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Monday, October 1, 2012

September 21: Coffee

On the eve of my first night in the dorm, I planned many things I needed/wanted to accomplish on day two. Jet lag is a bitch and I woke up in the middle of the night and spent four hours making these plans only to fall back asleep and wake up a noon. Oh well, I just cut the list in half:

Task #1 coffee (insert use of Croatian language skills here)
Task #2 Hair Dryer
Task #3 Train ticket for the weekend (I'm going visit my friend-same as yesterday, I don't know that many people here yet-in Rijeka on Saturday morning)
Task #4 Internet: to find place to live and get out of dorm as quickly as possible.

I met my friend again but this time I manage the tram all by myself into the main square (Trg Ban Jelećica) and grabbed a map from the tourist info center. We met and took a short walk to a seafood restaurant that was on ulica Nikola Tesla. Now I know what my heavy metal loving cronies back in Minnesota are thinking…Tesla, wasn’t that a sweet metal band from the 80s???? It was, but Nikola Tesla is also the pretty famous inventor of the AC electrical current (check out this oatmeal post http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla)-I’m going to make an awesome tour guide someday. I tried new kind of fish, the menu called it sea queen in English but in Croatian it is orada. I didn't know what either of these two things are, but wikipedia has since told me it is Sea Bream, a freshwater whitefish.  It was prepared as a whole grilled fish, but the waiter cleaned it for me before I ate it. It was very flavorful. After this I had my first cup of coffee at a café (kafića)-Hallelujah, the European know how to make coffee, it’s none of this watery brewed stuff I buy in America because I’m too cheap for espresso. A cup of espresso with a little bit of milk is 10 kuna, roughly $1.50. Awesome.  



After this my friend walked me over to a bookstore and pointed out an internet café, we said goodbye (until I was to meet her in Rijeka the next day!) and parted. I looked around the book store while, bought a cute little green moleskin notebook that has become my personal dictionary for all new words I’m learning and I left to find my way to the train station. After walking in the wrong direction, hoping on the wrong tram (I knew the right one, apparently I didn't care-must be the jet lag), and getting another one, I arrived at the train station to by my ticket to Rijeka. This was my first exchange in Croatian, I was so proud. Apparently it worked too because I’m on said train right now righting this post!

After this adventure I returned to a square that I was at earlier and bought a hair dryer, how exciting. Then I found the internet café where I managed to order a beer, ask for the wifi password, and begin catching up on the facebook I had been missing out on….yeah right, I actually spent some time looking for apartment (in case the closet doesn't work out) and emailing some friends. I had another beer and realized it was 8:30 and I was starving. I think my lose 10lbs in a new city because you don’t want to/don't know how to eat plan would work splendidly here if I stopped substituting beer for food. Anyway I found a place called the Bulldog and order another beer (come on, it’s me, would you expect anything less?).  I acquired a food menu and order a pizza, all na hrvatskom, small victory! When the pizza came the waiter moved  me into the bar’s bistro so I was way from all the smokers. There I made my first friend. He was an older gentleman and the waiter that spoke very good English but I tried to a little of my skills on him and he was immediately surprised... in the where the hell does an American learn Croatian???? I guessed the way I clearly pronounced the number 38 (the price of the pizza) was impressive (sarcasm here people, but every small step is a step in the right direction). He told me he was done speaking English then and we had a nice conversation. I told him I was going to be around for a while and I would come back.  I left feeling like the day was a small success. I managed to find what I need and speak the language a bit. I even had leftover pizza in my possession to eat for breakfast the next day and gave directions to a French tourist (only because I had a map and he didn't). As I  walked back to the main square (see below), rode the tram home, and recognized some of the sights on the way, I thought this really will be an adventure, but today was easier than yesterday and I’m sure tomorrow will be even better. Luckily, I have a data package on my phone was texting with my sister (Devon) about the whole thing before I fell asleep. I love technology. I packed up most of my stuff and fell asleep to prepare for an early morning train ride to the coast.



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