back to school...

Hello again!

Well my vacation is drawing to a close.  And it has officially been one month since I’ve been here.  Gosh time really does fly!  It’s been a fun and exciting time here so far but I think it’s definitely time to get down to business.  I haven’t been in real school since December and if I wait any longer I won’t want to go back.

I attended my faculty’s orientation last Friday and everything went well.  It’s a pretty nice building and it’s easy to get around too.  Here is my class schedule for the upcoming semester.

Monday               12-2 p.m.             Genealogies of Citizenship

Tuesday               12-4 p.m.             Contemporary Issues in the International Community

Tuesday               6-8 p.m.               Communication Management

Wednesday        2-4 p.m.               Communication Management

Thursday             8-12 p.m.             Selected Problems of Contemporary Political Theories

Thursday             12- 4 p.m.            International Organizations        (alternate)

Friday                   12- 4 p.m.            Methods of Qualitative Analysis

I’m pretty interested in seeing how classes compare to those I’ve taken at home.  I’m just excited in general to get the semester started.

Besides preparing for school I’ve been relaxing and going out with friends.  It’s nice because so many people who I met through the language course are also in the Faculty of Social Sciences.  There are not many courses taught in English so we will all be getting familiar with each other even more.

Annika, Vanessa, and I have also been planning a trip next weekend to the town of Ptuj.  There is a huge carnival going on that happens every year and is known throughout the country.  The people dress up in these interesting cow costumes and parade through the streets in order to “scare the winter away”.  I’m sure there will be a lot more to see and do as well.  We will be “couchsurfing” in Ptuj.  This will be my first experience couchsurfing and I’m glad my travelmates are experienced.  The website couchsurfing.org is set up for travelers who can pick and choose hosts in the cities the plan on traveling to.  You simply tell the host when you will be arriving and the give you a place to stay.  We are staying with a German guy who lives outside of Ptuj and it sounds like he will be helping us get around and maybe go to the carnival with us.  Anyway I’ll let you know how that goes once I get back.

I’ll also be going to a weekend getaway trip the first weekend of March.  The student organization office has a get to know each other weekend at the ski resort Kranjska Gora especially for exchange students.  A bunch of people I know are going and I’m excited to meet even more people too!  Anyway I think I will have to rest up for this weekend considerably.  Here is the itinerary given to us by the student office:

As you can see, much of the weekend involves drinking yourself senseless.  I talked to a few students who went on this trip last year and they have said that you drink until you pass out and then the other students just carry you to your bed and in the morning you start all over again.  All this sounds oh so appealing but I think I will focus my energy on trying to meet people while semi-sober and enjoying the scenery.  Being able to legally drink is still a pretty new thing for me.  I am a victim of the typical American college experience.  Of course we drink, it’s usually tolerated if we are careful but always seems to be a “hush hush” topic—probably because it’s illegal!  I find it so strange that here the office of student organizations is facilitating and encouraging this culture that is centered on drinking.  UMKC is a “dry campus” and our student office would never condone anything like that.  I’m not saying one way is better than the other but it is just hard to make the transition between paradigms.  I can see that this one aspect of life affects so many others, including priorities, points of view, and maturity.  I guess that’s the social scientist in me attempting to always see what is behind the obvious.  But enough analysis for now, I am looking forward to this weekend, it should be amusing.

Well one month is gone and 5 more to go!  Kind of missing the good ol’ U. S. of A. but I won’t le t that stop me from enjoying my time here!

Rainy Day

Hello Everyone,

I had written a previous entry but my computer disconnected from the internet minutes before I was going to post this. Ugh so here I am rewriting a previous post.  I am still enjoying a lot of rest and relaxation.  The bad weather has finally caught up with us here in Ljubljana though!  The past few days have been rainy and cold.  The rain actually turned to snow last night for a bit but I thankfully was able to watch from inside the apartment!

The past weekend was good, lots of dancing and clubbing with fellow exchange students.  I’m so glad to be able to have a group of people to go out with already.  And so many different cultural backgrounds as well.  I am quite fortunate.  Anyway, the music at the clubs is very nice, they enjoy mixing 60’s rock and roll with reggae and techno.  Johnny Cash and reggae was very good!  Lots of swing dancing too, I feel like I’m in a different era!  The next weekend is just around the corner too so more excitement to come!

Both of my roommates have been in their language class for the past few weeks so I’ve been a bum at home by myself.  I’ve done a little cleaning, exercising, and reading, during the day.  Once school starts next week I think I will miss having all this free time!  I also attempted to do some cooking but I think I am still in my sandwich and cheese and cracker phase of life while others excel at making more complicated dishes.  Hopefully I’ll come home with some good recipes!  Anyway my one claim to cooking fame involves candy but apparently they do not think corn syrup is important enough to sell at the supermarket L  So instead of wowing my friends with peanut brittle and cinnamon candy I had to settle for chocolate covered pretzels. Mehhh.  Still tasty though!

