New faces, new smells, new buildings? Guess what, I finally arrived in Mostar and it is literally amazing!
On Friday the 25th, we put all my suitcases and bags into our caravan and drove to a little lake in Carinthia, where my grandparents are spending their holidays. We arrived at 10pm, dizzy, tired and sweaty. The heat in the caravan, that has no air conditioning, was almost unbearable and I was glad to spend a few hours outside.
But the torture continued on Saturday! We sallied at 10am after a decent breakfast and approached the Slovenian border. The driving was kind of soothing, but as soon as we got stuck in a huge traffic jam in Lublijana, I was about the regret the idea of driving to Mostar. We left the high way and crossed the border somewhere on the countryside. We kept rushing down the high way all the way to Split, where we spent the night next to a gas station on the high way.
I skip the rest of the boring car ride and jump straight to Mostar. To be honest, I don't even know where to begin. This week has been intense, overwhelming and fantastic all in one, and it is not even over yet.
The Induction Week is supposed to help us arriving in Mostar and getting to know our school mates. The second years are doing such a great job when it comes to organizing all the events and games and although I only slept for 5 hours each night, I feel more receptive and active than in Innsbruck.
Every single conversation widens my horizon and every smile makes me feel a bit more at home. I discovered this little quote on the backside of Alannah's (my second year room mate) cupboard: 'You will never be completely at home again. Part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you have to pay to take part in this adventure. From now on you will be homesick for people, not a place.` I can resonate with these lines so much!
Yesterday, on Thursday, we went to Kravice which is an accumulation of small waterfalls where you can also go for a swim! I got to sit in the small VIP bus, but only because I had to go back to the Croatian border first to get my passport stamped (I forgot it when we entered Bosnia). Luckily I wasn't the only one and I had a wonderful chat with my co-year Avin, who is accommodated in Sušac this year. It a lot farer away from the school and the city center, so I kindly borrowed her my bike until she has time to buy her own one. Here in Musala, you actually don't really need a bike except you want to go visit your friends at Sušac... And the evening Jovo (BiH), Rena (DE), Kat (Den), Hanna (Swed), Sasha (Czech) and I went to Mepas Mall to buy some food and other school stuff and if you think Bosnian malls aren't fancy, you are completely wrong, because you can buy literally anything. Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear... I am serious, you can even get vegan chocolate and plant based milk at dm!
All in all, Induction week was awesome! A lot of fun parties, activities, walks through the city, we did a treasure hunt, ice breaker games and I already made some friends for lifetime!
Here are some photos!
This is our caravan
The waterfalls at Kravize
Restaurant del Rio and one of the several bridges of Mostar
