Days 7 & 8 - Classes begin

I'm not sure if I mentioned this to anyone previously, but our hotel (and school) are technically not in Dubrovnik. We are located at the Hotel Astarea in Mlini, Croatia. I am in room 118.

Here is the address:
Hoteli Astarea I Mlini
Setaliste Marka
Marojice 40
20207 Mlini, Dubrovinik
Croatia

Tel: ++385 20 484 066

I have no idea how much it costs to call or mail me anything, so email is probably still the best bet to reach me, but I figured I would give it, just in case. Also, please don't send me text messages or try to call my cell phone. I have a feeling it will charge me even for things I receive.

It is only about a 10-15 minute drive from downtown Dubrovnik. There is going to be a shuttle on Tuesday and Friday nights to take us into Dubrovnik, or you can take the bus, ferry or walk on your own any time. I actually haven't been to see it yet because I've been adjusting to things here and trying to meet new people. Friday is the 4th of July, so I think everyone plans to go downtown that evening and have a good ol' American time. ;)

Classes began yesterday at 9am (3am Indiana time) and so far I am finding it difficult to concentrate. The professor speaks English well, but I can't really handle the mono-toned accent for 4 hours very well. I'm trying to concentrate as much as possible. Once we get into less overview material that may also help.

So, yesterday after lunch I went to the grocery store. That was a really fun experience. Marco took all of us there in shifts, so we were able to buy as much as we needed. I bought a few snacks and some fruit, nothing too exciting. I figure if I can save some money on dinner once in a while, that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

After the store, I came to our classroom to check my email. While I was down there, one of the students from IU-Indy, Matthew, asked if I wanted to go to dinner. So, we walked to the pizza place on the hotel property and had a pizza for dinner. It was nice and the view is amazing.

He talked about his wife a lot and I talked about Adam. We're both in the same boat missing our significant others. :) After we finished our dinner, we noticed that another group of our students were sitting nearby so we joined them as they were finishing their dinner. I think I clicked with the group right away. We had a round of drinks and then met at one of the bungalows to walk down to the beach.

We stayed at the beach until about 12:30am and I did not get enough sleep last night. Needless to say, today after class I took a three hour nap and after finishing up this blog in a few mintues, I'm going to head back up to my room and try to get through all of the reading for tomorrow on my balcony. I'm just not the young thing I used to be! ;)

I also think that it was really important for me to get to know as many people in the program as possible. I really like a lot of the ones I've met so far and I really hope we all become close friends. Well, I guess that is all for now. Nothing new and exciting to report for the rest of today, I hope. :) I miss you all!