Author: Steve Evans

Dobar dan! U ovoj reportaži, želim govoriti o svojim zadnjim danima u Zagrebu.

Jako sam tužan što napuštam zagreb, osjećam se kao da sam ovdje izgradio nevjerojatan život i upoznao sjajne prijatelje. Zagreb je predivan grad. Kad sam prvi put došao, nisam očekivao da ću tako uživao ovdje, navikao sam živjeti u prevelikom gradu Londona ali sad vidim kako Zagreb ima svoj čar i iako nije najveliki grad u svijetu, ima predivnih ljuda koje su, iskreno, fakat više zanimljivi  i simpatični nego ljudi u Londonu (sori London).

Ovog tjedna, počeo sam pakirati svoje stvari – zapravo nisam donio puno iz engleske jer iako se 6 mjeseci osjeća kao veliko razdoblje, nije potrebno donijeti sve što imaš! Mislim da mi je zimski kaput najviše trebao kad sam tek počeo živjeti u Zagrebu u rujnu. Sada, vrijeme je bolje i ima više sunca ali tijekom mog zimskog semestra ovdje u Zagrebu, nisam nikad u životu doživio takvu hladnoću! Znam da ako se vratim u Zagreb jedan dan, došao bih tijekom ljeta ili proljeća.

Stiglo je proljeće u Zagrebu i grad je proslavio održavanjem festivala svjetla. Festival je trajao pet dana osvjetljavajući zagrebačke zgrade poput narodnog kazališta festival svjetla je jako popularan i puno ljudi su došli gledati predstave. Bilo je jako lijepo vidjeti toliko ljudi kako vani uživaju u zgradama i arhitekturi s prekrasnim svjetlosnim predstavama -pokraj kojih svakodnevno prolazimo. Osjećalo se kao zajednica i bilo je tako zanimljivo vidjeti kako grad je koristio stare i nepomične dijelove grada za stvaranje nove umjetnosti.

Kao što sam rekao, stvarno je tužno napustiti svoje nove prijatelje pa smo otišli u restoran na zadnji ručak i posilje toga smo išli na piće. U restoranu sam naručio tradicionalnu hranu: čevapi. Mislim da su mi se više svidjeli ćevapi koje sam jeo u bosni, ali i oni u ovom restoranu su bili ukusni.

Baš sam sretan da sam došao u Zagreb i doživio pravi hrvatski studentski život. Ako bude moguće u budućnosti, želim se vratiti i naučiti više o radnom životu u Hrvatskoj – pogotovo sada kada bolje razumijem jezik.

Good morning! In this report, I want to talk about my last few days in Zagreb.

I am really sad to be leaving Zagreb, I feel like I have built an amazing life here and met some really great friends. Zagreb is a beautiful city. When I first came, I did not expect I would enjoy it here so much, I was used to living in the big city of London but now I see how Zagreb has its own charm and although it’s not the biggest city in the world, there are amazing people who are, honestly, much more interesting and lovely than people in London. (Sorry London)

This week, I started packing my stuff – I actually didn’t that much from england because although 6 months feels like a long time, it’s not necessary to bring everything you own! I think that what I needed the most when I first came to Zagreb in September was my winter coat. Now, the weather is better and there is more sun but during my winter semester here in Zagreb, I hadn’t in my life experienced such coldness before! I know for sure now that if I return to Zagreb, I would come during the summer or spring.

Spring has arrived in Zagreb and the city celebrated by holding a festival of lights. The festival lasted 5 days illuminating Zagreb’s buildings such as the national theatre. The festival of lights is really popular and lots of people came to see the performances. It was really nice to see so many people out enjoying the buildings and the architecture with the beautiful light shows – that we all pass by every day.  It felt like a community and it was really interesting to see how the city had used old and unmoving parts of the city to create new art.

Like I said, it is really sad that I am leaving my new friends so we went to a restaurant for a final lunch and after that we went for drinks. In the restaurant I ordered traditional food: Ćevapi. I think that I preferred the ćevapi I had eaten in Bosnia, but the one in this restaurant was also delicious.

I am really glad I came to Zagreb and experienced a proper, Croatian student life and if it’s possible in the future I would love to return and learn more about working life in Croatia, especially now that I better understand the language.

