Back in Zagreb after Erasmus in Vienna. Short visit to the center

I arrived back home a day and a half before and really needed a big break after everything. My bus arrived to Main bus station in Zagreb around midnight, my dad picked me up by car and went straight to me grandparents apartment at Jarun. I slept until 10 a. m. then headed to the Faculty of Architecture to get some papers at the Student office as I had to go to one high school with the student contract for the work I did back in November 2015 (while in Vienna).

It was great to be back home although the weather is not the best at the moment. I already got 100 messages from all the friends and familiar faces about my Erasmus experience in Austria, if I have time to meet up and other things... unfortunately, I am staying here only until the beginning of March and have tons of things to do so I think I will have to skip almost all of them. Yet I want to go to the cinema as it is cheaper and want to watch Deadpool and Hateful 8 in my favorite cinema - Cineplexx above Tkalčićeva Street in the Upper town.

I still have to find my room in Graz for the internship, I have one offer but I am not sure if it is going to be the best... I am not going to have the money from the stipend anymore so it makes it all a bit different. It is maybe 10 days before I leave yet no room that is 100% there for me. But something will come up.

Tons of things to do before Graz... in less than 2 weeks

I am almost done with the paperwork for Erasmus, just have to get a few signatures of my School of Design's representative and head to the office of Erasmus in Zvonimirova Street and then I am done with everything. I already wrote all the monthly reports, each month... did the survey on my stay in Vienna and have to finish the final assessment for English online. To be honest it takes a lot of time. I was unable to choose German (which would motivate me much more) since I had no B2 document or anything proving my German level. And I decided that before enrolling to Master at my Uni I want to go through B2 material and possibly reach C1 or around it, every day listen to German, read it etc... I did not have much time in Austria for all that and I did not want to close myself in the room to read it as that would be stupid but rather went out to explore city. I used mostly German when reading the news in the metro station, buying something in the shop (but let's be honest, that was like 2-3 sentences), sometimes had to translate things at the workplace and go to special stores to buy material or pick up something... Other great help were my flatmates of course, an Austrian and a Swiss girl whom I spoke in German with for the 99% of the time. Another person that I tried to speak to only in German was my Austrian neighbour and industrial designer who is now going to leave for Erasmus Semester in Italy. She was also patient and helped me a lot. And I tried to attend each week German language cafe at Brau Bar right next to the Alser Strasse U-bahn Station. There were other people who also helped but did not talk to them a lot.

There is also this competition which after a few days of writing makes it now impossible to give up. I wish I had more time to write since I have material from Vienna, Croatia, Switzerland and Japan but my obligations limited me and make me very tired. I spent on average 10 hours at the studio from Monday till Friday and a few times had to work from home. All that make me feel pretty much exhausted so a few times I fell asleep for half an hour or longer with my laptop and blog next to me.

New friend from Vienna doing Erasmus in Zagreb. Short tour to the center on Saturday night

Okay, I will write my summary and interesting things from the life of an intern in Vienna and compare it to Croatia. Also expect a video on my YouTube channel. Unfortunately had really no time there but will do it from here or Graz... I write everything down in my diary!

So, thanks to my Austrian friend and neighbour from Josefstadt she told me that her friend who is half Croatian half Austrian was going to do the Erasmus Exchange during Summer semester in Zagreb and that she could help me with tons of stuff by taking a bag or two with her. She came to Zagreb by car. So I contacted her and asked whether it would be possible to bring one bag with a winter jacket that took me lots of space in the baggage. We met there few streets away from Florianigasse and made a deal to meet on Friday or on weekend. We met then today.

After walking to Vijesnik tower we met there at the tram station and talked a little bit. Since I had a bit of free time we decide to take tram ride. Since we were not in Vienna anymore it was time to experience an average day of using our public transport. In German they say 'schwarzfahren', if you get me. There was nobody to check the tickets and we entered the trams actually at the bar Zlatni Medo near Zagrepčanka. We walked till there. It was her first time to go to the city center since she came here and in general she had no memory of Zagreb except for the main square. So I prepared some stories on our way there.

We left the tram at Trg maršala Tita and walked by the Croatian National Theatre, got into Frankopanska street and then passed by my School of Design which doors were closed. I also came across in Frankopanska my design colleague, have not seen her for 4 and half months so it was great.

I also have not been here in this part of the town since the end of December. The day earlier I went to Faculty of Architecture to get some papers but not towards the very center. We now walked into Ilica street - the longest street in Zagreb and then towards the main square. Now to our left emerged the funicular and the tower of Lotrščak [Loter-ščak]. I thought it might be good to climb up and have a view over the night scenery of Zagreb so we went up. I immediately remembered all the time with the analog camera here a year ago when Erasmus in Vienna was still just a thought. After Lotrščak I decided to leave the Parliament and the Government buildings for some other time as I easily fall into telling a story and trying to be a city guide. But had not that much time. So we went by the banks and the sculpture of A. G. Matoš (a poet) where while I was talking a story of all of us who at least once in our life time climb on his head... two girls were having fun climbing on his head and taking selfies. So it was all truth.

Walking downstairs till the Radićeva Street and on the main square. There was of course some sort of a tent but not that terrifying as usual. I explained her the meaning of "let's meet under the clock' or 'under the ban Jelačić' and about the things in the area. There I entered my number 14 to get me to the river and soon got home.

The rest of my days there I tried to spend as well with my pet. We used to go almost every day to the Park of Vjekoslav Majera.

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