Handball, student life, and a trip to Belgrade

Hello readers of the almost best blog in the world,

I'm sure you've all been eagerly waiting for updates from Zagreb and the wait is finally over. Before I get to Belgrade, I want to first talk about my life in Zagreb.

As announced in the title, I couldn't completely give up my habits from Germany. I 'signed up' for handball, which means I sent an email to someone and he said 'Sure, come over'. The training itself is different from what I imagined and would have liked. It's just throwing a few balls and maybe playing a bit, but with not many people. Before going to training, I was hoping for 20 people so that we could play the whole time, but no. It was still nice to hold a handball again, but I probably won't attend the training regularly, only when the desire to throw some balls comes back. The people there are very friendly, but I think I'm the only Erasmus student, so the common language is Croatian. The most important things are translated into English for me, but I still feel a bit left out because of that. Let's see how I handle this further.

I continue to enjoy my life in Zagreb to the fullest. Whether it's at least a weekly visit to the bouldering hall with friends or alone, having a cozy beer in the evening, or just sitting in the student dormitory playing cards. Slowly but surely, my exciting semester abroad is becoming a 'normal' study, which I don't mind at all. After all, I want to know what it's like to study here, and constantly having in mind that it's just an exception doesn't make it more authentic. That doesn't mean I'm not having fun and doing things. For example, this week there is a film festival in Zagreb, which is why I watched a film about the war in the Balkan countries (sorry to those who are familiar with it and I completely misname the topic). Its English title was 'May Labour Day' and it's really recommendable, especially if you want to learn about the things happening down here. Unfortunately, I didn't see any other films because honestly, the festival somehow passed me by... well, that will come again.

So, finally, what you've all been waiting for, Belgrade. About a week before the trip, I was asked: 'Do you want to go to Belgrade?' and since many of my friends have already been there multiple times, but I haven't, I couldn't say no to this offer. Who can say no in general to a trip with 11 others, two of whom you've known for about 3 weeks? The thing is, I had heard of Belgrade, but I had no opinion about the city or Serbia itself before. I had only heard about the tensions between Serbia and Croatia, which personally doesn't affect me. Well, the trip begins. Six hours bus ride with Flixbus, with double passport control at the border, and we were already in Belgrade, an incredibly beautiful city. That may be due to my non-existent expectations or simply because the city is really attractive. The main thing is that the city distracts from the rather 'worse' hostel, but it was sufficient and I'm not complaining about the price, and we were out all day anyway. The main attraction is an old, well-preserved castle, from which you can overlook the entire new town and the river of Belgrade. The beautiful weather added to the view. The old town itself was also worth seeing and, to my delight, mostly car-free. Many squares, small cafes and bars, many beautiful buildings, and thousands of statues of all kinds of people who are/were somehow important. In a way, I can highly recommend Belgrade as a city.

But unfortunately, there is a downside, and that is that racism and homophobia are very present in Serbia. Personally, I didn't directly experience it, but somehow I always had a bad feeling in my stomach. At the latest when I saw a person with a large swastika tattoo on their thigh, I felt a bit uncomfortable. Fortunately, I was always with the group and nothing else happened. I don't mean to say that every person in Serbia is a Nazi, but somehow I couldn't shake off the uncomfortable feeling. Anyway, the city was beautiful, the return journey adventurous.

For some inexplicable reason, we had different departure stations of the Flixbus on our tickets, and as luck would have it, I was the only one who boarded at the main bus station. Fortunately, I was an hour early to scout out everything, where I had to go, what I had to do, etc. So far, so good, but when I found out that I had to pay 109 dinars (about 1€) to get to the buses, it was over. I survived the whole damn weekend without withdrawing cash, and now the lady at the counter wants me to withdraw cash just to get to my bus?! Card payment was, of course, not possible, and the annoyed look of the woman wasn't helpful either. Obviously, none of the passersby wanted to lend me a euro, so I had to withdraw 500 dinars (~4.30€). In hindsight, it's not too bad because now I have a few bills as souvenirs, but at that moment it was very unsettling and stressful. (Sorry for the outburst)

So overall, Belgrade is a beautiful city, but the people scare me. My next destination is either Graz or Trieste, but I'm not sure yet. Until then, I'll continue to have a good time, enjoy the cheap beer and food, and maybe devote myself more to university.

Take care

William the Heat Avoider