我今天想要給你分享我的語言學員的課程。這個語言學院所安排的課程跟一般語源學院比起來，截然不同。

在每個學期的第一天，學長要求大家在一個“語言承諾合同”簽名。所合同裡的承諾是在學院的環境，除了中文以外，承諾不會說任何其他語言。你一旦說另外一種語言，會被警告一次。要是超過三次你會被要求離開學校，也不能再來上課，學費也不會還給你，為的是保護沈浸式語言環境。我的語言學院不嚴格地執法這個規定，原因就是百分之百的學生都很認真，因此沒有警告的必須。 要是我需要一個詞明瞭一下意思，我就直接用中文說說看是否我的理解跟老師的描述符合。要是過了太長時間還沒清楚化，我可以很快的請老師讓我說一個英文詞。要不這樣做，學生可能會培養從中文一再翻譯成英文的壞習慣，而不培養以中文想出來這個詞的意思。其實，要是你來參觀我們的學院，上課之間的休息時間走廊就充滿以中文表達的外國學生，這個政策很有效率可見很高。

第二個特點我要給你了解是我們的課程採用的教科書也跟其他語言學院不同。其實，ICLP創造自己的教科書。我們每天上四個小時的課，每一個小時都用不同的教科書教課，也有不同的老師，不同的同學，不同的教室。四課之三的課都是ICLP自己出版的，另外一本書只不過是樓下的台大CLD最近出版的。幸虧4個小時當中，一個是單辦課，這樣一來，所有合辦課出現的難點可以在一對一順滑起來。我的科目包括：「聽新聞論觀點」，「思想與社會」，「社交華語」，「電視新聞」。 我本來打算上「商業」課，但是好像報名的學生太少，因此學院只能舉辦這門「社交華語」課，其實這門課的教育方式是按照學生的目標調整的，辛虧傷這門課的學生都對商務有一定的興趣，因而討論的話題還算是挺有意思。

最後我想要介紹的部分是跟學生人口有關。我們的同學大多數是從美國大學來的。雖然年輕，他們都較認真的學生，加上他們來自美國一線大學，顯然很聰明。一般來說，美國同學們都是這樣的。非美國學生的人口更多元的。比方說，我們有一個已經退休的法國人，幾個新西蘭外交部員工，連一個希臘人，和屈指可數的英國人。我們非美國同學真的站的比例很低，但是因為美國是五十幾州的聯盟，各州有各的文化和情況，上課時淺談很有趣。

謝謝你看我淺薄的介紹。列下我提供幾片最近旅行和運動的照片：

Today I would like to share with you the programme of my language trainee. C0mpared to other language schools, the programme at this language school is completely different.

On the first day of each semester, the school principal asks you to sign a ‘language commitment contract’. The promise in the contract is that you will not speak any language

other than Chinese in the environment of the institute. Once you speak another language, you will be warned once. If you speak another language more than three times, you will be asked to leave the school and not be allowed to come back for classes, and your tuition will not be reimbursed to you, in order to protect the immersion environment. My language school does not strictly enforce this rule because 100% of the students are pretty serious, so no warnings are necessary. If I need to quickly clarify the meaning of a word, I directly use Chinese to see if my understanding matches the teacher’s description. If it takes too long to clarify, I can quickly ask the teacher to let me say a word in English. Otherwise, students may develop the bad habit of translating from Chinese to English again and again, instead of developing the habit of thinking out the meaning of the word in Chinese. In fact, if you come to visit our college, the corridors during the breaks between classes are full of foreign students speaking in Chinese which just shows this policy is very efficient.

The second feature I would like to tell you about is that the textbooks we use for our programmes are different from those of other language institutes. In fact, ICLP creates its own textbooks. We have four hours of classes every day, and each hour is taught with a different textbook, a different teacher,  different classmates, and a different classroom. Three of the four lessons were published by ICLP itself, and the other book was only just recently published by the CLD at NTU downstairs. Luckily, one of the 4 hours was a single class, so all the difficulties that arose in the joint class can be ironed out in a one-to-one session. My subjects include: ‘Listening to News and Opinion’, ‘Thought and Society’, ‘Social Chinese’, and ‘Television Journalism’. I had originally planned to take Business, but it seems that too few students signed up for the course, so the college had to organise this ‘Social Chinese’ class. But actually, the education style of this class is adjusted according to the students’ goals, and thanks to the fact that all the students in this class are interested in business, the topics discussed are quite interesting.

The last part I would like to introduce is related to the student population. Most of our students are from American universities. Although they are young, they are all pretty serious students, and coming from top American universities, they are evidently smart. This is generally true of American students. The non-American student population is much more diverse. For example, we have a retired Frenchman, a few New Zealand Foreign Office employees, even a Greek, and a handful of Brits. The percentage of non-American students is really low, but since the United States is a union of fifty something states, and each state has its own culture and situation, and it’s fun to talk about it in class.

