WELCOME TO CROATIA



AFS Branch Office Croatia

&

GLOBUS

the Association for Intercultural Learning

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WELCOMES YOU

TO

CROATIA

welcome pack for the exchange students and their families

summer, 2013

WELCOME TO CROATIA

table of contents

WELCOME TO CROATIA 3

GLOBUS - the Association for Intercultural Learning 3

ABOUT CROATIA 5

HISTORY 7

ECONOMY 8

USEFUL INFORMATION 9

CROATIAN FAMILY 11

CROATIAN SCHOOL SYSTEM 12

LEARNING CROATIAN LANGUAGE 13

Keep in mind 14

SOME USEFUL ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS 15

SOME IMPORTANT DATES DURING YOUR STAY 16

WELCOME TO CROATIA

We have prepared this booklet to welcome you to our beautiful country. You will not find all the answers to your questions here, because each day that you live with us the number of questions you have will grow. However, we hope our advice provided in this booklet will be useful to you during your stay in Croatia.

First of all, allow us to introduce ourselves.

GLOBUS - the Association for Intercultural Learning

"GLOBUS", the Association for Intercultural Learning was founded in the year 2000 by former AFS participants and volunteers from Zagreb, Croatia. As you probably know, AFS (American Field Service) is an international organization promoting intercultural learning by organizing students and teachers' exchange programmes. Being a part of former Yugoslavia, Croatia used to have student exchange programmes under AFS Yugoslavia from the mid sixties until 1991 when the previous country fell apart.

In the old times, within AFS Yugoslavia, a volunteer organization responsible for exchange programmes was at the time very strong in Belgrade (today the exchange capital of FRY), Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Zagreb (the capital of the Republic of Croatia). The volunteers were quite active and enjoyed substantial freedom in their activities, which included, along with the common AFS weekends that were organized three times a year in different towns and a bus trip from Belgrade to Dubrovnik, a skiing week on Jahorina, a mountain near Sarajevo and other events throughout the year. The volunteers also helped the national AFS director in organizing orientations and doing interviews with the candidates for the exchange programmes. But the war that had erupted in 1991 stopped the AFS activities. However, the volunteers who gathered a lot of experience during that period could not put up with the fact that there was no AFS in Croatia. Soon after the recognition of Croatia as an independent state in early 1992, a group of volunteers started working on launching exchange programmes in Croatia under the auspices of AFS.

Finally, in 1998 through the Internet, contact with EFIL (European Federation for Intercultural Education or the association of European AFS organizations) headquarters in Brussels was established. As it was not possible to start with AFS programmes immediately, the volunteers were offered to start the ESSSE (European Secondary School Student Exchange) programme. EFIL also suggested to set up a volunteer organization in Croatia and thus the "Globus" association was founded in early 2000.

EFIL offered “Globus” to start running the ESSSE programme, a three month exchange programme financed by the Council of Europe and run by EFIL and its members. Croatian Ministry of Education and Sports was offered to do it in the year 1998 when the programme started but never did it. During the three years of running the ESSSE programme total of 23 Croatian students spent three months in Sweden, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and Ireland. In their first year of hosting, 2001 Croatian families hosted two students, one from France and one from Sweden. In the year 2002 we hosted six students in Croatia (two from France, two from Sweden and two from Portugal).All the students enjoyed their experience very much!

"Globus" has also helped organizing ESSSE programme for the Bosnian students in those three years after which the Bosnian volunteers formed a NGO of their own and started running the exchanges themselves.

In that period we have established a good contact with several European AFS organizations, including the Italian Intercultura and AFS Germany, as well as with EFIL and the headquarters of the AFS International. Thanks to those contacts we started organizing regular exchanges with those partners that we cooperated through the ESSSE programme with great help of AFS Germany and Intercultura Italy who soon after provided some scholarships for the Croatian students which helped us a great deal to maintain our exchange operations.

Although Croatia had to face a terrible war in the first half of the 1990s, it is an entirely safe country where intercultural education has been given increasing importance. While organizing the exchange programmes in the past twelve years, we have established a good contact with the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, as well as with school managers of several secondary schools throughout Croatia.

