Monday, August 28, 2006
Frustrated
Im supposed to learn Swahili in 10 days before leaving for my host family in a village called Usangi. I don't get it. It seams to me to be a language made out of consonants and weird, unpronounceable sounds. My head hurts and im constantly tired. I want to learn!!!! Why cant there be a way to program your brain to so that you can learn the languages you want. Just connect it to a machine aor something?? angry!!! stupid, stupid language!!! im sooo lost....
Thursday, August 17, 2006
24 hours in Split
I wake up at around 9 am in a small apartment just outside the center of Split. Me and my friend Ingrid shares it with 5 Australians. We both hurries to take a shower and get dressed before they get up. We go outside and head for the supermarket just across the street to buy some breakfast. Bread and bananas it is. Like it has been for almost 2 weeks now. Poor students back packing gotta settle for the cheapest, and we like bread and bananas as well! Anyway, we go back up to our room to eat. Now the Australians are starting to move around in their room after a heavy night out. As we finishes our breakfast the Australians emerge from their room and we leave for town.
Our first post on the program for today is St. Dominus' bell tower that is 60 meters high and dates from the 13th century. The tower is not hard to find as it is higher than most of the other buildings in Split and can be seen from all over town.
At around 10 we arrive and start to climb the tower. We enjoys the view as we get higher and higher up. We're exhausted as we reach the top and off course we blame it on the heat, what else could it possibly be?!? The view is magnificent!! We can see absolutely everything there is to see so we take some time up there to really enjoy the spectacular view before we head down again!!!
As we get down we walk a bit around the town to see the small, narrow alleys that this town consists of and aswell the hundreds of shoe stores that we plan to visit this afternoon. After almost half an hour of wandering we decide to leave the city center and walk across the park called Marjan that is situated just outside the city center. We have had enough of stone towns for the moment and wants a bit of peace and quiet.
The park turns out to be perfect. Green hills, threes that throws shadows on us as we climb the 1005 m high mountain inside the park. Birds and grasshoppers is all we can hear, and from time to time we also hear something in the bushes, snakes i think. There are white benches every 50 meters or so, it gives me a feeling of serenity, it's so calm. We sit down every now and then, not because we're tired, but just too look, to take in over us the beautiful landscape that surrounds us.
After maybe an hour walk we reach the top, and yet another beautiful view opens up before us. Blue sea, white beaches and even more green hills! We decide immediately which beach we will go to, to cool down as soon as we get down. The sun is shining and the day is at it's warmest. We descend, descend and descend until we reach the beach we had chosen. We leave all our stuff on the beach, takes our clothes of and runs into the cooling water. Wonderful!!! We lay down on the white pebble beach to dry of before we head back to Split.
On the way back we start to get hungry as it is now nearly 2 pm so we stop at this small store and buy water, bread and bananas. Our beloved meal. It's what we eat for every meal except for dinner. We eat in the shadow of some threes and watch a couple throw sticks at their dogs that run around near us.
At around 3 pm we're back in the center of Split, tired after the long walk. My friend decides to go back to the apartment to have a siesta before we start on our shoe shopping round. I decide to lay down at the Riviera under the palm threes and relax there. I brought my book, my music and my camera which is more than enough to keep me company. I lay there just watching people pass by, looking at all the birds that flies above me and admiring the palms and the beautiful view of the city walls. I absolutely love the city of Split!
After 2 hour's I go back to the apartment. I walk bear foot and notice that people look at me like I am some kind of weird person. But I like it. I like being that backpacker that walks around bear foot and that looks poor, but happy! And I look back at the people like they are weird because of some reason, and it gives me a feeling of satisfaction. I smile as I walk through the city all alone and bear foot.
I take a quick shower and get dressed again, cus now I'm going shoe shopping! I am a girl, and I love shoes, even though I walk without them whenever I can...Split is absolutely the best city I've ever been to if you wanna find a pair of good, nice and cheap shoes! We find shoe stores on every corner and we go crazy. There are too many shoes to choose between and since I don't have much money, I can't buy more than one pair eighter...We find a pair each after having been through what feels like a hundred shops and head for our favorite restaurant!
We order what we have ordered every day for dinner; one pizza margarita to share and a beer each. Around 8 dollars we pay for this. That I call cheap!!!
We sit, eat and watch the people that seek cover for the rain that suddenly started poring down, feeling very happy that we are under roof. Old women pass by with white plastic bags on their head so that their hair won't get wet. We laugh and have a good time.
