"Custom leads to adaptation and loss of consciousness" Bernard Baars

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Ok! I admit it, I am living in Croatia for 1 year and 4 months and half. It’s kind of hard to admit because it seems too much time. Then I read that quote which is in the title and it made me think...

And yes, I agree, there are now many things which I don’t even realize anymore that I wouldn’t do, say, accept, understand or like if I was in Portugal. Yes, I am losing conscious of the cultural differences and I take many things already has granted in my life in Croatia. So I decided to make a list of things I got used to and other things which I still haven’t got used to it.

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Sorry if it’s too long but I didn’t have much time ;)

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Things I got used to:

- To travel daily by tram without ticket

- To live in a city with no hills, which is opposite to any place I have ever lived

- Think in Kunas (Croatian currency)

- Travel by train anywhere including many other countries, basically to live in central Europe!

- Ask for a beer and expect a half a litter beer at least

- Drink coffee with milk and not expresso

- To say “Bok” and “Dobartek” instead of “Oi” and “Bom apetite”

- Cabbage salad (couve!crua!)

- Enter the bus in any door, including the back door

- To live in a very green city

- Comfortable seats in all coffee shops

- To read “ž” like “j”, and “j” like “ie”, “nj” like “nh”, “lj” like “lh”…

- Being random

- People singing anywhere anytime

- People speaking loud

- Being open-minded about sexuality (mine and others) and sexual jokes

- Accept sexual jokes of people I have meet 30 minutes ago

- Tell sexual jokes everyday

- Guys opening the door for me

- Lack of political games in AIESEC

- To have an MC office with window heheh

- Make fun of Slovenia size

- To wear a Croatian t-shirt

- That people think I am Croat and that people speak in Croatian with me

- X-cards and going to cantines

- Dorm life

- Balkans humor

- Croatian hospitality and nationalism

- Take the shoes off when I enter a house

- To “sing” Croatian music and enjoy it

- To be everyday out of my comfort zone

- To refer to Croatia as “my country” when referring to AIESEC

- Not to understand what people talk in the tram or in the streets and not care about it

- Bakeries with a lot of salty stuff and pizza slices

- Not to read subtitles

- To think (and dream) in English

- The security level even at night, even in parks!

- To buy something in a bakery and then eat it in a bar (basically a different place from the one which I bought it)

- Not to be polite

- People calling me “bitch”

- To have internet at home

- Go to supermarkets and not understanding the name tags

- Being called Cata and even introduce myself as such

- Too many things which I can’t recognize anymore…

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Things I still didn’t get used to:

- To have my best friends "living" in my PC

- The weather

- The lack of cultural diversity

- Not having sea near Zagreb

- To be with AIESEC’ers and to do AIESEC 24 hours per day

- People judging others based on first impression

- “Bitch is good, polite is not” mindset

- To be the only girl without makeup in faculty or in a party most of the time

- The fact that people don’t wait for me to answer their questions and continuously interrupt me

- To have friends here that I know that in one year from now won’t be part of my day to day life anymore

- Their wine (shitty) and wine with Coca-cola

- Lack of waves in the sea

- The fact that all the people with whom I work with were born in a country which does not exists anymore

- The kids speaking in Croatian so easily and I can't!

- Their “Turkish” coffee

- To use Croatian keyboard (Z and Y are opposite)

- Not to do other stuff besides AIESEC, not to attend concerts, not to go to non-aiesecers parties...

- To update my blog :p

- Not playing Boat Race every week

- Not having Bairro Alto once per week

- To drink Rakija

- Borrow money instead of lending money

- Snow :)

- To have posters with my picture

- That some people “pity” me because of my choice

- That I can’t read newspapers

- Expressing myself in English...

V2.4

I’ve turned 24 years old this week.

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It’s the second time I celebrate my birthday in Croatia. I got used to hear “sretan rođendan”. I received birthday wishes from over 100 people (thanks to facebook I guess). I am almost a quarter of a century. If I am 24 it means my brother is almost 34. I had a good excuse to invite people for a beer.

But… did I change? What changed? I still refuse to believe that I can’t change the world, I believe everyone has something worthwhile, I have hope that there is a solution for the world, I still like to sing in the street and to do other embarrassing stuff, I still have energy to party all night and wake up at 9am so I still feel like a teenager of 20 years old and sometimes less.

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And thanks to all of you who make part of my life and that made me feel better with my v2.4 than my v2.3 ;)

Let’s get things started...

After IC I would say that a new period of my life started. You know that feeling when a new year is beginning? The feeling that things can be different, that there is a change and above all there is hope that the New Year will be better than the previous one? That’s exactly the feeling I had during September and I still do :)

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First I got a new “home”. I’m now living in a student dorm and I love it! My own room with internet 24 hours, toilet and a fridge (I know these things seem very simplistic but in some situations they are not and I won't go into details. But believe me, when you are living abroad you start appreciating many more things that were taken as granted before).

Also, I finally managed to get my MC team together because my MC VP TM (from Ukraine) managed to get her visa finally. So we started working properly since then, I would say.

In the beginning of October we had our first national conference as MC current :) It was a very important conference because it kind of represents the kick off of our term, where EBs already have done some mistakes and where we have a clear picture of what we want to achieve. And besides that I think it was a very good conference from the feedback we received :)

This is my SPAHHHHH team (also) finally all together ;)

And here we have AIESEC in Croatia National Team (MC plus National Support Team) all together (finally also).

Then after that we had the visit from the Growth Network (GN) Board (AIESEC is divided in different regions of the world and the board that manages Central and Eastern Europe Region came to visit our country to check how are things going and give support to the country growth).

The person that came to visit us representing the GN board was Barbara who is from Brazil so I had opportunity to speak in Portuguese a lot. Obrigada por tudo guria ;)

Then this last week I went to visit AIESEC in Osijek for which I am responsible for. I think the visit was useful for them and I also had a great time there. Now they just need to make it happen.

The city center of Osijek.

Osijek EB plus me... also finally together! (Now we are only waiting for Ondro)

And at last the photo from a great night where I felt the good and warm hospitality from Slavonia.

And here I am today... Life is good and finally with my blog is completely updated!!! I hope I manage to keep that way for a long period but I won't promise ;)

The weirdest thing...

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A lot of people ask me if I miss home and Portugal, if I miss my family and friends, if I like the food and so on...

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Well, yes, I miss all of that but the weirdest thing is that my best friends live in my computer. I cannot hug them, have a beer with them, go to a concert and sing together with them, go for a dinner, share a walk on the park or simple share the silence of the sunrise after a hard party night. I cannot find support in their eyes, or the understanding of their look when I’m feeling down or when I’m feeling happy, I cannot “see” if they are having a good or bad day, I cannot even call when something great happens and I really want to share it and I cannot be with them to say in the right and needed moment “You can do it, I’m with you”.

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It’s not that I feel they are distant (the computer helps a lot) but it’s hard to share my life and to understand what is going on in their life's using words or pictures when before we were used to use gestures, smiles and expressions.

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It’s hard and I am having the exact same feeling right now... words are not enough...

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So, and just to clarify, if I am online doesn’t means that I am working or answering e-mails. Most of the time it means I’m spending time with my friends :)