We are still trying to set up a volunteer network throughout Croatia with our returnees and some former exchange students who took part at the exchange programmes that were running in this area in the past 35 years. We formed 4 chapters (Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek and Bol) but since most students go on exchange from Zagreb or later come here to study the Zagreb chapter has the biggest number of volunteers. Thanks to Mr Krešimir Okmažić (Kreshimir Okmazich), the Bol high school principal we held our predeparture (both sending and hosting) and occasionally post return orientations in Bol on the Brach island, the famous Croatian summer resort with one of the world’s most beautiful beaches, Zlatni Rat.

On AFS programmes, we have sent all together arround 100 students, mostly to West European countries and one to the USA. We hosted 26 and also had 3 EVS volunteers working for “Globus”, and another volunteer Adrian Lehne who came to help us on his own. In May 2013 Eleonora Erittu, an Italian student and a former AFS student joined us for three months through Erasmus sponsored internship.

This year we are hosting 8 students, 3 girls from Belgium Flanders and 2 boys from Italy on ECTP programme and 2 girls from Germany and a boy from Danmark on a year programme.

In the year 2009 we established an AFS Branch Office in Croatia and became affiliated partners of EFIL and AFS in the year 2010. Unfortunately we have had our ups and downs during the past twelve years and a couple of times started almost from the beginning in that period. We are hoping that this start that we had last year will be the last one and that we will steadily grow into a respective and efficient AFS organization.

ABOUT CROATIA

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION

Croatia extends from the foothills of the Julian Alps in the north-west and the Pannonian Plain in the east, over the Dinara mountain range in its central region, to the Adriatic coast in the south.

It borders in the west with Italy, sharing the Adriatic Sea. In the north it borders with Slovenia and Hungary. In the east Croatia borders with Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before the war, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro were in the same federal country, named Yugoslavia.

AREA

Surface: 56,524 km², with an additional 31,067 km² of territorial waters.

Length of coast: 5,835 km including 4,058 km of islands. There are 1,185 islands; the largest are those of Krk and Cres. There are 67 inhabited islands.

The Adriatic Sea got its name from an ancient port of the same name. The Adriatic spans from the Balkan to the Apennine peninsula. The part belonging to the Republic of Croatia is the east coast which extends all the way from Prevlaka in the south to cape Savudrija in the north-west, including all islands, islets and cliffs along the coast, and the archipelago of Palagruza (the number of islands, islets and cliffs is more than 1,700). This is a unique area in Europe for cruising with motorboats, speedboats or sailboats, but also for enjoying the underwater world.

CLIMATE

Northern Croatia has a continental climate. That means that winters are very cold and summers very hot. So don’t forget to bring a heavy jacket or an overcoat to keep you warm throughout the winter, and in the summer shorts are worn equally by girls and boys. Central part of the Country has a semi-highland and highland climate while the Croatian coast has a Mediterranean climate. You might find yourself on the coast, so we suggest you to bring a swimsuit. There are no sharks and the water is very clean and relatively warm.

Average winter temperatures range from –1 to 5° C in the continental region, from –5 to 0° C in the mountain region and 5 to 10° C in the costal region. Summer temperatures range from 22 to 26° C in the continental region, from 15 to 20° C in the mountain region and 26 to 30° C in the costal region.

POPULATION, LANGUAGE, RELIGION, CAPITAL

Population: 4.290.612,

language: Croatian (which you will find rather complicated),

religion: mainly Roman Catholic,

capital: Zagreb (770,058 inhabitants – the administrative, cultural, academic and communication centre of the country)

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Zagreb - the Chatedralle Zagreb, Ban Jelacic square

HISTORY

The Adriatic Sea is the cradle of ancient civilizations. The east coast of the Adriatic Sea was inhabited as early as the beginning of the early Stone Age (Krapina), and there is proof that most of the accessible islands were also inhabited.

Thanks to the favourable geographical characteristics of our coast, with its numerous bays, inlets and coves, the costal belt has ever been a significant mercantile and nautical route.

