I had the opportunity to visit Trieste (Italy) on Wednesday.  Florinda, one of the geographers in the department, lives in Trieste, so after she finished up at the Fakulteta, I went with her.  I wouldn’t say that Trieste is the most picturesque European city I’ve ever visited, but it is interesting.  It seems to be a city that has been a lot of things over time.  It has Roman ruins, a medieval castello, and a lot of Austrian-era architecture.  It has a gritty industrial district, newly created pedestrian streets, old piazzas, and a  waterfront begging to be redeveloped.  Florinda makes an excellent tour guide, and we actually had pretty decent weather for a change (hopefully I don’t look quite so cold this time!).  It did rain for a bit, but fortunately it was while we were having lunch.  I deferred to her recommendation – a gooey four cheese pizza.  You have no idea how many pizzerias there are around here…

Piazza dell'Unita d'Italia

Teatro Romano

Castello di San Giusto

She had business to take care of late afternoon, so she left me with directions to the bus station, which I found with only one unintended detour.  I had to kill about an hour there, sitting on a bench in front of a kiosk selling all kinds of underwear.  Who buys underwear at the bus station?  There was a boxed bra and panty set that was rather unfortunately labeled “Blu Velvet.”  Great, so we can add cheap underwear to the list of things people think of when they hear my name.

I had my first class on Thursday.  Anton gave me a nice introduction.  And explained that the class would be conducted in English!  I talked to one Erasmus student after class who happily informed me that English was her second language, while Slovene was only her fifth language.  At least I made one student happy.  That was the lecture section.  I’ll have the first lab section on Monday.  For those of you who have been curious about the kabinet…

Kabinet 30 Fakulteta

My classroom at the Fakulteta

I thought I broke my dryer.  It just stopped working, which could be very unfortunate seeing as how I don’t exactly have a lot of clothes here with me.  Turns out the water tank was full.  Which makes perfect sense now (especially since the dryer is in the dining room), but it didn’t occur to me that it would be storing the water.  Is that an old fashioned thing or a European thing?

I was back in Portorož tonight for an EMUNI reception and lecture by the French ambassador.  It was in French.  The translation was in Slovene.  I think I understood about every 12th word of the French lecture.  But I feel obliged to point out that the words “countries”, “Mediterranean” and “world” came up quite frequently.

Today I was back in Portorož.  Right bus, right stop this time.   However, since I wasn’t meeting Anton, I had to walk the hill up to the campus.  See the green building way up there?  Yeah, that’s it.

EMUNI from the bus stop

At least it had finally stopped raining by then.  It was still foggy though.  The view was marginally better, but I think I’m going to have to take their word that you can actually see Venice from there.

View of the Adriatic from EMUNI

I gave a presentation/participated as a panelist in a “roundtable” session on the challenges of tourism in the Mediterranean.  Of course, I’m not exactly an expert in this area.  But, tourism is an international industry, and many of the “challenges” are the same wherever you are.  The other panelists were from Slovenia (one tourism faculty and one a geographer), Italy and Tunisia.

Walking down the hill (in the dark) was possibly worse than going up – it was so steep it made my knees hurt.  (But, considering my last MRI, that’s not too surprising.)  About halfway down, I could see the 19:04 bus at the stop.  Bummer.  The next bus?  20:04.  So I hiked back in to town and hit up a sleepy little kava/bar (sleepy, given that it’s a tourist town and it’s WINTER).  I had a Union while I waited – a Slovenian pivo – and watched some Olympic skiing event complete with commentary in Slovene.  (They talk really fast whenever one of the Slovenian athletes are competing.)

And for Jason, who never ceases to be amazed by the miracle that is the “party pan”, I made French toast in it tonight after I got home.

Each of the last 2 mornings I took the bus to Portorož (actually, yesterday I missed my bus stop in Portorož, and today I missed my bus in Koper, but that’s beside the point) to attend a couple of lectures Anton gave on geography and tourism at the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI).  The way I understand it is that this is primarily a virtual university (headquartered in Slovenia) in which students are required to spend certain times of the year attending lectures at a physical location.  The majority of students were from Italy but also Croatia, Albania, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco.  It was interesting for me since I also teach a tourism geography course but am not particularly familiar with the circumstances of tourism in the Mediterranean.  Sorry foodies, but we ate lunch in the cafeteria both days so nothing to report (except that I’m not entirely sure what I ate today…).

Portorož is a bit of a resort town south of Koper near the Croatian border.  The university sits on top of the hill above the town overlooking the Adriatic.  I’m told that, on a clear day, you can see all the way to Venice.  Too bad it was foggy and raining, and I couldn’t see much of anything.  At least today I could see Croatia.

Resorts in Portorož. Obviously I did not take this picture today! (It was 2 weeks ago when I went to Piran.)

