a bus from the airport to the tram station, and after a little confusion boarded the correct tram into the city center. Got off at the main square and after a bit more confusion found our hostel and our fellows.

Zagreb is definitely a town built for warm days and nights. All the shopping and café streets have large, comfortable outdoor seating areas. The alleys and streets are narrower than Edinburgh and the style is more varied. Almost all of Edinburgh that I saw was Georgian surrounding medieval with a little bit of modern thrown in here and there, it’s almost all the same color palette. Zagreb on the other hand has a multitude of colors and styles all pushed into a tight space. But you can tell that neighborhoods were built together because of the similar architectural styles.

The hostel is in a small alley on a hill that is predominantly a café through the middle. At the top of the alley is the beginning of a major market that happens every day. I was in a room with three other people in my program in a room that overlooked the alleyway. Wandering in through the front door and up the narrow steps we were greeted by Winterbottom, and finally I relaxed to know we were in the right place. Our room had a window facing the alley and with it open we could hear all the sounds of the restaurant below, clinking glasses, the ever constant American top 40, laugher, a multitude of languages and the ever present smell of cigarette smoke.

After dropping of our luggage and freshening up we went off in search of Croatian SIM cards. Since I bought my phone in Europe it will work here but needs a new SIM to not be roaming. In the oddly long line at the cellphone store I started talking with a girl wearing American flag jeans who lives in Zagreb and wanted to practice her English. By the end of the long wait in line she asked if we wanted to go to dessert with her later and we set up a time to meet.

People in Zagreb, or at least in our district seem to move a bit slower than those in Edinburgh, taking more of their time, and they also seem to put more effort into how they dress. Perhaps it’s because it’s so warm that one is less likely to have to wear a coat over their whole outfit? I’m not sure, but I felt decidedly shabby in my cargo pants and bandanna as we explored up the cobblestone streets.

Ena met us with her friends at a local dessert place with enough seating for our fairly large group that came along. They explained how the Croatian school system works and that they are 16 and have two years left of school. They are all working on getting their French, German and especially English as good as possible so they can leave Croatia as soon as possible. They weren’t sure why we would even come to visit if we didn’t have to. This kind of threw us for a loop,

“Zagreb is beautiful!” We said, “The architecture is lovely, and it’s so warm here.” They begrudgingly agreed. I’m not sure if it was just them being teenagers and wanting to leave home or if their desperation to immigrate has to do with the government and what’s going on with the economy.

“Men are lucky to have jobs here.” They said, “Any job, any one they can get. And it’s actually a pretty conservative country. We don’t like that.”

“But we will be in the EU” One interjected.

“Yeah, someday.” Said another. “I don’t want to wait for it to get good. I want to go somewhere where it is good already.”

I’m not an expert on the Croatian economy at all, but whatever is going on here certainly makes it an affordable place to visit. The currency is Kuna, and $1 is about 5 kuna. I arrived not knowing this, went to an ATM and just got 300 kuna, roughly $50. But my ice cream, a decent amount of good quality stuff was only 6 kuna. About a $1.20. A full meal later was 25 kuna, about $5, A glass of wine for 10 kuna, two dollars. One can get by pretty dang cheaply in Croatia assuming you don’t get screwed over by bus drivers and stall vendors: which happens a lot, especially to young traveling Americans.

This morning we woke up early, my bunkmates are dealing with the jetlag I’m only starting to get over, the kind that wakes you up at 4:30am. But we were the first ones into the showers this morning and even though the water was usually either scalding hot or arctic cold, it still felt marvelous to wash off all the travel I had done.

I popped up to the market to get some breakfast and found out that if you motion to a stack of carrots and say “Two?” and put up two fingers a very nice old lady will give you two kilos of carrots. Then pretend not to understand what you mean when you try to correct it and still demand two kilos worth of money. In the end, I have a lot of carrots.

I was smarter after that and was able to get exactly two nectarines, a small basket of raspberries, a pear, two buns (savory and sweet) and a sandwich for later.

At 10:00 we readied ourselves, and hefted our luggage back into the street off to the tram. The tram took us to a bus and despite the bus driver being kind of an ass and “forgetting” to give everyone their change we started off across the country to Rijeka.

Most people slept all the way but I stayed up and got to enjoy the scenery. We headed out of Zagreb and into the mountains. The woodland turning into deep forest as far as the eye could see over the rolling peaks. This is my favorite kind of view; I like to be able to imagine that the forest land goes on forever and to be reminded that some great swaths of it still exist despite our ministrations.

An hour and a half into the bus ride we started to come down out of the mountains and into the town of Rijeka. It’s smaller than Zagreb but still feels like a city, it also smelled different; less cigarette smoke, more food smells, and a briny saltiness that gained purchase the closer we walked to the marina.

Now on the ferry I have watched island after island go by for the better part of two hours. The two televisions at the front of the cabin are playing MacGyver and something with Chuck Norris in English with Croatian subtitles.

We should be on Rab soon! I’m looking forward to not carrying this pack around for a while, clean clothes and a bed I don’t have to move out of in a few days is also going to be great. I think we start sight analysis of our site for the quarter tomorrow. No easing into this project!