Archaeological findings prove that in the 6th century BC the ancient Greeks had commerce with the Illyrians by means of the sea, and that they founded their colonies there.

Later on, the Romans arrived, and not only did they build palaces and summer residences, but they also spent a considerable amount of time on the sea. Lots of towns on the coast date from Roman times such as: Pula (with one of only 5 preserved Roman Amphitheatres in Europe ), Split ( the palace of Roman emperor Diokletian ), Brioni (today a national park, there are remains of villas and thermae).

The period of the Slavs is characterised by constant struggle against diverse enemies.

Croatian kings ruled for a long period of time, after which came the Austro – Hungarian period and after that Croatia became a part of Yugoslavia.

The modern Republic of Croatia was founded in 1991, being recognised by the international community in 1992. Croatia is a Parliamentary republic. The power is vested in the Parliament and the Government (lead by the prime–minister Zoran Milanović (ch)). The Croatian president is Ivo Josipović (ch). The territory of Croatia is divided into 21 districts, the so-called counties.

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| |ECONOMY | |

Croatia is a transition country on its way towards developing capitalist economic system.

Croatian political and economic objective has been to join the European Union, which should have happened by the time exchange students arrive.

Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, is basically the most important city although the decentralization is in progress. The basic feature of the country is diversity of the regions.

On the coast, the main income is from tourism. Eastern Croatia is mainly an agricultural area, while the central part is industrial.

There is an increasing number of foreign companies investing into Croatia.

So it can be said that Croatia is increasingly open to the world, and if you judge by the commercial offer, Croatia reminds of most central and western European countries.

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Plitvice lakes, one of 8 Croatian National parks

USEFUL INFORMATION

CURRENCY: kuna (1 kuna = 100 lipa). 1 Euro = 7.5 kuna

WATER: Tap water is potable throughout Croatia.

THE TELEPHONE CODE is +385

WORKING HOURS: Shops and department stores are open between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. A small number of stores close between noon and 4 p.m. Some larger shopping centres have more flexible working hours and are open on week-ends and close later in the evening.

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|CROATIAN CUISINE | |

Croatian cuisine is known as the cuisine of regions. The differences of foodstuffs and forms of cooking are most notable between those on the mainland and those in the costal regions.

Mainland cuisine is more characterized by meat and meat products, heavy meals and rich patisserie, while the food from the costal region is influenced by the Mediterranean life style: lots of fish, olive oil and wine.

The food is non-GMO and in spite of the fast-food revolution in the world, the Croats still tend to eat healthy meals based on lots of vegetables and fruit.

Croatian life-style

The life-style differs very much from one part of the country to the other, but generally speaking the Croats like to draw out a drink of coffee as though they had nothing better to do. A typical day can involve three or more coffees in the morning, noon and night. Really, is there anything better to do?

These are some names of the most common coffee drinks:

Kava - espresso

Kapučino - cappuccino

Kava s mlijekom - coffee with a little milk

Bijela kava - coffee with lots of milk

Kava sa šlagom - coffee with whipped cream

Beware the wink

The Croats are big fans of the wink and you would be wrong if you thought it was because lemon juice had just been squirted in their eye. The wink can convey many different things: you’re in on private joke of theirs (usually you’ll have no clue what this is); they consider you a friend ; they’re interested in getting to know you better, blah,blah,blah,… Your best reply is either a giggly laugh seaming to imply you fully understand or to wink back: only do this if you’re completely sure what their wink meant.

SOME PRICES

In the bars and cafés:

Coffee with milk = 8-10 kn

Coca Cola = 12 kn

Beer 0.5 L = 15 kn

pizza = 40 kn

movie tickets = 30+ kn

disco entry = 30 and more

classical music concerts = 30 – 200 kn

rock concerts = 50 – 200+ kn

cigarettes = 15 – 20+ kn

chocolate bar = 8 kn

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CROATIAN FAMILY

Croatian families are like families everywhere. Each one is different, so you can expect:

▪ your host family may have one or two parents

▪ the host parents may be adults living together but not married

▪ the parents may be middle aged, young or over 60

▪ they can have teenage, very young or adult children

▪ they may also live in a city, town or in a village

In most Croatian families both parents have full-time jobs, which in Croatia means they work from 8 am until 4 pm and the children go to school one week in the morning and the other in the afternoon. As both parents work and children are very busy with their schools or universities you will probably have to show some independence and prepare (heat up, not really cook) your own meal, clean up after yourself and go to school alone by public transport. However, don’t be mislead by this. Tradition is usually very much respected in most of the families and you will have large family reunions and usually a time of the day when all the family members (thinking of the parents and your siblings) come together and talk to each other, discussing the day or problems.

