After much thought of how to catch you all up on my last 3 or so weeks of life, I'm still debating if it is thoroughly possible. To make the food poisoning part quite brief and without much detail, Tortellini is no longer a friend but a terrible, terrible enemy of which I have disbonded my trust and reliance on. Aka.. I was sick for 10 hours and eventually had to go to the doctor clinic thing to get an IV to put fluids back in me. Definitely not a fun time, but I survived. Damn you tortellini, damn you.
On March 11th I took a quick weekend trip with two of my friends from my program here (Lizzie and Beth) to Dubrovnik, Croatia. If you're doing a "Where the heck is Croatia?" moment, don't worry, I got your back. It's kind of smack in the middle between Italy and Greece, right on the Mediterranean Sea. Aka, it's a beautiful country half taken over by the bottom of the alps and then additionally by the beaches of the Mediterranean sea. Dubrovnik is a city on a penninsula branching out into the Mediterranean, and a city which literally radiates history and culture into your bones. I was kind of disappointed that my time there was so limited; the beaches, old city, people, and country's history could take weeks to fully capture the true essence of it all. But, I'm glad I got at least a glimpse. For those of you who weren't aware, Croatia was in the middle of a war between 1991 and 1992 in which the city of Dubrovnik was literally bombed, shelled and beaten to pieces. The people, government and economy are still recovering today and many have extremely deep and terrifying experiences to share. Our hostel owners told us one of their stories, how their son was in a concrete cell, 10 feet X 10 feet, no water, no electricity, no natural light, no friends.. etc. for six months. Also, he lost eight friends in the war. The people who invaded and basically destroyed Croatia were the Yugoslavians, who during the time were full of chaos and issues. I definitely recommend googling the topic- it's quite fascinating.
Before the war, Croatia was a huge tourist destination, and now it is finally coming back to it's full potential. During the summer cruise ships totaling approximately 15,000 visitors a day dock at the city for shopping and what not. It is literally crazy, but I can see why it is on the cruise destinations list.
As for my events, we spent a large time walking along the coast, enjoying the stone beach (better than no beach I suppose..), wandering around the old city, climbing the wall around the old city, and just absorbing the culture. It was about 70 degrees while we were there, which was amazing and definitely waranted flip flops! Random note, but a large part of Croatian is seafood. And by seafood, I mean the kindwhich is still looking at you..
Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip..
There's the link to more pictures. I actually recommend looking at them this time; There are some pretty awesome. Croatia is freaking breathtaking.
And for the last bit of news, I have a new apartment! I moved out of the old one about two weeks ago (yes, I'm really behind on this whole blogging thing) and am now living in a WG with four german roommates. A WG is basically just a student apartment. It's not rented through the university, in fact it's just the first floor of a normal house (a family with two boys are living above us) but we're all students/just graduated students living here. It's pretty awesome, and my german is improving immensely. However I must admit it was strange going from living completely alone to living with four roommates. Oh well, it wasn't a negative change at least. The only negative change was that there are approximately 50 steps and further uphill walking to get to my apartment from the bus stop, because I live in the hills (literally on the side of one). But, the views from here are gorgeous. I can watch the sun rise in the morning and set in the evening from my window; it just goes from one corner to the other. Also, the neighborhood I live in is quite, well, wealthy.. so I can see some extremely nice houses and cars on my daily walks up and down the hills of Marbach. I have a new address now, so if anyone needs it let me know. Here's a brief glimpse of my new place..
Sooo there you have it folks. I should be updating about my trip to Dresden last weekend in the next couple days, and then be able to keep blogging again at a regular basis. I just found out on friday that I have to read 6 full novels by next Monday, have a presentation due thursday, a test thursday and another test Friday, so this week is getting a little exhausting. Oh well. Amsterdam Friday!!
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