Ljubljana, Slovenia?

Yes, you read the correctly, we went to Slovenia! To be honest, I didn't even realize the country of Slovenia existed, let alone did I believe I would ever venture to Ljubljana on a weekend excursion. I was both pleasantly surprised and extremely glad we made the decision to go because it turned out to be a wonderful and unique experience.

We heard of Slovenia through Alberto, who works the campus gate here at Instituto Filipin and also organizes and plans affordable and efficient transportation for the students studying at CIMBA. Due to our first travel/hostel experience, we decided we wanted to take a weekend off and let someone else transport us to Slovenia. Many other CIMBA students had the same idea, and around 80 students gathered, piled on 2 charter buses, and headed off.

Step #1: Find "Hostel Celica"

Luckily for us, we knew of other people that were staying in the same hostel so we could all walk together. Interestingly, we had heard of this particular hostel being quite infamous because it was an old converted jail.  Which although sounds a little creepy, it was anything but that. It is actually ranked "#1 Hippest Hostel" according to Lonely Planet. Megan and I had reserved 2 beds in an 8 person room, but when we arrived they had actually given us a 2 bed "cell" which we were thrilled about. It had many of the cell features, including bars on the door and window, but was modernized with wood floors and a "real" door for privacy. We had a nice loft bed, closet, and a community bathroom down the hall. This hostel is actually so popular that we could only reserve beds for one night, so we switched to another hostel the following morning. The experience was well worth the slight hassle of moving.

Step #2-Explore Ljubljana

Ljubljana is beautiful. It has that "European feel" and is a great place to walk around and explore. After we had moved our stuff to our next hostel, we spent the morning entering shops and stores (H&M was fun to run across :)), and we settled on a cafe located by the river for lunch. Before we left, we had heard that Ljubljana had Mexican food and we were SET on finding it. Surprisingly, there were a couple restaurants that served Mexican food, and since not everyone in our group wanted Mexican, we settled on a cafe with a little bit of everything...including quesadillas  and burritos. I am spoiled to El Rodeo back home, but wow, did this food taste good. It was definitely a "twist" on what I'm used to (the burrito contained cauliflower), but we left full and happy.

That afternoon we headed up to a castle, which can be seen from just about anywhere in Ljubljana. It is on the top of a hill and has breathtaking views. The inside was much more modern than what I had envisioned, but still a very worthwhile trek up the hill. We climbed up the tower, discovered a chapel, and spent a while exploring the various hallways and lookouts.

Step #3 - Fun Evening Out

Due to the cold temperature, we concluded that we better head back to our hostel to warm up and get ready for a night out. After dinner, the group staying at the hostel gathered together and went to a night club that was recommended to us. It was called "Cirkus," and as the name implies, had a circus theme. It was a CIMBA take-over which made for a comfortable and fun environment. We danced the night away, and after stopping at a pita window for a late night snack, headed back to our hostel.

Step #5-Enjoy the Day

We had seen most of the sights of Ljubljana the day before (and it was freezing cold), therefore, Megan and I decided to lay low the following day. Since we are both suckers for good food and coffee, we spent the day "cafe hopping" before heading home.

Still feeling extremely blessed by this opportunity, and looking forward to the weeks ahead!
-Hannah

Class & Beyond

It is hard to believe we have been in the beautiful mountains of the Veneto region for a week now! I am beyond grateful to be here. Paderno is a very small town, but so far the locals have been very tolerant of the 135 Americans that have moved into the Instituti Filippin, the catholic school that the program runs out of.  An example of the local Italian’s kindness was displayed on our second day when we visited a “Pasticceria” to have a famous Italian espresso. The owner made our drinks and when we were finished one of the girls asked him if we should bring our cups to the counter or leave them on the table and his response was, “Leave them, Italians are lazy. I’ll get them for you!” That small gesture and light-heartedness made us feel much more comfortable!

Tabacchi market across from campus

The first three weeks of class are an abnormal schedule due to added immersion activities meant to help the students get to know the area and each other better.  I have only had two classes so far because of this schedule, Intercultural Communication and Introduction to Management. Intercultural Communication is already one of my favorite classes. There are only 7 of us in the class, and our professor seems more interested in hearing about our travels than grilling us with quizzes.  My Introduction to Management professor is British and very entertaining. The coursework here is different than at Arkansas in that it is majority written assignments and class discussions or presentations. The professors also emphasized that we should be learning just as much outside of the classroom and we are inside, I love that!

Since our school is only a little over an hour away from Venice by train, most people in the program decided that this should be the first travel destination for a quick weekend trip. Hannah, myself, and 4 other girls decided to leave Saturday morning so that we didn’t have to try to find our hostel at night, which turned out to be an excellent idea. Friday night was spent at the local pizzeria “Al Sole” with a few other people from the program who also decided to wait. We ate like Italians and made dinner a 3 hour event, and had a good laugh at a long table of young Italian men chanting “U-S-A!” to our group.