As the rain stops we pay and head for the Riviera. That's where things happens at night time. We sit down by the water and watch the people pass. I like that. Just sitting down looking at people, wondering what they are going to do to night, why they are here and what they are thinking about...Weird, I know. After some time we decide we want an ice cream. They have the best ice cream I have ever tasted here and they have every flavor you can imagine! My favorite is definitely "cookies and cream"!
Back at the Riviera we sit down again and enjoy the ice cream as we plan the next few days of our holiday. It has been a good day, and when midnight approaches we go to bed. More adventures are waiting for us in the week to come...
Our first post on the program for today is St. Dominus' bell tower that is 60 meters high and dates from the 13th century. The tower is not hard to find as it is higher than most of the other buildings in Split and can be seen from all over town.
At around 10 we arrive and start to climb the tower. We enjoys the view as we get higher and higher up. We're exhausted as we reach the top and off course we blame it on the heat, what else could it possibly be?!? The view is magnificent!! We can see absolutely everything there is to see so we take some time up there to really enjoy the spectacular view before we head down again!!!As we get down we walk a bit around the town to see the small, narrow alleys that this town consists of and aswell the hundreds of shoe stores that we plan to visit this afternoon. After almost half an hour of wandering we decide to leave the city center and walk across the park called Marjan that is situated just outside the city center. We have had enough of stone towns for the moment and wants a bit of peace and quiet.
The park turns out to be perfect. Green hills, threes that throws shadows on us as we climb the 1005 m high mountain inside the park. Birds and grasshoppers is all we can hear, and from time to time we also hear something in the bushes, snakes i think. There are white benches every 50 meters or so, it gives me a feeling of serenity, it's so calm. We sit down every now and then, not because we're tired, but just too look, to take in over us the beautiful landscape that surrounds us.
After maybe an hour walk we reach the top, and yet another beautiful view opens up before us. Blue sea, white beaches and even more green hills! We decide immediately which beach we will go to, to cool down as soon as we get down. The sun is shining and the day is at it's warmest. We descend, descend and descend until we reach the beach we had chosen. We leave all our stuff on the beach, takes our clothes of and runs into the cooling water. Wonderful!!! We lay down on the white pebble beach to dry of before we head back to Split.
On the way back we start to get hungry as it is now nearly 2 pm so we stop at this small store and buy water, bread and bananas. Our beloved meal. It's what we eat for every meal except for dinner. We eat in the shadow of some threes and watch a couple throw sticks at their dogs that run around near us.
At around 3 pm we're back in the center of Split, tired after the long walk. My friend decides to go back to the apartment to have a siesta before we start on our shoe shopping round. I decide to lay down at the Riviera under the palm threes and relax there. I brought my book, my music and my camera which is more than enough to keep me company. I lay there just watching people pass by, looking at all the birds that flies above me and admiring the palms and the beautiful view of the city walls. I absolutely love the city of Split!
After 2 hour's I go back to the apartment. I walk bear foot and notice that people look at me like I am some kind of weird person. But I like it. I like being that backpacker that walks around bear foot and that looks poor, but happy! And I look back at the people like they are weird because of some reason, and it gives me a feeling of satisfaction. I smile as I walk through the city all alone and bear foot.I take a quick shower and get dressed again, cus now I'm going shoe shopping! I am a girl, and I love shoes, even though I walk without them whenever I can...Split is absolutely the best city I've ever been to if you wanna find a pair of good, nice and cheap shoes! We find shoe stores on every corner and we go crazy. There are too many shoes to choose between and since I don't have much money, I can't buy more than one pair eighter...We find a pair each after having been through what feels like a hundred shops and head for our favorite restaurant!
We order what we have ordered every day for dinner; one pizza margarita to share and a beer each. Around 8 dollars we pay for this. That I call cheap!!!
We sit, eat and watch the people that seek cover for the rain that suddenly started poring down, feeling very happy that we are under roof. Old women pass by with white plastic bags on their head so that their hair won't get wet. We laugh and have a good time.
As the rain stops we pay and head for the Riviera. That's where things happens at night time. We sit down by the water and watch the people pass. I like that. Just sitting down looking at people, wondering what they are going to do to night, why they are here and what they are thinking about...Weird, I know. After some time we decide we want an ice cream. They have the best ice cream I have ever tasted here and they have every flavor you can imagine! My favorite is definitely "cookies and cream"!
Back at the Riviera we sit down again and enjoy the ice cream as we plan the next few days of our holiday. It has been a good day, and when midnight approaches we go to bed. More adventures are waiting for us in the week to come...
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