If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start.

I just realized how worthless is sometimes to have so many goals, as soon as you reach some of them you just have a few more new, so the goal which was important for you five minutes ago doesn’t matter anymore.

So what’s the point of being focus always in a goal? It’d be better, easier and healthier if we just admit that we have fallen prey to failure. Then, when you accept that you are a looser, when you are able to see that the goal was just an excuse to make yourself feel better, only then you are able to keep going just saying “I failed and it’s ok”.

We were told to write this blog to show what we were learning, so here it comes:

This is not a competition, we will be doing mistakes and we will be failing over and over again so there is not a big deal on it. I’ll try to keep my little successes in my mind and go back to them to enjoy them and remember that (sometimes) I won.

The biggest success is always don’t cheat yourself and keep in mind that what today is white could be red tomorrow, it could be brown, it could be yellow or it could even black so…don’t wait until tomorrow to make that call or say what you wanted to say because you never know. If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start.

I am talking about this with the wisdom given by failure. 

Zagreb – With you I feel like home! Park Maksimir

Somebody asked me this days how is in Zagreb and my answer is "Like home".

There are several places in Zagreb where I feel like home but I keep saying that home is where your heart is. I like to be surrounded by places with a lot of green spaces and if the sun is up is the perfect combination. This weekend was a perfect weather for walking around. 

I discovered Park Maksimir few months ago which is an amazing park..... full of green spaces. Is the oldest public park in Zagreb and it forms part of the city's cultural heritage, is a habitat for many different plant and animal species. 

I have a similar park in my country  and when I came in this park I had that feeling like being home which is the best feeling ever. I took my book, I lied down a blanket and enjoying the sun and the view. 

I met some friends! 

So, why not to rest as well from public works and life's reality, and just take a moment to walk with through a two hundred year long Park Maksimir, and enjoy the greatest masterpiece of garden architecture in Croatia.

Wish you the best, 

Carmen 

NY adventure: 12 days, 7 countries!

My best friend always repeated to me that traveling with a backpack, no plan and no hot shower is not my thing. It’s true that I’d rather prefer a beach and the sea with a full board included to sweating in sneakers when climbing a mountain with 20kg backpack in +30° summer day with no proper bathroom and sunburnt face.

However, it was Christmas Eve, 11.30 in the evening, when I was speaking with my Ukrainian friend who’d just got her visa and was determined to see snow for NY somewhere in Europe. 30 mins later we decided to meet in Munich next day and go to Portugal by hitchhiking with almost no money, and even worse – no plan. And this is how my 2-week adventure started. Challenging, awesome and full of surprises.

Porto, Portugal

 Surprise 1. Italian trains.

It’s crazy. ‘Trenitalia’ offers all kinds of trains: regional ‘slow’ trains that take you on short distances, more expensive IC trains and luxurious Frencciarossa trains that will bring you from Rome to Naples in 70 mins. Knowing a guy who managed to cover all Italy for free, we decided to try our luck as well.

On first 2 connections Bozen – Verona and Verona – Milan our tickets were never checked, and we successfully saved 30 euros each. Our next shot Milan – Genova was not that ‘smooth and easy’: controllers were not moved by our ‘We’re from Ukraine’, ‘Esta guerra in Ucrania’ and ‘Bella ciao’ song, and kicked our asses out of the train. Twice. Still, we managed to reach the city by 3 trains and no expenses.

Christmas Milan

 But when the doors of Frencciarossa train closed after me, I got really scared: controllers are everywhere, no stops between 2 big cities and worst part ever: you’ll not be kicked out, you’ll be taken away your documents…and don’t want to imagine what is next. It ended up with a lot of stress, stories to explain the absence of a ticket, and in total – 280 euros saved. Only on trains. Only in Italy. Still, I think I would prefer hitchhiking to this madness at least in the next several months.

Florence Duomo

 Surprise 2. French hitchhiking

We did hitchhiking in Germany, France and Spain. But French experience is something I can’t but mention: 900 km from Nice to San Sebastian in 1 day, 9 cars and max. waiting time – 5-6 mins.

A guy with a kid stopped, a guy with 3 kids stopped, people who took another way to bring us closer to our destination. We were once left on the highway, stopped by the police and successfully let free, had to speak English, Ann – Spanish with Italian words, use gestures and our charm. And it worked!

San Sebstian reached!