It has been getting a bit warmer, but the wind and rain have been pretty miserable.  The water level in the gulf is really high right now, and it’s still pouring.  The wind pretty much makes umbrellas useless, and it was so strong that it literally almost knocked me off my feet when I was walking back from the market.  And that’s despite the fact that I was loaded up with a bottle of water, a bottle of Slovene wine, and a loaf of pekarna bread!

A bit more progress: as of today, I have my visa/residency permit in hand.  Okay, that’s actually more than a bit of progress – that’s huge (as those of you who had to listen to me complain about my visa problems sometime in any or all of the past 4 months well know).  For a while, I wasn’t sure if I would ever get it.  The approval did finally come through about a week before I left, but still, there’s something to be said for actually having it.  And, now I also have a copy of Integration into Slovene Society: Information for Foreigners (in Angleško).

Anton had to drive me to Logatec (south of Ljubljana) to pick up the permit, so I also had my first foray into the interior.  Although I didn’t get to see much but the view from the highway, it was interesting nonetheless.  In a distance of less than 30 miles – what I commute to work every day in Texas – it’s hard to believe it’s even the same country.  Things like architectural styles are very different, and there’s snow.  A lot of snow.  (Okay, so maybe you Ohioans with more than 2 feet of snow wouldn’t think it was that much right now…)  But, from the perspective of someone who doesn’t have to deal with it, there were some very picturesque snow-covered mountain villages along the way.  We had lunch – an Istrian pasta dish with penne, prosciutto and asparagus – in a town along the way called Divača.

My other bit of progress was that I was finally able to get a bank account now that I have my permit, so hopefully I can get paid.  That would also be good progress.

On a completely unrelated note, yesterday I asked Miha if there was any significance to the lettuce people in the Carnival procession.  He said…probably not.

So, here’s a bit of progress: I now have a set of keys to the kabinet, which means I can come and go on my own schedule.  Also, my authentication for the university’s wifi system finally came through so I can access the internet while I’m in the kabinet.  But, actually, that’s still not working.  It’s a long story that involves needing to be online to download an application to be able to enter the authentication to be able to access the wifi – and until you can access the wifi you can’t get online to download the application…  Miha and I actually found a way around that little problem, but then we didn’t successfully make it through a very long list of setup instructions (obviously in Slovene).  Baby steps, I guess.

I’m also starting to get some more information on my class.  Seems there is a separate lecture and “lab” for activities and projects.  I would normally do both together, so I’m going to need to go through and do some reorganizing.  I was told I would have a graduate assistant to help me with the  general logistics of working here (e.g. Where’s my classroom?) as well as with class work, such as translating my PowerPoint lectures into Slovene.  Seems now that, while I’m going to have an assistant on paper/in theory, I’m not…really going to have one.  It’s complicated, and I’m going to leave it at that.  (Darn.  Never had an assistant before.)  Needless to say, I’m not going to be the one translating the PowerPoints.

Anton – my host – is back from holiday now.  He took Miha, Simon – another grad student – and I to lunch at what they tell me is the best pizzeria in town.  For you foodies, they recommended I try the “Istrian” (apparently the local specialty) which was made up of mozzarella, prosciutto, olives and mushrooms.

Then, when I went to pay my rent this evening, my landlady invited me in for a slice of her birthday cake – a layered cream cake with a hint of fruit and a thick chocolate frosting – that was made by her 84-year old mother-in-law and a glass of the Coca-Cola that her daughter had requested because it was a special day.  So yes, if you’re keeping track, I ate pizza for lunch and birthday cake for dinner.

Today was the Istrian Carnival procession.  Probably the most common ideas of Carnival come from places like New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, and Port-of-Spain.  Istrian Carnival was nothing like that.  (Most notably, there were no dancing girls in bikinis.  Although I have no idea whether that may be attributed to cultural factors or climatic ones.)  Since Istria seems to be rather proud of their Venetian heritage, I have to say that I was expecting more of a Venetian-style Renaissance masquerade.  It wasn’t that either.

What it was is rather hard to describe.  I thought I’d eventually figure out some sort of theme, but I never did.  It seemed to be a family-friendly event (although I rather suspect the cavemen weren’t drinking Cockta) that most of Koper was either involved in or turned out for.  I’d say it was sort of a haphazard blend of Halloween, international culture festival, and social consciousness event.  Almost all of the kids – and a fair number of adults too – were dressed in costumes with the usual array of princesses, witches, a surprising number of American Indians, superheros, and cute animals.  (Which totally explains the costume display that was in the front of the supermarket last week.)

In the procession, there was a pirate ship, people dressed up as gypsies, an environmental group protesting – I’m guessing here – contamination of the fisheries, several Arab culture themed groups, what appeared to be Middle Earth elves, an entire float dedicated to Cuba complete with salsa dancers, a Fidel Castro and a Che Guevara, something that may or may not have been the Loch Ness monster, a group making sausage (it’s true what they say…), a float encouraging recycling, and some ladies dressed in/as…lettuce?  Considering that the leaves appeared to be wilting, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that they were wearing real lettuce.

