Advice from Split, Croatia

When I was travelling by myself in Croatia after my study-abroad 2 week program ended, I went to Split for the last part of my solo week.

PICTURES AT THE END. READ FOR THE REWARD.

I was eating dinner at Hotel Peristil’s own restaurant and it was dead. Where the hungry people were, I do not know! A young – and attractive waitor – was just sitting and I was just sitting and we weren’t talking. That’s weird for people over there. He started talking to me. We must have talked for at least 3 hours. He shared with me SO much about the culture in those hours than all the studying in the world could have done. It was amazing. I discovered how much alike people are. How everyone in the world worries about how their government is changing and so on. How they work, how the economic crisis isn’t just in the US – dimwitted, I know.

He told me all about how the businesses have declined and how foreigners are all worried about how much they are spending, when only a few short years ago, that would have been the farthest thing from their minds.

Yeah, the world is a lot crappier than it used to be.

Aside from the fact that he thought it was weird that I was travelling alone, he told something about myself:

I am time-obsessed.

He reminded me that time is yours. And it’s up to you how you spend it. But, he said, Americans have lost this amazing ability to use time. Time uses us.

It was then that I noticed that the whole time that I was talking to him, I was checking my clock! WTF!? I thought… I am on vacation and I have nowhere to be, and no time constraints, I don’t have to be up early. What am I doing? I immediately put my phone far away from me so that I couldn’t see the time. And we continued to talk.

The best thing he told me the whole night was this:

Whatever you have to do, will be waiting for you when you get to it.

I so wish that this were true… they have work ethic, but they take it easy. They don’t bust themselves up by the time that they are 45 trying to do everything on Monday so they can do everything on Tuesday.

This isn’t a race… it is life.

So just slow the freak down when you can. Enjoy yourself. Don’t make yourself haggard and wretched inside just so you can have everything checked off.

Take it slow.

Take long lunches with friends. Walk slowly on your way back from class and take deep breaths and smile as you look up to the sky and try not to feel so sad doing it.

Yeah, I know, we all have schedules, but screw it every once in a while. Like he said, “It’ll be waiting for you.”

I mean, I spent a whole day walking around Zagreb’s up-town basically lost. I was looking for ONE thing in particular and essentially ended up losing a whole day… but it’s ok. I met some AMAZING people.

Look what you can miss if you don’t take time.

A little window on the streets of Zagreb. I would have missed it if I hadn't looked up. Take time to look up.

After a day of being lost, you can feel like a master of the streets once you figure it out and finally find what you've been looking for (Zagreb).

A real Croatian Baseball game... I think that's what it was. I watched it for a bit then moved on the the Archaelogical museum. Take your time getting to where you're going. Enjoy the unique things that you find along the way. (Split)

Sometimes getting lost reveals something that you would have never seen (canopy in Split)

Take the time to look and admire (Market in Split)

Zagreb. Just take a moment to look back to make sure you didn't miss anything.

Blood and Honey: the true story

 

The word Balkan comes from two Turkish words. Bal: honey  Kan: blood. And being in Mostar and in Sarajevo you would understand how fitting that name is. How truly it describes the region. Bosnia i Herzegovina is still filled with blood and honey. The people are sweet yet filled with pain. And the land is beautiful, but filled with the blood of its' people. If only you had been there to see it. Oh, I wish that words could make you feel what my eyes saw. I wish that these photos meant to you what they mean to me.

Everytime we (my class and me) went somewhere that I knew there had been conflict only 10-15 years prior to our arrival, I desperately searched the buildings and landscapes for signs of destruction: namely shell holes. I was forced to wonder during all of my searching if I was doing something wrong... looking for only the open wounds rather than looking for the signs of healing. I felt strangely fascinated by all of the wholes and then... I felt... guilty. Guilty for wanting to see it all and feeling vaguely disappointed about the covered and filled in holes. Should I be ashamed of myself? I'm not sure. Should I know how to feel all by myself?

It was an alien situation for me. I didn't want to see the destruction, but I did; I was happy to see the repair and the progress. It means that the city is healing - that the people are slowly learning to forget the pain. This is what I want to do with the life that God has given me.

The Balkans

The word Balkan comes from two Turkish words: Bal meaning honey and kan meaning blood.
Having just returned three days ago from what can only be described as a whirlwind tour of awesomeness, my eyes will never see the world in the same way. The things that I saw, the emotions that swarmed my heart and soul left an impression upon my psyche that shall never dissipate.
I only wish that I had had the ability to feel more. I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to cry.
Over the next two weeks I will take pieces from my journal and post them here on my blog in order to share the experiences that have changed my life forever. Pictures and related stories will also be posted. I hope my love for east European cultures - namely Slavic cultures - will one day express themselves in my life's work... to be a Dr. Metcalf would be fulfilling I think.