Surprise 3. Monegasque chick

The first thing you notice upon arrival in this paradise of luxury is the smell of good perfume at the exit of the railway station! Not McDonald’s, not sweat, not socks but perfume! The streets are full of Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini cars, orange trees are planted along the roads and public elevators! take you down from the top of the mountain to the yacht harbor. My friend and I just asked for the way to Prince Albert Palace and got the invitation to see Monaco from the window of the car going 100 km/h on curved roads of it.

Morozova and Monaco 

Monaco is amazingly rich. Here is the tunnel where sports cars can reach up to 300 km/h during Monte-Carlo Gran-prix race. Here is a famous casino right in the centre where mostly Russian, French and Swiss billionaires squander their money. Here is a Christmas market: no souvenirs, gluhwine and sausages. Come on, this is Monaco: a red carpet, pavilions of YSL, Lanvin, McQueen and champagne served in crystal glasses instead of hot wine in paper cups.

Monaco view from the top

 Yes, it’s not the country of the poor. Moneqasques consider French living in Nice –bagmen, can afford buying a small flat in Monaco for at least 2 mln. euros, and support their ‘poor’ with 2,5 mln. flats given by the state. I haven’t seen homeless Moneqasques, but may assume that these are people wearing Louboutin shoes from the last collection, having only 1 pair of Gucci glasses and collecting from the streets ha! champagne bottles decorated with Swarovski crystals. Monaco, indeed, you’re amazing!

Surprise 4. Naples, Italy.

If you’re tired of amazing architecture of Florence, Monaqasque chick, views from Cabo Da Roca or fashionable Milan, welcome to Naples! To the world of garbage bins on the main streets, labyrinths of ‘Spanish quarters’, 3 people riding one moped and trash-mud-dust-ruins everywhere. It really amazed me, even more than Milan and Pisa altogether.

No doubt, the true Naples

  If they have a historic building in the centre, it will be under construction for ages. If you go to smaller streets, you’ll see women yelling at each other from two opposite houses, you’ll be scared to walk and get a bucket of dirty water on your head, or hit by a bike, or get lost between a pile of trash…and a pile of trash. They have a 20-people line near every street-food bar, weird metro, 1 castle to be proud of (people, have you see real castles in your life? Go to Lithuania instead!), and the statue of Jesus Christ which reminds death in a hood.

Naples, Naples! Ah, yeah, there will be a guy to park your car for 3 euros on the pavement (if you first manage to get to the place) and locals who comment all landmarks smth. like: ‘This is an old statue’, ‘Of whom?’ , ‘Who knows?’ Thanks, Captain Obviousity. The one thing you can be sure of – Naples will not let you stay indifferent!

Naples local, this time showing me Pompeii: 'This is Pompeii, you know, this old city...'

It’s not the whole story, of course. There were much more surprises, emotions, people and stories, and all you need for this is to buy a one-way ticket and be open for adventures! 

To be continued...

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.

Dear, January

Is just one month, in one month is gonna be the half of the path, 6 months in Croatia. Time goes extremely fast that’s for sure, so knowing that the main issue is to be able to enjoy the experience as much as possible.

At this point there’s no homesick, even if a friend of mine come to Zagreb and visit me I don’t feel I’m from Zagreb and I’m showing somebody else the city. It is just one more part of this EVS year. I don’t feel anymore like I’m from my hometown, right know is just a memory, a place that in some point I’ll be back there. Actually is a confusing feeling, it is suppose to be my place the best one or the most amazing place on the earth? Because I was born there? If I had born in a different place I would say the same about it so it doesn’t matter at all.

Your pace is where you sleep, it’s not about a flag or a passport.

Anyway, as a quite good song says: “Alma que nunca se deshiela y se queja del calor” I’m just still trying to learn as much as possible from all the people who are surrounding me. I am traveling for the second time in my life to Paris in a few days with some friends and by the end of march I will have this “Balcan experience” which is part of this learning process, so I will be visiting a few countries close to Croatia and this is gonna be enriching experience.

I guess that this will be almost done quite soon and until know I could said that I’ve been able to defeat some fears and I’m dealing a little bit better with myself.

Art and the city: Joan Miró

One year ago while studying in Leuven, Belgium, I made a huge mistake: I was traveling around Europe all the time, visited 8 other Belgian cities, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and endless list of museums, exhibitions and interesting spots. BUT! Staying in Leuven for 5 months, I never managed to visit Stella Artois brewery and M-Museum that were located in the same city.

As it usually happens, we don’t appreciate something found very close to us, no matter how gorgeous it may appear to be. Do you think all people from St. Petersburg visited the Hermitage? Or born Viennese went to the State Opera? Or Zagreb people went to Dubrovnik? The answer is quick and ready: no. Thinking that it can be done any weekend, we keep going abroad truly enjoying foreign treasures and forgetting about our own.