Interesting.

Venetian masquerade

Stop pollution?

Elves - Middle Earth or otherwise

Don't ask me what the guy in front has to do with sausage.

The lettuce...people.

Yesterday was a national holiday – Prešeren Day.  It is the anniversary of the death of France Prešeren – the Slovene national poet.  Now it is a “cultural” and work-free holiday.  Almost everything was closed, with the exception of a few of the kavanas and the museums, which were not only open but also free for the day.  So, I took the opportunity to go to – not one but two – local museums.  I was actually surprised how many other people were there.  It always seems as though local museums only receive two kinds of visitors – out of town tourists and school groups.  At least this is what the curators at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum always tell me whenever I drag my Historical Geography of the U.S. class over there.

The first was the regional museum just up the ulica from my flat.  Although my guidebook describes the collection as “insipid”, it really wasn’t that bad.  It was larger than most of the local museums I’ve been to (primarily those in the Caribbean Basin) – and better organized – with artifacts from the Bronze Age through the Roman era and into the early 20th century.  However, given that the signs were (naturally) in Slovene and Italian, I can’t say that I learned anything about the history of the Istrian Peninsula.  The second (not entirely sure why there are two) was the ethnological museum, which definitely takes some effort to find.  There was more of an emphasis on cultural artifacts from daily life in and photographs from the early 20th century, which was interesting.  But it turned out to be unexpectedly small.  As in I walked up a flight of stairs only to find that there was no upper floor.

I also came across what I can only assume was a poetry reading in Prešeren Trg.  At least I hope that’s what it was.

Things have been pretty quiet here for the past couple of days.  I think I’m still supposed to be “relaxing” for another week until 1) my host returns from holiday and 2) I can get a key to the kabinet so I can actually work at the Fakulteta.  (Kabinet – shared office space.  Their word for it.  Not a condemnation of size.  It’s actually a decent sized, nicely outfitted office.)  Not surprisingly, in my current state of relaxation, I have already completed the revisions of one of my manuscripts that is due back to the journal later this month and edited a manuscript for someone here that the reviewers complained was not written in “English-English.”  I can’t imagine even trying to write an academic paper in a foreign language.

I suppose I don’t really have that much room to complain about the weather, considering the rain that Texas has been having and the “snowmageddon” that hit Ohio.  (Is that what they’re calling it there?  That’s what they’re saying on CNN World – my only English language news station.)  But, it is still winter here.  The temps have been hovering just above freezing – to falling below it this coming week.  It’s frustrating.  I have been planning this for nine months, and there are so many places I want to go while I’m here.  And I’m here, so I want to go now.  Maybe it’s just that I’m not very tough – I have been living in Texas for the past couple of years after all – or the fact that the only coat I have with me isn’t terribly warm, but I want to go when I’ll be able to enjoy it.  It was a good 10 degrees warmer last week when you all thought I looked cold.

So, in the meantime, I have been trying to go about normal daily activities – like experimenting with my washing machine that was helpfully supplied with pictures, like a cotton flower, a test tube, and a sheep.  It took me 2 days to figure out what the butterfly was supposed to symbolize.

My latest food discoveries: I found a little  pasticceria near the Fakulteta with wonderful breads and pastries.  I think that’s the Italian word for it – don’t know what it is in Slovene.  Both are used here, which of course, doesn’t help me in the least since I don’t know either.  I have found that I love blood oranges.  And I ate the most amazing lasagna for dinner last night.  I should report that I ate at some really authentic Italian restaurant since I’m so close to the border here.  But it was actually a pre-fab, single-serving dish I picked up at the supermarket and reheated in the “party pan.”  Aside from my mom’s homemade lasagna – which is very different and not really comparable – it was probably the best I’ve ever eaten (up to this point at least, we’ll see when I actually make it to the really authentic Italian restaurants).  It had a creamy bolognese sauce and a lot of cheese that ended up oozing out and melting onto the piece of bread I was also toasting in the “party pan”.

They told me to go relax.

Because the term hasn’t started yet, most people are understandably away on holiday.  And I think the grad students who are here don’t really know what to do with me.  It sounds good – to go relax – and apparently it’s very “Mediterranean” (from what I understand, something along the lines of Caribbean time – though hopefully not that bad!).  But it’s not exactly a suggestion that goes over particularly well with workaholics.  I’m rather unoriginal with my ideas of relaxation (see “workaholic”), and none of them are really feasible in my current situation (e.g. my massage therapist being some 5,600 miles away), so I decided to play tourist.  Despite the fact that I’m horribly off-season.

