Last two months have been quite busy, but mostly in the sense of traveling and meeting people. While at the same time I’ve tried to stay away from computers as much as possible. And it’s been great.

I’ve spent whole June traveling throughout Slovenia and Croatia and made two trips to Venice. As you can imagine one month’s time is enough to visit a lot of places. Thus I’ll mention only those that have really made a lasting impression on me.

Istrian peninsula in Croatia is a gem. I especially like the northern part which is dotted with small, picturesque villages on hilltops. The towns of Motovun and Grožnjan are an absolute must if you are in the vicinity. Both have served as a settlement since the medieval times and still retained some of that spirit within narrow, cobbled and winding pathways between stone houses.

Another great place I’ve visited in June is the Croatian coast with its thousand or so islands. The nature is absolutely fantastic and in spite of the often unfriendly and even plain rude service, I’ve really enjoyed island hopping on the northern islands of Krk, Cres, Lošinj, Ilovik and Murter. The sea on all these islands is crystal clear and since I’ve been there in off-season period in most of the places I’ve visited it was not hard to find a quiet spot and a private beach.

On this same trip I’ve also managed to visit National parks of Plitvice lakes and river Krka. It’s simply unbelievable how much water runs through these places and how green both of them are.

And the result of the similar geological processes and strucutres in Plitvice lakes and river Krka waterfalls is Križna cave in Slovenia. Now, in Slovenia there are around nine thousand caves of which I have visited only a few, but Križna cave is something special. As they want to keep the cave in as untouched state as possible, they only let in four people per day. And since it’s a water cave it is not possible to enter it if there’s been much rain in the preceding days. So it’s not exactly easy to get in, but it was definitely worth the effort and schedule juggling.

You enter the cave in caving overalls, rubber boots, with a helmet and a head lamp, which all make you fell you’re ready for a real adventure. And that’s exactly what it was. In the cave there are more than a dozen lakes, so practically the whole four hour trip is done in small rubber boats. Besides plethora of stalagmites, stalactites and columns, you also get a chance to experience moments of total darkness and total silence. And believe me, such a place is a treasure today. Once you are 70 or so meters below the ground there’s no way any light or sounds would get in … except for those you bring with you. Although the feeling could be nerve racking (imagine being lost there!), it is absolutely relaxing.

I could go on and on about this and other places, but I’ll rather let you enjoy some of the pictures from these short trips I’ve made in June–you can find them in the gallery.

Now I’m back in Finland ready for new adventures, so come back soon.

Mladen

Not that I’ve gone somewhere, but I did manage to get a jet lag - a packing jet lag, that is. Aside from rather brief moments of meeting various friends, I’ve been packing non-stop since Monday. The busy packing schedule left almost no time for sleeping, which finally resulted in a real jet lag. Although I must say all sleep deprivation doesn’t bother me that much after all, because I am satisfied with completion of this more-than-I-innitialy-anticipated complex task. Just imagine: I won’t be able to come back and grab that little something I’ve forgotten to take with me. And now try to imagine every possible situation that you could find yourself in the years to come. Hm, for me it resulted in 97 kg of impedimenta which will be on its way to Jyväskylä around the same time I’ll take off tomorrow. And then there is the burden of gazillion smaller tasks that needed to be done, dealing with bureaucracy not excluded.

Moving is supposed to be one of the most stressful situations that can happen to you. But I did not find it to be too stressful, I just got fed up with it really quickly. Actually, most of the time I was even having fun: picking out which books should I take with me (yes, for those who want to know, almost 70% of those 97 kg are books) and rearranging the contents of the packages so that everything will fit in the boxes. I guess it wasn’t all that stressful because I am really excited about the whole idea of going somewhere I’ve never been before.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this enjoyable experience in the last week or so: Ondina for passing on the boxes and moving experience, Črt & Maja for the pleasant under-the-doormat surprise - the Scandinavian phrasebook, and of course Uroš for dropping by for a late-night popcorn and beer session. It was fun spending time with all of you and everyone else I’ve managed to see before leaving.

Anyways, this is my last night in Ljubljana. In the morning my parents will take me to Klagenfurt where I’ll catch a flight to Frankfurt. I’ll spend the night in Frankfurt-Hahn (yep, you can almost forget about efficient flight connections if you are traveling on a budget) and then leave for Tampere Saturday afternoon. Once I get to Tampere I have to catch an evening train to my final destination: Jyväskylä.

I’ll write my next post from my room in Jyväskylä as soon as I get the Internet up and running. I can hardly wait to get there. Make sure to tune in for all the details.

Mladen

Although I do enjoy reading some people’s blogs, I’ve never really put much thought into having one myself. I don’t know, but I am just not that much into writing diaries because I can imagine how stupid I would feel reading even about what I thought was interesting yesterday. Anyway, when I found out that I’ll be moving to Finland I thought quite a bit about how am I going to keep in touch with all of my friends and family and what would be the most convenient way to tell them about my experiences and about my new life. So starting a blog was an obvious solution and here it is.

Since this is the first post, there are a few things I think should be said - the where, why, when and how (what has already been covered, I guess) of the whole moving to Finland deal. Where? I’ll be changing my location from Ljubljana, Slovenia to Jyäskylä, Finland. Why? Primarily because I have enrolled to the University of Jyväskylä’s Digital Culture master’s degree program. When? I’ll be heading north on the August 26th. How? Hmm, let me see … by plane. Nevertheless, this question would be unimaginably more interesting if it were: For how long? I have no idea, but let’s say for starters it will be two years.

The preparations for my relocation have been underway for a while now since there are unbelievably many things that need to be taken care of before I go. However nothing has been too stressful so far. Quite the opposite, the feeling of canceling my at all times annoying ISP, even more so annoying landline and mobile operators, was downright cathartic. I’ll spare you the details, but should definitely mention that part of the preparations also included me going digital in one more aspect: I’ve gotten myself a nifty little digital camera so that I can enrich this blog with images which might even play more important role for those readers who’ll want to see what I am doing and not just read about it. Some might think that I’ve made the switch long time ago … well there’ll be plenty of time to explain why it has not happened before.

OK, that’s about it for now. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Venice to check out the biennial and to enjoy the city - it’s been a while since my last visit. I’ll let you know how it was when I get back.

Anyway, I expect this whole Finnish experience to be very enjoyable, so come back regularly, sit back and have fun.

Mladen