I studied abroad this summer in Zagreb, Croatia for three weeks. This was actually my first time out of the United States. I have now been home for about two weeks, and I already miss Croatia so much. I am going to pick out five international things that I miss the most since I have been back. The first thing I miss the most, which might sound crazy, but coffee. Every country has coffee, and I must say the coffee in Croatia is very different than the coffee in the states. I only normally drink iced coffee, hot coffee is not very appealing to me. This opinion of mine changed drastically when I was studying in Croatia. They do not use ice cubes as often as we use them. It was unusual to have ice in your coffee. I sometimes felt embarrassed to ask because it was a little difficult to communicate anyways. They speak their own Croatian language over there. However, I only really picked up on goodbye and hello. The coffee though, was amazing. I now look at coffee differently. I used to just run through Starbucks and grab me a quick drink because I needed caffeine. In Croatia, they don’t drink coffee for the caffeine, they drink it as a social thing. You go grab coffee and sit down and talk with some friends and relax. When I got back, I actually went to a coffee shop, got a coffee, sat down, and read some of my book. Anyways, that is the first thing I miss, the Croatian coffee! The second thing I miss would have to be the night life. Going out to bars is a totally different scene than in the states. I normally order a bourbon and coke, that’s what I enjoy drinking. When I asked for that at bars, they would give me a glass bottle of coke and a shot of bourbon. Which was a little odd, but I got used to it. I learned to not judge people as much. In the states when you go to bars, a lot of people judge you by what you wear or how you dance. When I went out in Croatia, you could dance and look like whatever you wanted and people still loved you. But, of course going out is always a great time. The third thing I miss would have to be my friends. This was the best part about the trip. My school had 100 students from 20 different countries. I met so many different people from different countries. What was the coolest part was that even though we are all from different cultures, we are still very similar. This taught me so much. Even though our country dislikes Muslim’s, I actually met so many that were awesome people. Don’t let religion or cultures effect how you look at a person. I met lifelong friends that I am already planning to go visit! The fourth thing that I miss would have to be the art and history. There is so much art and history within the country of Croatia that I got the opportunity to see. I miss waking up every day and seeing the Cathedral in my hostel window. I look at history so differently now. History is actually very important and interesting. It is nice to take a few minutes out of your day and to stop and admire the history. The fifth and final thing I miss the most since I have returned would, of course, have to be the people. The locals in Croatia that were born and raised there taught me so much. Weather it was in a ten minute Uber ride, or talking to someone in a coffee shop. I learned to look at things so differently, and I will always remember those memories. Those are the top five things that I miss about Croatia!

Hello! I am Kaitlyn Morrison and I studied abroad in Zagreb, Croatia for three weeks this summer. I would have to say the most memorable thing I did while I was studying abroad was doing a one day five island visit. Let me tell you a little bit background about my visit before I go into detail. I took two classes during three weeks, which was tough. I was in class from 10am to 1pm and then from 5 to 8pm, I spent a lot of time studying. I traveled on the weekends, which I only got two to play around with. My first weekend, my school took all of us to Zadar. This is a popular city on the coast of Croatia. It was pretty neat because our school paid for all of it. It was beautiful, but I have to say my second weekend trip was my most memorable. The second weekend, we could of went anywhere we wanted. I had a small group of friends I met that were studying with me and also staying in the same hostel. I met a girl named Lindsey, who was from Texas, it was nice to meet another American. I also met a girl named Irmak, and she was from Turkey. And I met a girl named Lara, who was from Germany. It was the coolest thing that we all clicked and got along so well. Even though we all come from different backgrounds and cultures, we are all really similar. I actually met so many different people from different countries, but overall my class got along really well with each other! We all just wanted to party and travel. The second weekend, my group of four friends, decided to go to Split. It was about a four hour bus ride, which was not bad at all. We all actually slept the whole time. We rented out an Airbnb which ended up being really cheap since it was split four ways. We were only in Split for about three days. The second day, we booked a five island boat tour. This was the best day ever! We visited some very popular islands off the coast of Split, Croatia. The tour was about $115 US dollars, but we were on the boat from about 7am to 7pm. I think it was worth the money. We stopped at every island for about an hour, where we got the option to snorkel and swim. The Acratic Sea was beautiful! It was crystal clear and such a pretty blue. Within the trip, we stopped at an island to eat lunch. The food in Croatia is amazing, it was all very delicious. The cost of living over there is actually really cheap, I did not end up spending much money at all. This impacted my life so much by learning that there is so much more out there in the world. This was my first time out of the country, this whole experience really opened my eyes and showed me how other people live day by day in a different culture. Another thing I found interesting that I want to share is that the Game of Thrones is tapped off the coast of Croatia! thought that was pretty neat. But overall, that weekend trip in Split was my most memorable moment. I loved every second of it and I cannot wait to go back again one day!