So, considering this is my very first post in the two months that I have been here, I guess that I better make it a veryy good one... I will tell about my journey, and about my time here so far....
I flew out of the Portland, Maine airport on Sunday, August 24th. My best friends, Erika and Matty came with Erikas mom, my mom, and my dad to the airport. We got there early, around, 10:15 or so, because my flight left at 1:00. Everything was going really smoothly, we got to the front of the line, showed them my ticket that the travel agency had sent us, and then we got a huge shock; my tickets had been cancled. We didnt understand how that was possible, because I had just called my travel agency the day before and they told me that everything was a go. It took us all the time until I HAD to get onto the plane to sort things out, but luckily, I got to get on the over booked plane to Dulles Airport, where I would meet Emily Garvin, another R.Y.E. from Florida going to Croatia. My flight from Portland to Dulles was quick, but my wait for Emily to get to Dulles was long. She finally got in, and she told me how her moms friend was a travel agent, and had gotten her Red Carpet Club tickets, so we could go wait in there. Loved that, haha. We then went to our plane, which left at 7:00 for Frankfurt, and we were seated next to eachother, accross the aisle, if that makes sense to you. We took off and since there was a lot of empty seats, including a middle row for three, we asked the flight attendant if we could move there. He said that it was fine, so we both got an aisle seat and a half on the very long ride from Dulles to Frankfurt. I remember waking up and watching a little bit of the Chronicles of Narnia 2, which I really wanted to see, but I wanted to sleep more. We both woke up when they were serving breakfast, and I love airplane food, so that was good. The plane landed a bit after that and we had another long lay over in Frankfurt, although, we played a game in Frankfurt because we were looking for two more R.Y.E. boys from America, Greg and Kevin, who were also staying in Croatia. Unfortunatley, we didnt find them until we were loading onto the next plane. On the Frankfurt to Zagreb plane, I sat for the first time in an emergency exit seat. That was pretty cool. We all slept for a little bit, but for the most part we were all wide awake with excitement, looking out the windows to see what lay below us, wondering if it was our new home. We landed in Zagreb, one of the smallest airports that I have ever seen, especially an international one. We got off the plane, all smiling and excited because we were only a few minutes away from meeting our new families! Greg and Emily were actually staying in Zagreb, Kevin was going to Varaždin, and I to Pula. I had a 3-4 hour drive ahead of me, with my new family. I was excited, but very nervous too. We all went to the luggage claim, and everyone got their things except for me, after ten minutes of waiting, we asked someone for help. They said to just wait longer. We did but we were all really anxious to meet our families, so we decided to just go meet them, without my luggage. We went out and there were sooo many people waiting. At first I didnt recognize my host family, but I shortly found them. We all hugged, and I told them about my luggage. We went to the lost luggage counter and they told me that they would get me my things in 2 days. Way to break the ice Allie!! We all got in the car, My host dad Marko, host mom Orhideja, host sister Dunja, and host brother Petar. We headed for Pula, where a lot more family awaited us. As soon as we got in the car though, the first song that came on surprised me, because it was Kid Rock and that song....All Summer Long?... or something like that. So that long car ride passed, we got back to their house, and we were all greated with atleast 8 other family members. They showed me the room that I would be staying in, the room of their oldest daughter, Anja, who is staying in Pennsylvania this year, and then we ate. Then, around 11:00PM they told me to get into the car because we were all going to go on a walk. We went to this beach, tourist area, and walked around this little beach. Petar and I played soccer with a pine cone, while Orhideja, Marko, and Dunja watched. They were nice people, but we had our differences, so I switched families, and now I currently live with my best friend Paola, and her mom Ana. They are the greatest people I have ever met, and I am pretty sure that I never want to leave Croatia!
Trips that I have done: I have gone to Zagreb, and then to the Plitvice Lakes, and they are absolutley breath taking, the most natural beauty in the whole world. It is untouched natural beauty. I went with Rotary there, and then the next day we went two these two amazing castles. Veliki Tabor and Trakoscan. Croatia is beautiful, not only because of the coast, but also because all of the history in it. I have also visited the museum of Nikola Tesla, with my class, and that too was very amazing. I actually just got back from a weekend in Vienna, where all of the inbounds of Croatia,( Gaby-Brazil, staying in Zagreb, Hannah- Vancouver Island, staying in Varaždin, Greb-New York, staying in Zagreb, Kevin-Pennsylvania, staying in Varaždin, Emily-Florida, staying in Zagreb, and Me-Maine, staying in Pula) went and stayed in a hostel with the 83 Austria inbounds. There we went to the Opera, saw the city, saw the Cathedral, also Schoenbrunn, and the Globe Museum and National Library. Amazing, really. There are also quite a bit more traveling that Ill be doing, such as the Euro tour, two possible ski trips, Dubrovnik, Graz, maybe going to Italy, maybe going to Ireland, and also Brussels. Im very excited, lucky, and thankful!
As far as school goes, to be honest, the only class hat I am active in is English, because it is the only class that is in English. I stay in the same room all day and the teachers come to our class room. I am slowly, but surely!, learning Croatian. I have a private teacher and we meet for about three hours a week. School here is a lot different than in America, or atleast from my school in America. Here, they stay with the same 30 kids, in the same room, for all four years of high school. The class that they are put into depends on what they are more intirested in. For instance, there is a language class, a mathmatical class, and things like that. Also, there are different high schools, like, after you go to primary school, depending on your grades, you go to different high schools. If you have bad grades, youll go to either Mechanical school, hair dressing school, nurse school, or something like that, where after four years you will get a degree and be able to go work. But if you have good grades, you get into the Gimnazija, where my sister and I go, where after four years you dont get a degree, but you have to take a National test, sort of like the SATS, and there after, you have to go to college to do any type of work. College here is not expensive at all, but there arent that many colleges. That being said though, each college is nice, and with all of the colleges, you will deffinatly find the college with your intirest.
I am still trying to figure out how to upload pictures onto this blog, but when I do, Ill upload a lot of Croatia and its beauty, and all of the fun that I am having here.
-Allie
