Winter in Zagreb....was it ever going to end?

So everyone in Zagreb that is a veteran of winters here has told me this past on was the worst in several years. In turns out this year's winter in Minnesota takes the title as the most miserable season ever (according to friends and family), but Zagreb winter was a bit peculiar. This winter had a pattern of a big snow, complete melt, and a few warm days before the cycle started over again. It was a bit like a form of meteorological torture, as I thought spring had arrived on several occasions, only to awake once again to another snow day. In the end, spring skipped Zagreb and we straight to summer. Since it's now consistently warm and sunny with a few thunderstorms at night, I am certainly not complaining.

This photo was taken in the early hours of December 1st on my way home from a friend's place. While it didn't seam so bad, I woke up in the morning to this on my terrace (below) which I had to find my way through since I was entirely out of groceries...poor planning on my part. 

However unpleasant my trip down the hill to the grocery store (I didn't even bother to check if the market was open), I was able to get some good pictures of my street in the snow.

Of course all the snow above melted after several days and we experienced only a few blustery December days after this. On Christmas Eve, the weather was actually quite nice. It was dry and warm with a temperature near 65 degrees followed by a sunny and warm Christmas day.

I woke up on this morning in mid-January with only a few inches on my terrace but in the course of a few hours, this is what arrived. I ventured into to the center (which I should clarify is about a 2 minute walk down my hill) in order to hop a tram to see my Croatian Tutor. I never made it to the tutor, but I did make it to a cafe to have coffee with a few friends. The view from inside the cafe offered the great photo above. Later that day, my friends and I decided to make the best of it and built a snowman outside my place. 

A few more big snows followed in February but perhaps the most frustrating was this day at the end of March. I was so annoyed with the snow, which lasted nearly a week followed by another few days of rain, that I ran off to Venice in search of the sun. 

Even the gorgeous view from my living room window seemed a bit depressing as the winter continued....

September 20: Minneapolis-Newark-Munich-Zagreb

Day one in Zagreb began around two in the afternoon after about 20 hours of airports and travel (Minneapolis-Newark-Munich-Zagreb). The trip itself wasn't bad. The Lufthansa Airbus A340 was a probably the most technologically advanced airplane I have traveled on thus far. I’m pretty sure I only thought this because my seat was next to a stairway that led below the passenger area to a pod like deck that housed 10 bathrooms and what appeared to be an apartment for the staff.  I saw a flight attendant punch a code in a box near the ceiling where a door slid open and I saw a massive space that looked like some type of lounge….I was impressed, until a stewardess reminded us that only 10 people can be in the space at once since that is how many oxygen masks are available in the event of crisis. Luckily, I wasn't alone on the flight. I had another Fulbrighter with me that is also from Minnesota, Amy, which definitely helped with the nerves. 

Anyway, the arrival in Zagreb was exciting and I was thankful for our host from the U.S. Embassy for the ride and the help getting situated in my room. It’s a student dorm and it is everything you would expect that to be and maybe a little bit less; however it is incredibly cheap and I only have to stay here for a few days…er weeks L…until I find my own apartment. After a brief nap I realized the room had no toilet paper. If I was like my dad always traveled with a roll, this would not have been a problem. Alas, I’m not and was pretty much screwed. Welcome to Zagreb. However if this was to be the worst of my problems, I  figured I would survive. So I had a quick shower and I was ready to start exploring:

Task #1 find TP

Task #2 food

Task #3 phone

Task  #4 find place to live and get out of dorm as quickly as possible.

Lucky for me I had a friend in Zagreb that met me at the dorm and showed me how things work in the city. People speak very fast, just like I speak English, so understanding the language wasn't very easy. In fact on this first day it seemed almost impossible, but I kept telling myself that I was tired and it was new, it was bound to get easier. After a quick bite to eat, I bought a sim card for my phone and officially had a Croatian number. Better yet, a data plan so I could chat with my people back home J. My friend also helped me by a tram card, so I was mobile Andrea with a spiffy mobile phone. I  had arranged to view an apartment that was rented by two girls near the faculty where I’ll be working so I went that way around 7pm. The apartment was very nice, not big but not small, very bright, a few balconies, and a big bathroom. It even had a dishwasher, something I've rarely had in my apartments in America. It has two large bedrooms and a walk in closet….or I should say the room they were trying to rent to me. It was tiny. I’m talking not even 1/3 the size of the other bedrooms. It is cheap, so that is good, but the rent for this place is to be split evenly between the three of us. I was thinking that pretty much sucked so instead of jumping on it like my need for getting settled in was telling me to do, I resigned myself to email over the weekend and bargain to pay half the rent they are asking.  If that works, I’m willing to live in a closet for the cheap rent and opportunity to live with locals in a good location. The rent would be less than he amount Comcast steals from me every month for cable and internet in Pittsburgh.

After viewing the apartment ("stan" in Croatian) and a quick stop at a shop (can’t forget that TP), I hopped on tram and rode half of the way home with my friend, half of the way all by myself. I managed to get back to my room without incidence and settled in for the night. Ripping the entire series of Friends to my computer proved to be excellent thinking since I have no internet in this room and basically nothing to do. Reflecting on my day, I realized I had accomplished 3 of my tasks and was thinking about the 4^th. While I would have preferred to have seen a decent room and said yes right away, my dreams of a quick departure from the dorm are on hold for a while. However, my stop at the store also included the purchase of some cookies and a few liters of Staropramen. I had a safe place to stay, TP, and some beer-all in all, not a bad first day in Croatia.