Thank you for reading my humble introduction. I’ve provided a few photos of my recent travels and sports:

高雄美麗島捷運站
Formosa Boulevard Station in Kaohsiung

因为上周末是清明节（上周五没上课），我跟一个同学去了青岛。青岛是一座山东省海滨的城市。周六早上7点我们出发。8点坐高铁。3个小时后我们达到青岛。首先，我们找了一家青年旅舍。我们把行李放在那里。接着去找地方吃饭。青岛以海鲜和啤酒而闻名。当地的特产之一是海鲜馄饨。我们找到一家很热闹的露天饭店。但很可惜的是，他们虾馄饨已经卖了！天气非常好，阳光充足。我们一边吃一边聊天，都很开心能离开北京，探索另一座城市。

青岛真不错。不过，对我来说，青岛没有我在英国海边家乡那么美。可能是因为在中国到处都是人。每逢全国节日旅行，到处都是人山人海。
我们那两天在青岛逛一逛很开心。我最喜欢的部分应该是我们周日晚上去夜市。从新疆菜到青岛特产，应有尽有。真的是大饱眼福！到了夜市的时候，我们都饿得很。我吃了很多新鲜水果和东北特产。我的朋友吃了肉夹馍和日本松饼。
我们这才意识到我们还没尝青岛的特产，于是我们买了两瓶青岛啤酒。我平时不喝啤酒，所以我觉得一般，但我的朋友说，这是中国最好的啤酒之一。我们周一终于回到北京。海风让我感觉很好和休息不错。这很重要，特别是因为这周考期中考试！祝我们幸运！

Since it was qingmingjie (tomb sweeping festival) last weekend （so we didn’t have class on Friday）, I went traveling to Qingdao with a classmate. Qingdao is a seaside city in Shandong province. 7 am on the Saturday morning we set off. At 8 we got on the high-speed rail and three hours later arrived in Qingdao. First, we found our hostel and put down our bags. We then found a place to eat. Qingdao is famous for its seafood and beer. A local speciality dish is prawn wonton. We found a busy open top restaurant. However, unfortunately, the prawn wonton was already sold out! The weather was great with brilliant sunshine. We ate and chatted, both very happy to leave Beijing to explore another city.

Qingdao is really great, but I think it’s not quite as beautiful as my hometown in England by the sea. Perhaps this is because In China there are always so many people. Especially during the national holiday there is a sea of people wherever you go.
We happily explored Qingdao for the 2 days that we were there. My favourite moment was going to a night market on Saturday evening. From Xinjiang dishes to Qingdao specialities, there was all that you could want. It really was a feast for the eyes. When we arrived at the market, we were so hungry. I ate lots of fresh fruit and a Dongbei dish and my friend at a Noujaim (meat sandwich) and Japanese pancakes.
It was then that we realised that we had not yet had a Qingdao speciality dish, so we bought two bottles of beer. I don’t typically drink beer so to me it was alright. But according to my friend it was one of the best beers in China！on Monday we finally came back to Beijing the sea air made us feel better and more relaxed. This was important especially as we have midterm exams this week！ Wish us luck!

Bonjour ! Ça fait maintenant plus de trois mois que je travaille chez SBM dans l’équipe de marketing digital. Travailler au siège d’une entreprise

française apporte des avantages, et quand il y a des événements organisés par le RH, j’en profite toujours sans hésiter. Par exemple, des ateliers de jardinage ou des petits déj avec différents services. Bien que je n’ai jamais travaillé aussi longtemps au sein d’une entreprise anglaise, je peux quand même remarquer qu’il y a des différences entre le mode de travail français et anglais. Par exemple, le rythme de la journée : vers 9h, c’est la pause café. À midi pile, on descend déjeuner – ça dure entre une et deux heures selon les jours. Les mardis je vais aux pilates pendant la pause déj, ce qui est mené par une de mes collègues. Maintenant que les beaux jours arrivent, ils commencent à jouer au volley les jeudis en plus ! 

Vers la fin de mars, j’ai vécu une journée de travail tellement française que je voulais la raconter dans ce rapport. Tous les membres de l’équipe de marketing digital, la majorité desquelles sont situés dans nos bureaux européens, se sont réunis pour la première fois depuis un an. Le  matin s’est composé des présentations par les managers, évidemment accompagné par du café et des viennoiseries. (J’ai trouvé très intéressant d’entendre) les différents enjeux et missions des équipes régionales. Suivie par un bon déjeuner au bureau, je me suis sentie déjà régalée. Mais la journée avait à peine commencé. L’après-midi on a conduit une vingtaine de minutes dans la direction de Beaujolais pour notre activité surprise, qui était… de conduire les 2 Chevaux ! Emblème français des années 50, c’est largement connu que ces voitures étaient construites pour durer. Néanmoins, c’était tellement impressionnant de me trouver dans un entrepôt avec une cinquantaine de ces voitures magnifiques. 

