Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog!

Today, I’m going to share my November adventures with you. Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable, as this might be a bit long.

Last month, I left you with the impression that after such an intense first month, life here was slowing down and getting a little colder. But with Ona, we actually experienced something quite different from what we had expected.

Our first resolution for the incoming slow season was to seize every opportunity to discover more about our surroundings and Croatia in general. So, on the very first weekend, we went for a walk around the island of Murter to explore its tiny towns: Murter, Betina, Tisno, and Jezera. It was actually longer than we expected, but absolutely beautiful! Twenty-two kilometers of stunning nature, breathtaking landscapes, hidden beaches and charming little houses (and suffering lol). Later that week, our coordinator Nela took us to visit Ivinj, another typical spot in the area. So, to all my friends: guys now that I know all the best places and their historical backgrounds, I’m waiting for your visit!

The following week, we took time to enjoy the delightful late-summer weather, with some runs and walks, reading sessions with the views, wonderful sunsets, and last but not least, swims in the sea. What a dream it was to watch the sunset from the water in the middle of November! In fact, the beginning of November still clearly felt like summer.

But that changed on the 15th of November, when we decided to explore Croatia further inland and visit Krka National Park. The vegetation there was stunning, but it had a very autumnal vibe. It was like jumping from mamamia to twilight without transition. But this weekend was one of the best I had here in Croatia, the waterfalls were breathtaking, the nature beautiful and we had so much fun hiking!

Apart from these personal activities, our daily routine at work was also quite interesting, and, to be honest, a bit challenging at times. We prepared many workshops, and it’s true that sometimes we struggled to communicate with Ona, which occasionally led to little arguments 😅.I think this is normal when working with an intercultural team, communication can be challenging, and perceptions of things can differ, but I am very proud of how we handled it in the end. It never lasted long, and by the end of office hours, everything was already forgotten.

Anyway, one of the workshops was with a group of short-term volunteers who were here for a month, and we really got along with them! We had a great time during the workshop and in Murter when they came to visit. And before they left, we decided to go together to Zagreb for the weekend. For Ona and I it was also a great opportunity to meet again our friend from the youth exchange, so we were really excited about it! And that’s how we ended up jumping into another season in less than a week, without any transition again!

Indeed, we took our FlixBus on the 22nd for an initial four-hour journey. As usual, I slept the whole time. But what a surprise when I woke up after those four hours to realize that we were not in Zagreb at all, but actually in the middle of a snowstorm in the Croatian mountains because the highway was closed… ahah, wild!

We finally arrived in a very cute, snowy Zagreb (eight hours after we left) and were able to meet our friends who were waiting for us there, under the snow with big coats and scarfs, just like in a Christmas movie. We enjoyed the capital together, from its pubs to its monuments (including its pizza shops at 4 a.m, ahah), and once again, we had so much fun!

This getaway definitely put Ona and me in the Christmas mood, so as soon as we came back on the 24th, we decorated our little cottage with our handmade Christmas decorations.

Finally, during the last week of the month, we had to organize and lead many workshops with Argonauta, including the final one with the volunteers, to whom we had to say goodbye…

To wrap everything up, this month has been full of adventures, laughter, and new landscapes through our many little getaways with Ona (who tells it way better than I do on her blog, so don’t hesitate to have a look over there). I was afraid we might feel lonely or get bored, but we managed to keep ourselves perfectly entertained, and we met some really lovely people we won’t forget.

The work part was also interesting, as we really thrived in our daily tasks, overcame difficult situations and were able to propose some very exciting projects to the team, projects I’ll talk more about another time.😄

Hope you enjoyed reading this.

Bye!