Skip to main content

Far and Wide

(originally published by EdinburghExchanges -go here for bigger versions of pictures!)
(also vlogged about at length at Etudiante X -go here for less static versions of pictures!)

Image


     Yes, we're in France. Yes, we're studying. Yes, we're really trying very hard to speak our foreign language. But we've been doing that for A WHOLE MONTH now. It's time for a break.
     Zadar is nothing short of breathtaking. A coastline pocked with tiny beaches and bathed in warm water lead from our hostel (the Drunken Monkey- HIGHLY recommended) to the Old Town, which seems to have been built around its plentiful Roman ruins rather than making a tourist attraction of them. Monasteries and wells galore, a walled garden and the remains of the forum are all surrounded by normal high-street shops and low-price restaurants, as well as bountiful amounts of icecream vendors.
Image
On our second day it became apparent that for all sixteen of us to get to Krka national park (again, highly recommended) it would be cheaper to rent a couple of cars than to get on buses, so for the low low price of 115 kuna per person, about 15€, we got our first roadtrip. Then a 9€ ticket bought us access to the park and a return journey on a beautiful half-hour boat ride out to the secluded spot. We walked, we ate, we swam in the waterfall. Not bad for a saturday afternoon. On the way home, driving myself and six friends down the mostly-deserted motorway with Eye of the Tiger on the radio and the sun sinking below the mountains was one of the happiest moments I've had since leaving home. 
     Then we went and sampled the nightlife. Then, the early-morning life. At 5am, when the scantily-clad women had stopped dancing on podiums, the cheap shots had stopped being served, and the impeccably mixed dance-house-rock-blues-everything DJ had packed up for the night, we walked home along the beach. Incidentally, skinny-dipping, in French, is un bain de minuit.
     In nearby Nin, there are pits of black sand which apparently have a combination of vitamins and minerals that make your skin super-soft. It also makes you look like someone could take your life, but they could never take your freedom. I'm sceptical about the skincare properties of the stuff, but it sure was fun to play in the mud for a while, and it helped get rid of the last of our collective gueule du bois.
     I knew nothing about Croatia before going there apart from that it was sunny and everything was relatively cheap- no one mentioned the clean streets and lovely architecture, the friendly locals and the stupid amounts of things to do. I still have a few kuna left, in reserve for next time.
     Also, we found a kiwi tree.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Writing CV

Let's talk:   jenni.ajderian@gmail.com Mild-mannered professional Linguist by day, crime-fighting writer and editor by night. Currently protecting the mean streets of Dublin from bad content. "She's one of the good ones" -  FringePig "Best. Review. Ever." -  @ObjectiveTalent "This interview has won #edfringe" -  @FredRAlexander "I think this is the nicest review I've ever received." -  @DouglasSits "Do you give lessons? Jus askin..." -  @RockyFlintstone FedEx Digital Infinite Beta blog  - 2017 I worked with FedEx Digital as a Technical Copywriter (more info on my  LinkedIn Profile ) and produced sassy content for their Infinite Beta blog. The tone here is informal and personable, the aim being to show some personality and attract future team members to the company. How to explain your job title Automated content checkers   Technology predictions for 2018  (I wasn't too far off) 3di Technical Commu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Calgary, Alberta

Yesterday I ran around the city a bit, trying to see as much as possible for as little as possible...      It was hard.      The walk from Sean's place in Renfrew was long but scenic. Cold and crisp, Calgary did turn out to be mostly suburb, with a pretty concentrated centre with all your usual tourist hangouts just south of the Bow river where a lot of money can be spent very easily. Like $14 for going up Calgary Tower, $9 for a student ticket to the Glenbow Museum, and all those malls! They're all interconnected, so you could probably walk from shop to shop most of the way across the city without having to see sunlight. This is probably the idea behind the Plus Fifteen, too- a heated walkway above the streets so the Calgarians don't have to freeze in winter.      The Glenbow offered your normal mix of traditional art, weird modern stuff, rooms full of the extensive and glorious history of Alberta, all 150 years of it,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thérèse Desqueyroux - film review

     A marriage rife with Bovarysme and ennui, this 1920s power-struggle follows the marriage of young Thérèse (Audrey Tatou), who sees only one route to life until her best friend shows her otherwise.      What is most interesting is that this girl, who crashes onto screen on a bike, kills rabbits and pidgeons for the family, takes a lover and is then imprisonned by her powerful parents, is not the protagonist. These are the actions of Anne (Anaïs Demoustier), the childhood friend of Thérèse, whose story, far more dramatic and classically cinematic, is told through letters and painful pleas for help. The two women are both destined for powerful marriages arranged to monopolise the ownership of riverside pine forests, and Thérèse, the elder, goes through hers first. As she does, Anne's story of forbidden love begins, and Thérèse sees that her path was not the only one available.      In some respects, this is a story we've heard before. U...
Post a Comment
Read more