Universität Ljubljana, Slowenien

Hey, everyone!

I want to start my 5^th blog entry with a very strange story that happened to me. The summer finally arrived in Slovenia and the temperature rose up to 30 degrees Celsius. I could have been perfect if it hadn’t been for the exam preparation, forcing me to stay inside at my desk. That is why my fellow Erasmus students and I decided to visit the open air swimming pool to take our mind of things. After some sweaty thirty minutes by bike, I could see the swimming pool but I couldn’t find the entrance to it. When I found the entrance, it was closed but since I could hear little children splashing inside and I looked up the opening times in advance on the internet, I started looking for a second entrance. Finally I found a slightly opened gate in the outdoor fence and slipped through. I sat down on the empty benches and waited for my friends who were 25 minutes late due to a broken-down bus. When they arrived I finally spotted someone who liked like the pool supervisor and approached him to pay my two euros entrance fee. Puzzled, he gestured to explain that the swimming pool was closed for another two weeks, contrary to the information on the internet. You can imagine that I was likewise puzzled to hear that bathing season hadn’t started yet despite 30 degrees Celsius. He also didn’t want to let us use the beach volleyball courts. A bit disappointed we decided to visit the city park ‘Tivoli’ instead. Funnily enough there are no real alternatives to the open air swimming pool in the Slovene capital, not like in Würzburg. But that’s okay!

Slovenia does not only have the alpine landscape that I’ve talked so much about in my earlier blog entries, but also a couple of kilometers of beach along the Mediterranean Sea. 46 kilometers to be exact. I’ve been there last week on a sunny and spontaneous trip to Portorož which is about one hour away by car. Later I’ve heard that the seaside town of Pirna is supposed to have the most beautiful beaches. Croatia’s beaches are out of this world. The water is of an incredible crystal clear, turquoise colour. This is better than any open air swimming pool! But be careful not to step on one of the numerous sea urchins (little sea animals with spikes).

My time here is almost over. The first Erasmus students are throwing fare well parties. Next week I will write my last exam. This time I even found some English literature about my topics – the lectures were in Slovenian again.

When I planned my stay abroad I didn’t know that my last exams would already be in June. Now I still have one month left with nothing to do. But I’m not complaining, on the contrary. I want to enjoy that time to the fullest and use it to explore the Balkans some more. I want to visit Belgrade and Sarajevo before a have to return home to Germany in July.

Last but not least, I want to tell you about my weekend in the Julian Alps 14 days ago. The first day I wanted to climb the Mangart Mountain which is almost 2,700 meters high. The weather was stable, so I borrowed the necessary mountaineering equipment. I hiked to a point at about 2,200 meters where I wanted to start the climb. However, when I got there the mountain was covered with snow and ice. I decided it would to be too risky to continue and had to turn back. What a pity! I hope that I will get another chance within the remaining two weeks with less snow. The second day I took part in a real Canyoning adventure. We had a guide leading us uphill through the canyon for about 45 minutes. Then followed an one and a half hour sliding, slipping and roping tour through the water downhill. What an experience!

See you in 14 days, hopefully with many stories to tell from Belgrade and Sarajevo!

Yours

Lukas