Tartinjev Trg - the main square in Piran

I hopped a bus more or less down the rest of the Slovenian coastline to Piran.  According to my Rough Guide, Piran is the first item on their top 20 must-see list – above the lakes, mountains, caves and castles.  Don’t get me wrong – as you can see, it’s a charming and colorful historic coastal city, and I did enjoy it.  But Lake Bled is going to have to crush my expectations for me to rank Piran higher.  I’m sure there is also something to be said for visiting the city in the actual season when things are in bloom, shops are open, and you can feel all of your extremities.  But, at the same time, how much of that gained atmosphere is lost again in the masses?  In my picture, the only person on the square is a little girl in a pink coat chasing pigeons.  (You can only just make it out in the lower right hand corner if you click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Part of Piran's maze of side streets

I made my way around the city – where fully one-third of the points of interest are historic churches – through the narrow, winding, climbing stone streets and steps that sometimes inexplicably ended at someone’s door, so it wouldn’t take a geographer to get lost.  I was never entirely sure if I was on a public thoroughfare (a term I am using loosely) or invading someone’s privacy.  Then I hiked up to the remnants of a 15th century wall above the town.  Unfortunately, by the time I finally got to the top, I found that I needed a 1 Euro coin to get through the turnstile to enter the complex.  I had a 2 Euro coin and some miscellaneous 10 and 2 Euro-cent coins in my wallet.  But no 1 Euro coin.  I tried to ask a passing man to make change.  I think he thought I was begging from the way he disgustedly brushed me off.  I don’t think I look like a beggar…?  And I would have given him the 2 for a 1, which I thought was fair enough, just so that I didn’t have to walk all the way back down.  Then back up.  And back down.

The old town wall from the Church of St George - which is only about half the climb from the square!

For Betty – who is encouraging my “experimental eating” – I bought a burek at a shop back off the main trg for the primary objective of getting a 1 Euro coin in change, and the secondary objective of lunch.  It is kind of a large, flat, flaky, somewhat greasy pastry stuffed with either meat, cheese or potatoes.  (I ate about half of it and stuck the other half in my bag (wrapped, of course) – which may not have been my best idea since it now smells like burek – and threw it in the “party pan” after I got home for dinner!).  So, in the end, I was able to walk the walls and climb the tower for a pretty good view over the city and surrounding countryside.

on the tower

Today I was supposed to deal with some more paperwork issues.  (The academic term doesn’t start until later this month.)  I wasn’t able to get that done today, something about “Slovene bureaucracy.”  Today I also received a form from the U.S. end of things that I’m apparently supposed to fill out every pay period (2 weeks) for the rest of the semester stating why I’m on leave…  Hm.  So I’m not entirely convinced one bureaucracy is better/worse than the other.  But at least I can read the forms of one of them.

I had some purchases I wanted to make to finish getting settled in, so I asked around about the best place to go and was told The Mall.  (As an interesting aside, they told me that this was a somewhat controversial mall because it is located next to a prison.  Ah, now that’s more like home.)  So, I’ve been in the country all of 4 days, and I’ve already been to The Mall.  Are you proud of me, Amber?  Well, you probably won’t be after I say that my only clothing purchase was a pair of grey velour sweatpants (see “drafty flat” under January) that I happen to be happily wearing right now despite the fact that they’re a good 6 inches too long on me.

There was also a bonafide supermarket at The Mall.  I bought a “party pan” there (I’m serious – that’s what it said on the box which was oddly enough in English) for “cooking, baking and frying” because I don’t actually have an oven.  Or a microwave.  Or a dishwasher for that matter.  (And yet, my dishes clearly state that they are both microwave and dishwasher safe…)  As my dad has already pointed out, this situation is going to test my resourcefulness over the next 6 months.  I’m a functional, but not exactly inventive, chef.  (If you don’t believe me because I’ve baked something for you in the past, I would like to point out here that cooking and baking are two very different things that apparently involve different parts of your brain.)  The lid to the “party pan” actually required some assembly, which meant that I had to use the flip-out file on my nail clippers in lieu of a screwdriver.  Try that sometime.  Now I guess I’m going to have to find something to cook.

More food stories, huh?  Okay, how about this:  At the supermarket they had a full deli, complete with rotisserie chicken.  Now, I was getting hungry, and I was rather attracted by the idea of a hot meal (this was pre-party pan purchase and it actually turned out to be a lukewarm meal by the time I finally got home).  Of course, I have no need for a whole rotisserie chicken, so I just got one of the chicken legs.  On closer examination, I thought maybe it had bacon or prosciutto on it (and as I just Googled prosciutto to find out how to spell it, one of the suggested results was prosciutto wrapped chicken, so I don’t think that was too crazy a thought).  If I had to guess, I’d say it was probably lamb instead of chicken?  It wasn’t bad, but then again, I was very hungry by the time I walked a good 10 blocks home with 2 shopping bags and a pillow.