L’explication donnée par l’animateur d’activités était rapide, nonchalante, et surtout en franglais. Même moi, je n’ai rien compris. Pour montrer les vitesses, il a tenu qu’une poignée en l’air et la seule chose que j’ai captée c’était la différence entre la 1er et 4ème vitesse, mais pas la marche arrière… Malgré nos remarques de confusion et de perplexité, il n’a pas tardé, puis il a dit « allez hop let’s go ».  Pas de vérification de permis, pas de signature d’assurance, rien. Moins de dix minutes plus tard, je me suis trouvé dans cette voiture minuscule avec 3 collègues, en fou rire de panique pendant que ma collègue essayait de rattraper les cinq autres voitures. Heureusement je n’étais pas la première à prendre le volant, parce que l’entrepôt était en pleine ville! Vu que je n’ai jamais conduit à droite, j’aurais un accident c’est sur…

Le premier arrêt était dans la campagne beaujolais, et j’ai eu que quelques minutes à me familiariser avant qu’on démarrait. Quelle sensation ! J’avoue que ça m’a vraiment stressé… mais j’étais fière d’avoir conduit une telle voiture, sur la droite, et en plus de n’avoir pas tué mes collègues ! Le deuxième arrêt, on s’est trouvé dans un parking, dans lequel il y avait quelques cônes dispersés, et le monsieur nous a dit (avec la même nonchalance qu’avant) qu’on pouvait voir qui pouvait faire le tour des cônes la plus rapide… aveugle. Quelle horreur ! Le mépris des règles de santé et sécurité est hilarant… Après cette activité, on est allé faire une dégustation de vin dans un domaine familial beaujolais. Celle-ci était aussi très drôle : la femme avait une franchise très amusante, et en plus sont franglais nous a remis en fou rire plusieurs fois. Pour terminer, on a pris un dîner délicieux dans un petit restaurant local. Je peux dire sans doute que je suis très reconnaissante de travailler avec des collègues aussi sympas et dans une entreprise aussi généreuse. 

The clichés of working in France

Hello! It has now been over three months since I’ve been working at SBM in the digital marketing team. Working in the HQ of a French business has many advantages, and so when there are events organised by HR, I make the most of them every time. For example, a gardening workshop or breakfasts with a different department. Even though I’ve never worked in an English company for as long as this, I can still notice that there are a fair amount of differences between the French and English ways of working. For example, the daily routine : coffee break at about 9 o’clock. At midday on the dot, we go down to the canteen for lunch – which lasts between one and two hours depending on the day. On Tuesdays I go to pilates during lunch, which is led by one of my colleagues. Now that the weather is getting nicer, they’ve started to play volleyball on Thursdays as well!

Towards the end of March, a particular day at work marked an experience so incredibly french that I wanted to write about it for this month’s report. Everyone from the digital marketing team, the majority of which are based in our (other) European offices, got together for the first time in a year. The morning consisted of presentations given by the managers, obviously accompanied by coffee and pastries. I found it really interesting to hear about the varying challenges and missions of the regional teams. 

Followed by a yummy lunch at the office, I already felt treated. But the day had barely started. In the afternoon we drove about twenty minutes towards the Beaujolais region for our surprise activity, which was… driving Citroen 2 Chevaux! A symbol of 1950s France, it’s widely known that these cars were built to last. Nevertheless, it was so impressive to be standing in a warehouse surrounded by around 50 of these magnificent cars. The explanation given by the activity leader was quick, nonchalant, and above all in Franglais. Even I barely understood anything. To demonstrate the gears, he just held up a stick in mid air and the only thing I understood was the difference between 1st and 4th gear, but not how to reverse… Despite our murmurs of confusion and bewilderment, he didn’t hang about and promptly said “right off you go”. No checking of drivers licences, no signing of insurance, nothing. Less than ten minutes later, I found myself in this tiny car with 3 colleagues, laughing our heads off in panic whilst my colleague tried to catch up with the five other cars. Thank goodness I wasn’t the first to take the wheel, because the warehouse was in the middle of the town centre! Seeing as I’ve never driven on the right, I would’ve had an accident that’s for sure…

The first stop was in the Beaujolais countryside, and I only had a few minutes to familiarise myself before we set off. What a feeling! I’ll admit that it really stressed me out… but I was proud to have driven such a car, on the right, and above all to have not killed my colleagues! At the second stop, we found ourselves in a car park, in which there were cones scattered about, and the man told us (with the same nonchalance as before) that we were going to see who could go around the quickest… whilst blindfolded. I was gobsmacked! The disregard for health and safety rules was hilarious… 

After this activity, we did a wine tasting at a family run Beaujolais vineyard. This was also really funny : the woman was amusingly honest and frank, and also her franglais tore us up with laughter multiple times. To finish off, we had a delicious dinner at a small local restaurant. I can say that I am without a doubt very grateful  to work with such nice colleagues and in such a nice company.

Working in France really is immersion at its highest. Even if there are moments when I speak a bit of English with my German/Italian/Polish colleagues, the vast majority of the time I only speak French and experience things as cliché as a 2CV team-building followed by a wine tasting. In addition, I’ve found that my French is really tested in these moments. Handling my stress, tense moments, or high emotions, are things I have had a fair amount of experience with over this past month, and it definitely complicates enormously my ability to express myself and properly communicate. Overall, I feel I have integrated pretty well, and I am proud of how much I have learned.