The adventure in Venice started in the train station on the island. We were speechless when we exited the building and were greeted by the Grand Canal. We felt as though we had stepped into a postcard. Everyone told us that it is impossible to use a map in Venice, and the best thing to do is just wander through the various alleys and canals, so that’s exactly what we did. The city is breathtaking and unique in every way. We decided to keep in mind our hostel’s name, A Venice Museum, and what we thought it was by in case we came across it, but our main goal was to follow the signs to the Rialto and St. Mark’s square.  Our journey took us to the square, which was an incredible artistic display as well as an entertaining atmosphere filled with people from all over the world ducking as pigeons dove for bread crumbs. At this point we had been walking around for about 2 hours, and we were beginning to feel the weight of our backpacks. Two and a half hours after THAT, we decided it was time to call our hostel and ask them to help us find the way.

Stumbled upon St. Mark's square

An Australian that couldn’t have been older than 25 met us in front of a museum and began to chat our ears off as he lead us through the maze of walkways that make up the island toward the place we were meant to stay. We arrived at an unmarked door where he led us up to check in. Long story short, after looking at our dark room and having a group meeting outside we all agreed that we would much rather sleep in our beds at school rather than sleep in a room where the door doesn’t lock and the bathrooms are nowhere to be found. It was only 4 o’clock at this point, so we walked around Venice a bit more as we made our way to the train station, hopped on the 6:30 train to Bassano del Grappa, and we were back in Paderno by 9. Sunday morning was spent walking to the market in the neighboring town Crespano, which was a farmer’s market on steroids. You can find anything from scarves to mice!

The picture gives our room more credit than it deserves...

Our first weekend may not have gone exactly as we planned, but that was the best part! We have already started saying “Remember that time…. (fill in with something bizarre that happened in Venice)” and we were all laughing the entire trip. It was a great reminder that some of the best memories will be the result of unplanned adventures.

Proverbs 16:9 “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

-Megan

The journey to Paderno.

 I can’t believe this is real. One of the girls we met here said that for the first week or so, she felt as though she was having an out of body experience, and I think that is exactly how I feel. I keep asking myself, “Wait, am I REALLY in Italy??” Then I continue to remind myself that, “Yes, yes, you are.” What an amazing opportunity. I feel so blessed to be here and have a semester of life-long memories.

Traveling here went very well. No flight delays, or running to catch a flight. The landing in Dallas was a bit bumpy so that did start my nerves, but they were definitely calmed when I met up with Megan minutes later to travel the rest of the way together. The theme of the first couple hours of our flight was CATCH UP. We talked, talked, and talked. Then we decided we better get some sleep otherwise we were going to fully regret it as the next few days went on. We took our sleeping pill, put on our headphones and movies, and hoped for a few hours of sleep.

Arriving in London was a whirlwind. We had a short connection, so we quickly walked through the airport, went through security (which we weren’t expecting), and in about an hour we were boarded and headed to Venice!  Once landed in Venice, we retrieved our luggage (which we were THRILLED to see had arrived), and began our long wait in the airport.

We had signed up to ride our program’s bus from the airport. Sadly, we did not realize that the bus was going to be picking us up at 4, meaning we would be trapped in the airport for about 4 hours. The first hour was quite entertaining. We were people watching, ordering our first meal, and the excitement kept a big smile on our faces. Then, as time went on, all we wanted to do was go outside and explore, but obviously, with our luggage, this wasn’t feasible.  We were just anxious to get started! It was nice to talk to some of the other CIMBA (our program) students, but we were all so tired that the conversations were difficult to carry.

After we loaded the bus, we set out on our hour and half bus ride to Paderno del Grappa, where our campus is located. To be honest, I don’t remember much of the ride because I was fighting to keep my eyes open and the sun was setting so we weren’t able to see much of the countryside. What I did see was amazing though, especially when the mountains started coming into view.

Mountains surround Paderno, and the views are incredible. The sunsets are especially beautiful. We have spent the first few days getting acclimated, making friends, and learning more about the Italian way of life.  Pasta is THE option when going thru the line in the cafeteria, and coffee is as strong as possible (still good though J).

We are headed to Venice this weekend, and couldn’t be more excited! Here goes our first hostel experience. THIS IS REAL LIFE.

-Hannah

We're here!!!!

CIAO! We will definitely go into detail on our trek here and a run through of our first few days, but for now, we wanted to post a few photos so everyone could get an idea of where we are. Enjoy!

 cappuccino!

 first meals!

 view from our dorm room

 our dorm

beautiful sunset 

More coming soon!!