An overview of living in Zagreb as an Erasmus student. Part 1

As I am writing these lines, I am on the bus that will take me to Belgrade and then I will take another one to return to my hometown, Thessaloniki, Greece.

While my memories are still fresh, I decided to write this blog, to share my opinion about my last five months as an Erasmus student in Zagreb.

Before Erasmus

When I was filling my application for the Erasmus program, my only criteria about the place where I wanted to go was the prices and generally the cost of living. As long as I could survive with the money of the scholarship, everything else was the same. What matters is the people you meet and the new experiences you get. The places come in a second place.

My first choice was the capital of Spain, Madrid; and the second one was Zagreb. The coordinator of my faculty informed me that I couldn't get accepted in Madrid because the agreement between the universities was for a whole academic year, while I could go only for one semester. So, I got accepted from my second option, the University of Zagreb.

To tell you the truth, I hardly knew anything about the city of Zagreb and, generally, about Croatia. I knew it only as one of the countries that consisted the former Yugoslavia. Having the opportunity to live there for five whole months would help me finally learn some things about the history and the culture of Balkans.

Finding a partner to go with and paperwork

I study Political Science and, along with me, another girl from my faculty was accepted from the University of Zagreb. We didn't know each other, but we talked a little bit on Facebook and decided to go for a coffee to meet each other.

She was very nice and pleasant and we decided to look for the courses that we wanted to choose together, so that we could help each other and make the procedure easier. Having participated again in an Erasmus exchange programme three years ago, I knew some things more, so I tried to help her as much as I could.

After a long time of talking with professors, sending e-mails to both our university and the University of Zagreb, and getting signatures from everyone who was required to sign our papers; finally, it was time for the summer holidays. Before saying goodbye for the summer, we met again for a coffee and decided that we could search for a flat or a house together, and be flatmates, after the holidays. Also, our exam period in September would be over at the same time, so we could also travel together.

Then, we had a big - almost 2 months - break of all the paperwork and worrying about flats and courses. I was supposed to work for the summer to collect and save some money for my first time there, but at the end the plans had to change. So, at least, I had two months of holidays and relaxation.

Accommodation

At the beggining of September, we met one more time and started looking for a flat over the Internet. We wanted to come up with five or ten options, so that we could go and see them when we would arrive in Zagreb, and choose the best. Of course, we didn't want to pay any deposit over the Internet, and also you people, never trust anyone over the Internet, because there are a lot of people who get scammed by frauds and loose a lot of money.

After talking via e-mail or Facebook with some landlords, we had collected some useful information. We just had to book our ticket to Zagreb and decide which mean of transportation we wanted to take.

How to get to Zagreb and the cheapest mean of transport

Taking a direct flight was impossible and generally the option of the plane, was very expensive. The cheapest option was to take the train from Thessaloniki until Belgrade and then catch a bus until Zagreb. However, due to the situation with the immigrants, it was impossible to find train tickets because there is only one train connection every day between Thessaloniki and Belgrade, and during that period it was overcrowded every day.

So, the only affordable option was to take the bus instead of the train to Belgrade. The price was 50 euros, but we were able to find seats and the trip would be five to six hours shorter.

The trip to Zagreb

In the afternoon of 22nd of September, the time had arrived. We put our heavy luggage in the bus and our journey had just started. We had eleven hours ahead until Belgrade, so it would be a long night. We spoke a little bit and then fell asleep. At 2. 30 in the morning, the bus arrived at the main bus station of Belgrade. The other bus that we had to take would leave at 7. 30 in the morning, so we had a couple of hours. Because of the late time and our heavy luggage, we couldn't walk around the city, so we decided to wait at the bus station.

Although we were exhausted, the time passed very fast. We met a lot of strange but funny people that night, and every one of them had their own unique story. One of these people was a Serbian guy who helped us buy the tickets to Zagreb and stayed with us for a coffee until our departure.

At 7. 30 the bus left and about one o'clock in the afternoon we were finally in Zagreb. Now, we had to find the location of the hostel that we booked for the next days.

The first days in Zagreb

The first night in the city

We were very lucky because the hostel was located very close to the bus station where our bus arrived. We got lost a couple of times, but it is normal if you are in a foreign city and country and you don't have a map.

Finally, we managed to find the hostel and decided to relax for a couple of hours. When we woke up, we said that we would go for walk around the city center. My first impression was nothing special because it was night and we couldn't see the city clearly. However, we knew that we had a lot of months ahead of us, so we weren't disappointed.

Looking for accommodation once we were there

From the next day on, we started calling landlords to find a flat. We were quite unlucky the first two days, because a lot of the flats that we had checked over the internet had already been rented or were outside the city and far away from the university. We were a little bit disappointed because we didn't want to rent an expensive flat, but our options were fewer and fewer.

Hopefully, one of these days we found a cheap place close to our faculty over the Internet. I called the landlord but he was able to speak in English, so I just asked him for the adress and we decided to go and check it out.

After two hours of wandering around the city and the neighborhood, some people helped us find the bar of the landlord which was directly next to the house. He showed us the house and we decided that it could fit us. The price would be 320 euros per month with the expenses included, so we wouldn't had to think about the bills every month.

Everything seemed good, so we decided to rent the house. However, when we talked with the friend of the landlord, who was there to do the translation, he told us that he didn't want to give us the house because it would be only for five months. He wanted a longer contract, and he said the minimun was one year. We couldn't afford it because our scholarship would last up to February, and also we had to return to Greece for the summer semester. So, we pushed him a bit and finally persuaded him to think about it for two days and then we could call him again to hear his answer.

In the meanwhile, we had to change our hostel and find a new one for the next days. Also, we were calling to check other flats in case his answer would be negative, but we didn't have any luck. After two days, we called him and he told us the good news: he decided to give us the house, and furthermore, we could live some days there for free, so as not to pay for a hostel anymore; as long as we clean it by ourselves. We agreed, of course, and went back to the hostel to start packing our stuff.

The next day, we woke up much more relaxed than the earlier days, and after a few hours we were in our new house waiting for the real Erasmus party life to begin.

This is the very first photo I took in Zagreb. It is a part of the main square.

We also had a yard with the dog of our landlord. Say hi to Kan!

My flatmate Ioanna in our new living-room! We apologize for the mess!

Cooking time!