März und April markieren die Hälfte meines Auslandsaufenthalt. Somit möchte ich auf meinen Fortschritt reflektieren. Nicht nur in Hinsicht auf meine Deutschkenntnisse, sondern auch im Kontext von dem Rudern habe ich mich in allen Lebensbereichen weiterentwickelt. Das 2k Ergo Test und die Langstrecke in Leipzig sowie die Kleinbootmeisterschaft in Brandenburg sind gute Maßstäbe, die auf meine Integration in die Trainingsgruppe hinweisen.
Allererst erreichte ich am Ende März einen Bestwert für das 2k Ergo Test in Leipzig mit 6:59.9, der leider offiziell zum 7:00.0 in dem Speicher aufgerundet wurde. Obwohl der schneller Wert zählt, habe ich in den nächsten Wochen vor, das Test nochmal zu fahren und damit maßgeblich unter 7 Minuten zu fahren. Eigentlich sollte ich die 6k Langstrecke an dem nächsten Tag mit einer Frau aus unserer Trainingsgruppe rudern. Leider hat sie sich wegen Krankheit abgemeldet, zufolge bin ich Zweier ohne Steuermann mit einer zuvor unbekannten Ruderin aus Magdeburg gefahren. Trotz mangelnder Vorbereitung sind wir zum 5. U23 Zweier und 9. insgesamt geworden. Die erfolgreiche Zusammenarbeit zeigt gute Kommunikation zwischen uns und eine Leistungsbereitschaft, die ohne feste Deutschkenntnisse höchstwahrscheinlich nicht so gut geklappt hätten.

Letztes Wochenende nahme ich auch an der deutschen Kleinbootschaft in Brandenburg an der Havel teil, die bei der Regattastrecke Beetzsee stattfand. Das Rudern ermöglicht auf jeden Fall den Reisen in variierte Gebieten in Deutschland, insbesondere in die ehemalige DDR. Diesmal bin ich im Einer gerudert und zu diesem Zweck verbrachte ich die vorherige zwei Wochen im Einer in Vorbereitung auf diese Meisterschaft. Bei mir ist das Unwetter immer einen entscheidenden Faktor. Seitdem ich mit dem Rudern anfinge, habe ich wenige Erfahrung im Einer im Vergleich zu fast allen anderen Teilnehmer:innen gesammelt. Zufolge fehlt mir nicht nur die erforderliche technischen Fähigkeiten, sondern auch das Selbstvertrauen. Die Brandenburg Strecke ist für ihre schlechten Bedingungen bekannt, deswegen hatte ich unglaublich viel Angst vor diesem Wettkampf. Wegen der riesigen Wellen und des starken Gegen- und Schieberwind bin ich fast umgekentert, aber ich konnte meinen Furcht überwinden. Ich habe zwar in der E-Finale um Platz 25. gekämpft, jedoch war mein größtes Ziel unter anderen für das Wochenende einfach mehr Erfahrung hinter mir zu sammeln. Daneben verfüge ich nun nach dem Wochenende über das Wissen, dass ich mit fast unmöglichen Bedingungen klarkommen kann.
Diese beide Erlebnisse halte ich für wichtige kulturelle Einblicke in einer von Deutschland beliebten Sportart. Anhand dieser Chancen übe ich meine spontane Alltagssprache mit vielen unterschiedlichen und unbekannten Leute. Zusammenfassend wirkt meine Teilnahme an diesen Regattas nur positiv auf meinen Aufenthalt in Deutschland.

March and April mark the halfway point of my stay abroad. I would therefore like to reflect on my progress. Not only in terms of my German language skills, but also in the context of rowing, I have developed in all areas of life. The 2k Ergo Test and the long distance in Leipzig as well as the small boat championship in Brandenburg are good benchmarks that indicate my integration into the training group.

First of all, I achieved a best time of 6:59.9 for the 2k Ergo Test in Leipzig at the end of March, which was unfortunately officially rounded up to 7:00.0 in the memory. Although the faster time counts, I’m planning to run the test again in the next few weeks and thus significantly under 7 minutes. I was actually supposed to row the 6k long course the next day with a woman from our training group. Unfortunately, she cancelled due to illness, so I raced in a coxless pair with a previously unknown rower from Magdeburg. Despite a lack of preparation, we came 5th in the U23 pair and 9th overall. The successful teamwork shows good communication between us and a willingness to perform that would probably not have worked so well without a firm knowledge of German.

Last weekend I also took part in the German Small Boat Championships in Brandenburg an der Havel, which took place at the Beetzsee regatta course. Rowing definitely makes it possible to travel to different parts of Germany, especially to the former GDR. This time I rowed in the single scull and for this purpose I spent the previous two weeks in the single scull in preparation for this championship. The weather is always a decisive factor for me. Since I started rowing, I have gained little experience in the single scull compared to almost all the other participants. As a result, I not only lack the necessary technical skills, but also the self-confidence. The Brandenburg course is known for its poor conditions, so I was incredibly scared of this competition. I almost capsized because of the huge waves and the strong headwind and tailwind, but I managed to overcome my fear. Although I fought for 25th place in the E final, my biggest goal for the weekend was simply to gain more experience behind me. In addition, after the weekend I now have the knowledge that I can cope with almost impossible conditions.
I consider both of these experiences to be important cultural insights into a sport that is popular in Germany. I use these opportunities to practise my spontaneous everyday language with many different and unknown people. To summarise, my participation in these regattas has only a positive effect on my stay in Germany.