Meals

The biggest and the most important meal of the day is lunch between 2 and 5 pm (depending on the family). Croats eat a lot of meat and vegetables (which we buy on one of our many green markets). Breakfast and dinner are rarely eaten together because of different schedule. Parents often have to leave home earlier or come home later and children often take part in different leisure activities such as sports (tennis, volleyball, dancing, football and basketball), foreign languages (German, English, French, Italian) and many other courses (yoga, photography, painting, music schools…).

Young people find friends in school and neighbourhood. Teenagers are relatively free in Croatia, so with 15-16 years they are allowed to enter most of the bars, discos and clubs, but beware, selling alcohol and cigarettes to the kids under 18 is illegal.

CROATIAN SCHOOL SYSTEM

Elementary school lasts 8 years, and children start it at the age of 6 – 7. After elementary school pupils can choose between grammar schools (there are different types depending on what subjects they concentrate, e.g. foreign languages, mathematics, sciences, etc.), or vocational and technical schools (for hair-dressers, mechanics…). After having finished a vocational or technical school a student is prepared to get a job, but after grammar school most of the students start the university. There are numerous kinds of universities in Croatia. The majority of them take 4 years before graduation.

School days are Monday – Friday. School is in the morning (8 am to 2 pm) one week and in the afternoon (2 pm to 8 pm) the other (due to place limitations in most of the schools). There are usually six to seven periods a day, with short breaks between them. A typical class has 25 - 30 students. Oral and written tests are given for all subjects. The grading system is based on the scale from 1 – 5 (1-insufficient, 2-sufficient, 3-good, 4-very good, 5-excellent). Students are regularly given homework. There are no school uniforms. Schools offer additional subjects and activities, such as theatre groups, choirs, sport teams etc.

The first days of school may be a bit difficult. You will be asked lots of questions, some of which might be a bit strange to you. Try to communicate with your school colleagues and teachers as much as possible, act openly and friendly. Lessons will be boring at the beginning, because you will not understand much. The most important thing is that you work hard. However, don’t be afraid: most of the pupils and teachers will be more than willing to help you!

Zagreb, the V gymnasium

LEARNING THE CROATIAN LANGUAGE

It might be difficult in the beginning, but you'll get into it as the time passes by....

There are 3 dialects in our language and a lot of grammar, but here are some useful words in standard Croatian language that you'll surely use during your stay. Note that there are letters which probably do not exist in your own language, but don’t worry. You will learn the pronunciation easily with a little help of your host-family, friends and teachers:

hello - dobar dan

good morning - dobro jutro

good evening - dobra večer č is pronounced as ch in 'chair'

good night - laku noć ć is pronounced as ch in 'teacher'

hi - bok

mum - mama

dad - tata

brother - brat

sister - sestra, seka

please - molim

thank you – hvala

i'm sorry – oprosti

can I get.....a cup of coffee - molim vas.....kavu

how are you? - kako si?

i'm fine - dobro sam

i'm tired - umoran sam (for male)

umorna sam (for female)

i'm hungry - gladan sam (m)

gladna sam (f)

Keep in mind

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Tips to make your stay in Croatia, with your host-family and friends easier and more comfortable:

-to establish a good relationship with your family we suggest rather ask how to do something than to regret it later or get into an awkward situation

-communicate openly (bring out your ideas and feelings, show your joy as well as sadness)

-talk about your doubts

-ask questions like: Should I call you mom or dad or by your first names?