Ah here’s some good news!  My residency permit is in Ljubljana!  After sending many annoying emails to a lot of administrative officials I received an email in Slovene about how my permit had made it from DC to the Upravna Enota Office here in Slovenia (thank you google  translator!) .  They are now waiting for confirmation from the Slovenian Embassy in Zagreb to receive my permit.  So bottom line is I’m still waiting.  But hey at least it made it here. 

Some other good news is I have booked a trip for my spring break!  I am going to visit my friend Tom who I met in the hostel who lives in the UK.  I will be getting a tour of London from a true Britt.  I’ll be there for the epic wedding of the Prince and his woman that I keep seeing in the tabloids so that will also be interesting to witness.  I still have a few days to fill up too, maybe a weekend of Italy or somewhere in the Balkans! 

Tonight a group of us are going out to a pub to watch football (soccer).  I watched a game last night at home and it was very fast paced and actually interesting!  Who knows this may end up growing on me.  Anywho that’s all for now.  Until next time!

--Millicent Julia

Vacation time

Hello everyone!

 I am just waking up to Slovenia’s national holiday “Preseren Day”.  This day is dedicated to the beloved poet who has his own statue in the city center.  A lot of the museums are free and not much else is open so we are going to see the National Ethnographic Museum.  I believe they have a lot about immigration and history so it’s time to get me some learnin’!

Last Friday was the last day of my language course so I do not have to worry about school until the 21^st of February.  Hm so what to do?  Well I plan on continuing in my struggles to learn Slovene and use the teach yourself/rosetta stone method a few hours each day.  I still have a horrible American accent when I speak the few phrases that I know so I hope to get better at pronunciation, vocabulary, and the dreaded Slavic conjugation, in that order.  I also plan on continuing making my new hobby a habit.  Running!  Well run-walking more specifically but hey it’s a start.  There is a nice long street close to where I am currently staying at and I’ve been taking a quick jog there just about every day.  The running is short and the walking is long but I just keep thinking about bikini season and wowing everyone with a nicely toned bod in time for summer.  Ahh if only I could instantly have abs.  I am hoping to start a Pilates class in the university fitness center soon.  If worse comes to worse Vanessa and I will do Pilates via YouTube.  After breakfast and before the museum I plan on going jogging in Tivoli Park.  It has quite a lo t of trails and is a huge park next to the government district downtown.   Cooking and cleaning and a little bit of partying will also be in order ;)

This past weekend was great!  Vanessa and I took a few trips to see the different regions of the country.  We went to Piran for one day.  It’s considered the “pearl of the Slovenian coast” and it was so pretty!  It was quite strange traveling just a few hours from the big, busy city to see such a quiet town by the sea.  The sun was out and it was really warm.  We explored the coastline, ate gelato & pizza, and jogged by the sea.  In the evening we got a bottle of wine and sat and watched the sunset over the water/fog.  We then hiked up the huge hill to see the view from the church.  It was pretty dark by then so all you could see was a huge void of nothingness where the sea was, quite cool.  We got up early to watch the sunrise but it was too cloudy.  Anyway it was really nice and relaxing to get out of the city for a bit.

We also visited Celije, the oldest city in Slovenia.  It’s about a 1.5 hour train ride on the way to Maribor.  It was located in a big valley with a river surrounded by mountains.  We hiked up the massive mountain to check out the view from the castle.  It was definitely worth it.  I think we were the only ones that day who chose to hike over drive (obviously we have no car) because when we got up to the castle, we were the only ones sweating and gasping for breath ha!  Anyway it was also a nice day trip and a good opportunity to see what else Slovenia has to offer!

Still waiting for my permit but enjoying my time until then!

Feelin Fine

Those good vibes certainly found their way here!  Thanks everyone because I currently have a home, well sort of.  I had just booked the hostel for 4 more nights when I received a text from my friend from Finland who was looking for a temporary roommate for a month.  217 Euros precisely which is way cheaper than 92 euros for 4 days in a Hostel!  Anywho I packed my bags, cancelled my hostel reservation and took a cab to my new place.  Its a very nice apartment that I am sharing with Jaakko from Finland and Annika from Denmark.  I am so happy that I have a closet to temporarily put my things instead of a suitcase and roommates that will continue to be there!  Anyway this situation is perfect because I can wait for my permit and move into the dorms once I obtain it, if it takes more than a month I will be astounded!  So there you have it, good things come when you least expect them.  Got to get back to class!

**Parents- my phone card needs to be reloaded with minutes so I will call you once that is taken care of!

Adijo!