Como el mes pasado, el ritmo sigue más como un tango intenso que a cualquier otro tipo de baile mientras que la vida se hace cuesta arriba. Tal como concluí en mi informe anterior, confirmo que sí: sigo moribundo por marzo… y el abril ya tiene pinta.

El comienzo del mes nos trajo la semana de carnaval, y por mi institución la tradición es disfrazarse toda la semana. Nos echó un tema de disfraz a las 18:00 cada día por Whatsapp y teníamos que improvisar con lo que teníamos en casa. En mi caso, vivo en un piso caótico con ocho personas y sin ni la mitad de mi armario de Inglaterra, y así la tarea no fue fácil. Aunque no pude participar todos los días, el viernes me uní al disfraz grupal con mis compañeros de laboratorio.. ¡acabamos todos como Pokémon!

En las semanas siguientes, probé dos deportes nuevos, el pádel y la escalada. Escalaba bastante desde pequeño, pero ahora llevo unos 8 años sin tocar ni un agarre. Mi amigo me prestó unos pies de gato que tenía de sobra, y fuimos al rocodrómo por Montjuic. Me vino genial hacer una actividad fuera del lab, y aunque tengo un poco mal el hombro, fui con cuidado y no me hizo daño. El pádel me costó más, siendo un deporte que requiere mucha coordinación, pero me divertí mucho y planeo seguir practicando. Para premiarme después de las actividades deportivas, fui a un espectáculo en la Fira de Plaza España denotado “The Champions Burger” (se nombró en inglés, supongo para atraer a más gente) en que se colocan varios puestos de hamburguesa, los cuales compiten para ofrecer la mejor del evento. Vine con hambre para aprovechar, pero apenas pude comer dos debido a la cantidad indecente de grasa. ¡Qué experiencia!

Ni desviemos del tema de la comida, sin duda mi experiencia este mes sigue rodeándolo como una manada de tiburones… Un amigo me invitó a cenar con su familia en

Casteldefels, un barrio de las afueras de Barcelona. Nunca se puede negar una comida, entonces a pesar de estar lloviendo a cántaros, nos subimos a su moto y llegamos empapados. Por cierto, valió la pena por el caldo vasco espectacular que nos esperaba con vino, queso, y aún postre… ¡qué lujo para un estudiante! Adicionalmente, en trabajo nos llegó un evento temático de la comida japonesa – mi gastronomía favorita por casualidad – ese día no llevé mi túper de cocina para aprovechar. Los cocineros se esforzaron bien, adornado la cafetería con cortinas, banderas y ornamentos

japonesas, y formó una cola que se extendió hasta que ni hubiera más pasillo. Entramos por las cortinas rojas para ver un surtido de gyozas esperándonos de forma aperitiva. Me decanté por yakisoba con arroz y salmón (aunque me arrepentí al ver el ramen). El salmón estaba algo salado, pero el resto lo compensó bien.

Siguiendo con la gastronomía (esta vez local), me apunté para dos calçotadas con distintos grupos de investigación. Para quien no sepa, la calçotada es un evento tradicional de catalunya en que se asan calçots a la parilla (una variación de cebolla juvenil) y vienen acompañados por carnes (vaca, cordero) a la brasa. Los calçots se pinchan en un alambre metálico para cocinarlos todos a la vez – si no, acabarías esclavizado a la parrilla dando vueltas uno por uno. Hubo unos 150 calçots en la segunda, aunque la primera fracasó un poco porque la mayoría del grupo no superó una resaca de la noche anterior. Aun así, me quedé con gente nueva y me lo pasé genial. La siguiente tuvo éxito, porque llegamos todos puntuales a la estación de Sants para las 9.30 (una hazaña soprendente entre españoles que se suelen levantar más tarde) y nos quedamos en un grupo más grande. Logré evitar quemaduras del sol, pero volví a casa a las 19:00 solo para salir directo al cumpleaños de un amigo de escalada. Me amenecí el día siguiente con una resaca bastante decente, y aún así jugué un partido de pádel bajo el sol. Para llegar, hice 10 km en bici con un ascento de más de 60m… Es decir, no era el día mejor para estar reventado, pero no hay nada que no se cure un rayito de sol mediterráneo. Ojála abril traiga más de esos, y que el pronóstico no se vuelva a oscurecer como el mes pasado… ¡Hasta ahora!

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Just like last month, life keeps moving to the rhythm of an intense tango, rather than any other type of dance, as things keep spicing up. As I concluded in my February–March report, I can confirm: yes, I’m still barely surviving March… and April already looks chaotic.