Am I expected to: wash the dishes, wash my own clothes, help with cooking, cleaning, etc? Should I have my own shampoo, toothpaste or may I use the family ones? May I help myself with food or drinks between meals or must I ask first? Are there any strictly private areas of the house?

- your family is not paid for hosting, they have agreed to take you into their house as one of their children, so please act friendly and polite

-always tell the truth, don’t steal or embarrass them in front of their friends and neighbours

-be polite: say Thank you, I'm sorry

To establish a good relationship with your host-siblings we suggest:

-act friendly and communicative, show interest for their activities and hobbies

-respect their privacy (don't read your sister's diary or be too interested in her private life if she's not willing to talk about it)

-don't act competitive but as a friend willing to help

-be prepared to help (with school for example)

-don't lie or be rude

To establish a good relationship with your school colleagues:

-take active part in classes (example: if you are very good in English, talk a lot in your English classes, or help your colleagues with their homework in Maths)

-be open-minded

-don't turn down invitations to go out (if your parents allow it)

We also suggest that you buy gifts (something typical from your country) for your host family and remember: KEEP SMILING!!!!

| [pic] |RULES TO BE RESPECTED AT ALL TIMES: |[pic] |

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| |

|Even though you may be 18 (major in Croatian terms) beware that you have to respect your host parents and do not act without consulting them or |

|your counsellors or Globus representatives. |

| |

|While on the exchange programme obey your national rules and laws, as well as those of your hosting country. |

| |

|You must attend school and respect the school rules. No exceptions allowed. |

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|Do not use or abuse drugs and alcohol. |

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|Hitch-hiking is strictly forbidden. |

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|You are not allowed to drive a car or any other motor vehicle. |

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|You are forbidden to get pregnant or to get somebody else pregnant |

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|Note that your host-family and Globus members and representatives are responsible for you and they will not tolerate any misbehaviour. In case |

|of a breach of the rules you might be sent back immediately. |

SOME USEFUL ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS

AFS Intercultural Programs Croatia & Globus – the Association for Intercultural learning

Mailing address: GLOBUS, Mladena Fiolića 54, 10020 Zagreb, CROATIA

Mob.+385 95 822 6243 EMERGENCY PHONE : .+385 95 573 3599

E-mail adress: globus.croatia@

Programme and partner director: Boris Najdenovski (095 822 6243) E-mail: boris.najdenovski@

Sending coordinator: Ema Šare (091 149 1465) E-mail: ema.sare@ 

Hosting coordinator: Maja Miholjek (till september 28th, 091 728 3659), Ana-Klaudija Štilinović (091 331 9859) E-mail: ana-klaudija.stilinovic @ 

Chair: Doris Ilić (091 920 1914) E-mail: doris.ilic@

Working hours (for telephone calls to (095 822 6243)): Monday: 13-15h

(to be confirmed)      Tuesday: 9 -12h

                   Wednesday: 13-15h

Thursday: 12-15h

                    FriFriday: 13-15h 

|EMERGENCY CENTER: 112 |[pic] |

|POLICE: 192 | |

|EMERGENCY HOSPITAL: 194 | |

|FIREMEN: 193 | |

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|TAXI: 970 (in most cities) | |

|(1212 – Taxi Cammeo in Zagreb, Osijek and Rijeka, 1414 – Eco taxi in Zagreb) | |

SOME IMPORTANT DATES DURING YOUR STAY

6th September 2013 – arrival to Zagreb airport

6th – 8th September 2013 – 2 days – orientation camp in Zagreb, after which you will go to your host-families

2nd September 2013- beginning of the school year

7th October - 8th October – national holiday, no school

1st November 2013– national holiday – All Saints

1st December 2013 departure of ECTP students for Brussels camp

21st December 2013 – 12th January 2014 – winter school break

12th April 2014 – 2st April 2014 – spring school break

1st May - national holiday – Labour day

13th June 2014 - end of school year

14th – 24rd -- 27th July 2014 Pre-departure orientations in Bol on the island of Brač (to be confirmed)

24rd -- 27th July 2014 - departure from the Zagreb airport

SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

There are books about Croatia which you might be able to find in your country.

Try to find them.

Web-sites: , , , [pic]

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