Sunday 28th of June
When I arrived at the train station I was greeted by my host and she brought me straight to the
apartment to leave my luggage and to meet the roommate and her participant. We had lunch and talked
for a while to get to know each other before we headed to the meeting point to meet up with the others
and do our country presentations. After the presentation we went to a bar and started to mingle with
each other. The evening ending pretty early since most were tired and we had to get up early for the
bus on the morning after.
Monday 29th of June
We gathered at the central station 9 in the morning to take the bus to Kalnik. Kalnik is a small village
up in the mountains close to Zagreb. When we arrived we unloaded our bags in the cottage where we
were staying. We then embarked on walk up to an old fort. The fort was abandoned but still in good
shape and at the top of it we had a great view over the landscape. After the fort we went to the cottage
house and started to make preparations for the international dinner. Since we were three Swedish
participants we made meatballs, eggs with Kalles Kaviar and Swedish crackers with skagenröra. The
dinner was great with food from all over the world. When the dinner was finished we started with the
national drinks and had a really fun night in the cottage.
Tuesday 30th of June
In the morning we had breakfast on the terrace of the house, we could see a vast distance from there
and it was really beautiful. When people had woken up we took the bus back to Zagreb. Everybody
went home to get some rest before the pub crawl later in the evening. After we had some hours rest we
went to the cathedral to have a guided city tour. The guide told us about the citys history and
interesting buildings. Did you know that the tie was originally invented in Croatia? After the tour we
went to a restaurant and ate cevapi. Cevapi is a Croatian dish consisting of minced meat rolled into
small fingers. Then we were divided into several teams and each team got some challenges for the pub
crawl. Some of the challenges were getting condoms from strangers, make a public scene and prank
another team. We also had to take at least one shot at each of the six bars. Needless to say, we had a
fun night.
Wednesday 1st of July
The day started at the museum of illusions, a place with a lot of different optical illusions and mind
games. We then followed up with lunch at the faculty and a coffe in a nearby café. After an hour we
had a lecture with one of the school teachers. The lecturer talked about the history of Zagreb
University and some facts about their current situation (amount of exchange students, different
faculties etc). Sadly she was a bit dull so the lecture was not very entertaining. After the lecture we
went to the museum of broken relationships. A museum where people left items from past
relationships behind together with a story. There were a lot of stories and i did not read them all but
there were some pretty good ones, like for example a story where one person in the relationship got so
mad at the other for cheating that he/she destroyed all of cheating persons belongings with an axe.
Later in the evening we had four hour break, which I spent in a café with two of the Croatian
organizers. I have learned that Croatian like coffee a lot and that they usually spend a couple of hours
drinking coffee every day, so I kind off used the evening to experience Croatian culture. After the
break we met up in a park and ate pizza and drank wine. Since people were tired and we had to get up
early next day to go to Zadar, the evening ended quite early.
Thursday 2nd of July
We gathered early and got onto the bus heading towards Zadar, a small city by the coast. The first
thing we did after the four hour trip to Zadar was to visit a company called Maraska. Maraska
produces liquers and non-alcoholic juices. Their most famous product is Maraschino. A guy welcomed
us and gave us a tour of the company and told us the history of it. When the visit was over they let us
taste their products, a couple of different flavoured Maraschinos and some juices. It was a great
company visit. After the visit we went to the hostel to drop off our stuff and then went to beach which
was very close to our hostel and just relaxed for a few hours. Later in the evening we went into the city
and had a guided tour before dinner. The diner was quite late so after we finished we went straight to a
club where we had a tabled reserved and started to party.
Friday 3rd of July
Me and my friend woke up early to go for a morning swim and to continue to sleep on the beach. We
stayed on the beach for a couple of hours before it was time to head back to Zagreb. When we got
back to Zagreb everybody had a couple of hours to rest and make themselves ready for the evening.
We went to a lake called Jarun, which had a couple of bars and clubs around its beaches. There was a
bar who sold rakija shots for 5 kunas (~6 SEK!). Well let us just say that the night was really fun.
Saturday 4th of July
The last day started with a barbecue in a cottage house out in the woods. We had a really nice time,
hanging out, playing games, eating and just relaxing. After a couple of hours of chilling in the cottage
house it was time to go home to prepare for the restaurant in the evening. The restaurant was a quite
special place. It started as a rather fancy dinner with a croatian live band singing folk music. But as
soon as the meal was finished and the plates taken away people started dancing on the tables. It started
with just a few up on the tables but as the evening went on almost everyone was up dancing and
swinging napkins in the air. As the night went on people dropped off one by one and we said goodbye.
So it was a bit sad, the last night, but still I had a good time.
Sunday 5th of July
I left early for the airport since my plane took of at 8 in the morning. It was sad that the week was over
because it all went so fast. But the week was fantastic and i met so many amazing people. If you are
considering to go to IW Zagreb, you should, I highly recommend it.