The month kicked off with Carnival week, and at my research institute, the tradition is to dress up every single day. Each afternoon at 6:00 p.m., we were sent a costume theme via WhatsApp, and had to improvise something using only what we had at home. In my case, I live in a chaotic flat with eight other people and barely half of my wardrobe from England, so it wasn’t easy. Although I couldn’t join in every day, I did take part on Friday in the group costume with my labmates… we all ended up dressed as Pokémon!

In the following weeks, I tried two new sports — padel and climbing. I used to climb quite a bit as a kid, but it had been around 8 years since I last touched a hold. A friend lent me an extra pair of climbing shoes and we went to the Montjuïc climbing gym. It felt amazing to do something outside the lab, and although my shoulder isn’t in the best shape, I was careful and didn’t aggravate it. Pádel was more difficult, since it requires a lot of coordination, but I had a blast and plan to keep practicing. To reward myself after all the sporty activity, I went to an event at Fira de Plaça Espanya called *The Champions Burger* (yes, it was named in English – I assume to draw more people in). Several burger stands compete to offer the best burger of the event. I came hungry to make the most of it… but could barely manage two due to how greasy they were. What an experience!

Speaking of food, this month has basically revolved around it like a shiver of sharks circling their prey. One weekend, a friend invited me to dinner with his family in Castelldefels, a town on the outskirts of Barcelona. You can never say no to a good meal, so even though it was pouring rain, I jumped on his motorbike and we arrived completely soaked. Totally worth it though – we were welcomed with an amazing Basque-style stew, wine, cheese, and even dessert… what a luxury for a student! At work, we

also had a themed Japanese food event – which happens to be my favourite cuisine – so I didn’t bring lunch that day and went all in. The chefs really went for it, decorating the cafeteria with curtains, flags, and Japanese ornaments. The queue stretched down the entire hallway. We walked through red curtains to be greeted by a tray of gyozas as an appetiser. I went for yakisoba with rice and salmon (though I regretted it after seeing the ramen). The salmon was a bit too salty from too much soy sauce, but the rest made up for it.

Sticking with the food theme (this time local), I signed up for two calçotadas with different research groups. For those unfamiliar, a calçotada is a traditional Catalan barbecue featuring calçots (a kind of young, sweet onion) grilled over an open fire, accompanied by meats like lamb and beef. The calçots are skewered onto a metal wire so they can all be cooked at once – otherwise you’d be stuck flipping them one by one all day. We had about 150 calçots in the second one, although the first was a bit of a flop since most of the group didn’t make it due to a brutal hangover. Still, I spent it with some new people I’d just met and had a great time. The second event was a success – we all managed to meet at Sants Station by 9:30 a.m. (a miraculous feat for Spaniards, who usually wake up later), and we were a much bigger group. I even managed to avoid sunburn, but got home by 7:00 p.m. just to head straight out to a birthday party for a friend from the climbing.

I woke up the next day with a pretty decent hangover, and still played a round of pádel under the sun. To get there, I cycled 10 km with an incline of over 60m… definitely not the ideal day to be hungover, but there’s nothing a bit of Mediterranean sunshine can’t cure. Let’s hope April brings more of that — and that the forecast doesn’t turn as gloomy as last month…

Until next time!

Prošlog vikenda, putovao sam do Srbije, susjed Hrvatske, i posjetio sam Beograd – glavni grad Srbije. U ovoj reportaži, opisat ću grad, što mi je bilo zanimljivo, kako mi se činila situacija s prosvjedima i malo o razlici izmedu srpskog i hrvatskog jezika.

Beograd je predivan grad, fakat ima povijest, činio mi se da svaka ulica je imala svoju priču. Krenuli smo u obilazak centra grada  i naš vodić, Ivan je nam pokazao Crkvu Svetog Marka, Narodnu Skupštinu, Skardarliju, Trg republike,  Spomenik Zahvalnosti Francuskoj i Beogradsku tvrđavu. Ova mjesta su bili nevjrevatna, meni je bilo vrlo jasno da Beograd je glavni grad Srbije. Sviđelo mi se kad smo vidjeli Beogradsku tvrđavu jer ima pogleda tamogdje se vidi mjesto gdje se spajaju rijeka dunav i sava. Nisam baš znao da Save postoji u Beogradu, uvijek sam Srbiju povezivao sa dunavom. Jer u zagrebu je rijeka sava, zamislio sam pogled kao mjesto gdje se zagreb susreće s Beogradom.

Mislim što meni je bilo najzanimljivije je kad smo posjetili muzej Jugoslavije koji se nalazi sjeverno od centra pa smo išli autobusom tamo. U beogradu, javni prijevoz je besplatan! Ja nisam mogao vrejovat. Također u beogradu voze trolejbusi koji su stvarno dobro za okoliš.bio sam apsolutno zadivljen javnim prijevozom iako trolejbusi su malo stariji i prljavi.

