As 3 months passed after my arrival here, I wanted to show you how lucky I feel to be here in Zagreb. First thing I did here was to meet other EVSers and Erasmus people. There are approx. 500 Erasmus people for winter semester and I could only meet 200 people more or less 😀
1.As you can see, the first advantage is that everytime you go out, you meet new people even though there are some closed spanish and dutch groups (no offense).
2.ESN provides numerous activities which address any kind of people.
Activities: welcome week, free workshops, board game evenings, laser tag tournaments, hiking, ice hockey, football, rugby, basketball, ice skating activities, trips, city tours, pub quiz, music quiz, movie nights, language tables, halloween party, xmas party, party in klub every thursdays for erasmus students, dinner and lunch meetings.
Click on the photos to see more from ESN album! I tried to participate most of the activities when I had time (I am only in the first 2 photos ). Finally I learned how to skate on ice by the help of Erasmus people. 😀
3. While talking about ESN people, let’s talk about local people as well. They are all warm people and they speak English! Yes they do! I feel so bad as a student of English Language departmant when I speak to them. 😀 The reason is that they hear a lot of English from TV and they don’t use dubs for foreign movies or tv shows but subs.
4. Let’s talk about money currency. Croatia uses HRK (kuna) and 1 euro equals to 7.43 kuna, so if you are thinking of doing Erasmus or Evs, select a non euro user country like Croatia!! 😀
i. Uber: In Croatia, Uber is very common and almost everyone uses it. It’s very cheap and it saves your life 😀
ii. Food: Groceries are a little bit expensive but drinks aren’t that much if you know what I mean 😉 If you wanna eat outside, you need to explore some non-touristic places but even in the city center you can find cheap and good places.
iii. Ćevapi and Štrukli. You will be passionate about them for sure!
5. I don’t know if you have this information BUUTTT Zagreb was voted the best Christmas Market in Europe for the third time in a row. You can see in the photos below how fancy Zagreb is in Christmas. B-)
6. You are living in nature if you are living in Zagreb. If you are bored from city life, my first advice would be Maksimir park. Take a bike, ride around, and just sit in front of a lake and watch the sunset. This is the real inner peace! If you want to have more peace, go to Jarun Lake because it is bigger! (I haven’t been there yet tho 😀 ) You can hike in Sljeme (this I recommend a lot especially for the ones who aren’t used to seeing snow like me. In addition, you’ll have a beautiful Zagreb view underneath your feet)
7. You can go to trips nearby very easily! Go to Plitvice Lakes to see beautiful waterfalls (a photo of my crazy jump in Plitvice below), Castle Trakošćan, Medvedgrad, if you want to see more different structures, buildings then go to Varaždin. If you wanna swim, go to Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Split. Swim in Zadar no matter how cold the weather is and get sick the day after like me! Or just go there in summer 🙂 Even though it is a bit far, go to Dubrovnik and sit on Iron Throne! go to Rijeka for Carnival!
8. Rakija! It’s a kind of fruit brandy and you’ll feel delighted to have this drink in your Erasmus/EVS life! 🙂 (blueberry one is my fave 😀 )
Now let’s talk about some drawbacks as well. You know, nothing is perfect.
- Croatian language is even harder than German language. It has 7 cases, dude come on! seriously?
I wasn’t kidding. 2. Visa visa visa! Think 3 times if you are coming from Non-Eu country like me. Croatia isn’t a schengen country so you have to apply for a schengen visa here. All the process and everything kills you.
3. NO there is no 3. Croatia isn’t perfect, but so close <3 I don’t know how to leave here after 1 year passes.
I hope this article will be informative for those who is thinking of doing Erasmus/ Evs in Zagreb. any questions? contact me! gulsahcangc7@gmail.com
This article is a part of EVS project “Cro – EU – Planet Earth” funded by European Union. Objective of our project is to inform Croatian youth and involve them in various educational, work related, volunteering and traveling opportunities. This event is just one of many to be organized! If you want to be updated on various opportunities Planet Earth has to offer please subscribe to our mailing list by sending us email on urbanamladez@gmail.com with title “Subscribe” and put in your name and surname and year of birth.