In my opinion, traveling is the best teacher of patience. This week I went to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This is a place I have always wanted to see because of its beauty, history and culture. However, traveling there took over 24 hours and multiple modes of transportation. The city was well worth the wait.
TRAVEL NEWS
Local Time: 9:36 am
Time Zone: Central European Time Zone
Location (Latitude, Longitude): 48.197354, 17.25746
How far did I travel this week? 2,385 miles
How far have I traveled on your journey so far? Over 10,000 miles
How did I get around this week? I traveled by foot, boat, train, plane and car
What was the most interesting place I visited this week? Dubrovnik, Croatia
Other travel news: This past week my friend Sara and I traveled to the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, a country along the Adriatic Sea. It took us over 24 hours to get there by bus, train and car, even though the country is not any further than Boston is from North Carolina. Getting to Dubrovnik took so long, because the roads to the city are very curvy, narrow and long, so that increased our travel time significantly. The long travel hours were completely worth it, as the city is absolutely breath taking!
NATURE NEWS
Weather Tally (enter the # of days for each weather type):
Sunny: 6
Cloudy: 1
Partly cloudy: 0
Rainy: 1
Snowy: 0
Windy: 0
What is the air temperature right now? 65°F
How was the weather this week? The weather this week has been fabulous! In Croatia, it was warm enough for me to swim every day! In Slovakia the weather is perfect: sunny, slightly breezy and warm.
What animals did I see this week? While I was in Croatia I saw a lot of peacocks on an island called Lokrum.
What was the coolest thing I saw in nature this week? While I was swimming in Croatia, I saw an octopus!
Man fishing for octopus
Other Nature News: I love wearing goggles and swimming in the ocean. You never know what you’re going to see! If I could SCUBA dive, I would! While I was swimming in Croatia last week, I came upon a reef and the number of fish, coral and aquatic life I saw was astounding! There were sea urchins, octopi, anemones, colorful fish and squids! It’s amazing what’s swimming around our legs when we go in the water!
OUR NEWS
What languages are spoken here? Croatian
What type of money is used here? Croatian Kuna
How much does a bottle of water cost? 15 kuna
What was the best meal this week? This week I had a delicious meal of calamari or fried squid. It was soaked in a garlic and oil sauce and lightly sprinkled with lemon juice. It was perfectly crispy and chewy, fabulous!
Croatian folk band
What music did I listen to this week? I listened to traditional Croatian music, which is a combination of Mediterranean music with mandolins, but also has a Slavic sound with fiddles and violins.
What activity was the most fun this week? Getting to swim again was an amazing feeling. I love swimming and was happy to be in the sea after such a long and cold winter.
What did I read this week? I am currently reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It’s an American classic, and so far it’s pretty good!
What games or sports did I play this week? As usual, I went running. I am currently training for another marathon so I got to get back into shape!
Other news from this week: This week is the Hockey World Cup. Slovaks are very passionate about hockey and follow it with great passion and intensity. My own interest in the sport has been rather tepid; I’ll watch it, but I won’t rearrange my day to make sure I can see a game. This week, however, was the match between the US and Slovakia, so naturally I had to watch the game. Unfortunately, we lost with the final score being Slovakia: 4, US: 1. It was rather embarrassing and my students are still teasing me about it!