U muzeju, dobili smo predavanje o povijesti muzeja, bilo je jako zanimljivo jer muzej se zove muzej Jugoslavije ali prije se zvao Muzej Istorije Jugoslavije. Ovo je bio problem jer muzej je osnovan 1996. znači Jugoslavija je tada još postojala i osnovili su muzej o povijesti koja tek se desila i još se dešavljala. Vodič je nam rekao kako to je bilo problem ljudima jer dok su posjetili Titov grob, turisti su razgledali muzej u istom zgradu. Mislim da situacija je bolja sada. Osim toga, muzej mi je bilo super, imali smo turneju o Kralju Alexandru I i vidjeli smo Titov grob.

Sada u Srbiji ima situaciju u politici, dogodila se nesreća u Novom Sadu zbog korupcije vlasti i poginulo je petnaest ljudi. Zbog toga, srpski ljudi prosvjeduju za ostavku svog predsjednika, studenti ima blokade i energija u Beogradu je električna. Svaka osoba koju smo upoznali nije bilia zadovoljna, čak nam je i vodič rekao da vjeruje da su svi političari kriminalci. Vidjeli smo plakate i transparante ispred fakulteta. Moja omljena se piše “radije bih bio svinja nego fasista”. Takoder, studenti su imali plakatu na kojoj piše koliko dani su blokadali fakutetu, kad smo mi vidjeli se piše 84, mislim to je nevjerovatno i nadam se će dobiti pravdu.

Želim kratko spomenuti razliku izmedu srpskog i hrvatskog jezika. Srpski koristi latinski i ćirilični teskt a hrvatski samo latinski, dakle na srpskom ima više riječi koje su međunarodne na primjer se kaže interasatno umjesto zanimljivo i na kraju, na srpskom se govori ekavski a na hrvatskom ijekavski. Ovo znači da na hrvatskom se izgovori mlijeko kao mlijeko a na srpskom “mleko”. Svejedno, sve sam skužio dok sam pričao s ljudima tamo i malo sam naučio kako se čita ćirilični teskt.

Last weekend, I travelled to Serbia, Croatia’s neighbour, and visited Belgrade – the capital city of Serbia. In this report, I will describe the city, what I found interesting about it, my impressions about the protests and a little on the difference between Serbian and Croatian language.

Belgrade is a beautiful city, it really has a history, it seemed to me that every street had its own story. We went on a tour of the town centre and our tour guide, Ivan, showed us St Mark’s Church, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Skardarlija, Republic Square,Monument of Gratitude to France and Belgrade Fortress. These places were amazing, it was very clear to me that Belgrade is the capital city of Serbia. I really enjoyed when we saw the Belgrade fortress because there was a view there where you can see where the rivers Danube and Sava meet. I didn’t really know that the Sava existed in Belgrade, I always associated Serbia with the Danube. Because the Sava is in Zagreb too, I imagine this view as the place where Zagreb meets Belgrade.

I think the most interesting part for me was visiting the Museum of Yugoslavia, which is located north of the city center, so we took a bus there. Public transportation in Belgrade is free! I couldn’t believe it! Also, they have trolleybuses, which are great for the environment. I was absolutely amazed by the public transport system, even though the trolleybuses are a bit old and dirty.

At the museum, we attended a lecture about its history. It was fascinating because the museum is called the Museum of Yugoslavia, but it was previously named the Museum of the History of Yugoslavia. This was problematic because the museum was founded in 1996, meaning Yugoslavia still existed at the time. So, they established a museum about a history that was still unfolding. The tour guide told us that that was a problem to people because while they were visiting Tito’s grave to pay respects, tourists were browsing around the museum in the same building. I think the situation is better now. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the museum—we had a tour about King Alexander I and saw Tito’s tomb.

Right now, Serbia is facing a political crisis. A tragedy occurred in Novi Sad due to government corruption, resulting in the deaths of fifteen people. Because of this, Serbian citizens are protesting for their president’s resignation. Students have organized blockades, and the atmosphere in Belgrade is electric. Everyone we met was dissatisfied—even our guide told us he believes all politicians are criminals. We saw posters and banners in front of the university. My favorite one read: “I’d rather be a pig than a fascist.” There was also a sign showing how many days students had been blocking the university—it said 84 when we saw it. I think that’s incredible, and I hope they achieve justice.

I’d like to briefly mention the differences between Serbian and Croatian. Serbian uses both Latin and Cyrillic scripts, while Croatian only uses Latin. Serbian also has more international words—for example, they say interesantno instead of zanimljivo (interesting). Lastly, Serbian follows the ekavian pronunciation, while Croatian uses ijekavian. This means that in Croatian, the word for “milk” is mlijeko, while in Serbian, it’s mleko. Regardless, I understood everything while talking to people there, and I even learned a bit about reading Cyrillic script.