That’s why a couple of weeks ago I decided it’s high time I discovered Zagreb, which appeared to have much more to offer than expected and surprised me in a very good way. The first spot on the list to share is Joan Miró exhibition in Zagreb.

Miró - The caress of a bird

It almost happened to me: ‘Come on, it’s there for almost 4 month, I’ll have the chance to visit it’. And I never did before yesterday when I was just passing by and dropped. It’s not the first time I see the works of Miró (my first experience was pretty spontaneous, when being attracted by the name of Salvador Dali, I went to visit ‘Dada and Surrealism’ exhibition in Budapest 3 months ago), but as he’s is the representative of these two movement in the history of art, the question which appears most often in the heads of ordinary people is ‘Really? I can do the same and get millions of euros for my doodles.’ Not true. I can’t call myself an art expert, but every time I find myself in the museum of old masters or contemporary art, I become a little bit closer to this controversial, at times paradoxical, world of art.

Let me say I never understood Matisse, Gauguin or Van Gogh. Why? Take a look at Correggio’s ‘Assumption of the Virgin’ or Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘The garden of earthly delights’! This is art! Dare to create something similar! It’s not ‘White center’ by Rothko sold for 72.84mln USD that only art critics understand.

And then I went to the Hermitage. Here’s Van Gogh. Yes, I always believed he couldn’t paint and everything except for ‘The starry night’ is ugly, now I saw it with my own eyes. And here is Gauguin with his irritating primitivism and Tahitian women. Ick! And then you walk into the hall with French art of XV-XVIII centuries and find only darkish-boring-all-similar huge canvases depicting royal families that leave no emotion in your heart. Ironically enough, right? This is how I understood that Van Gogh and Gauguin created their own style that stands out, makes their works special and innovative, or simply put – different. Now, as soon as you see another Tahitian girl, be sure: that’s Gauguin. 

Gauguin - Nave nave moe

Or take Matisse. A lion’s share of his works was bought by a Russian millionaire and collector Sergei Shchukin, and people kept repeating that ‘One mad man paints, another buys’. But even Shchukin was shocked when first time saw ‘The dance’ and ‘Music’ which are now most famous canvases of the father of fauvism. I saw them both. I came to the hall where only two of them were placed, and time stopped for me. The whole world became only me, the room and 2 unbelievably powerful, eccentric, all-consuming enormous canvases, and their red, green and blue colors hypnotized. You can sit there for 30 minutes and will never be bored by contemplating a simple plot. Isn’t this the power of art?

Miró also belongs to the class of almost-never-understood artists. For me he reminds a little bit of Picasso (a person might have one eye somewhere near the knee) and Wassily Kandinsky with whom I found similarities in colors and lines. Unless you read the title of his painting or sculpture, you’ll never get the meaning. What would you say about a chair with a kind of red nose on its seat and a blue flat pancake with another red element somehow attached to the top of the chair’s back? Surprise – surprise: ‘Seated woman with a child’.

Miró - Seated woman with a child

At this point you start to reevaluate your own vision of art. Is the era of art over, and over long ago in 16^th century with the end of Renaissance when artists learned to paint for half of their lives and eventually created masterpieces that even we, 500 years after, admire? Or maximum in 17^th century with Jacque-Louis David. Can abstractionism, suprematism and pop-art be considered to be art in a classical meaning at all?

Taking a short walk along 2 halls of Miró’s works: paintings and sculptures, and still being skeptical about whether I understood at least anything, I went to watch a documentary movie shot in the workshop of the artist. This is what I saw: he took a fresh cabbage, wrapped it up in a newspaper, covered with clay and white plaster, waited for a while, hammered the whole thing, took out the cabbage, painted it again... Madness? Maybe. But what I saw in the movie as well is that Miró had his own vision. It wasn’t about doing random things with objects around: his assistants could spend one hour placing a part of sculpture on different height and angles to please the taste and vision of the master.

 It seemed like this man lived in his own world, at the same time knowing what he was doing and how everything should be. And probably, being able to persuade other people that your works are art, true art, with its meaning, beauty and a bit of madness, is another inevitable part, not accessible to students of art schools who paint beautifully but nothing else except for the sea and the beach? And after all, Gauguin and El Greco were also too progressive for their time but became recognized only posthumously. It seems there is no right answer to the question what art is and where the limit is, right?

All in all, if you happen to be in Zagreb till February 8, take your time and drop to The Art Pavilion because art can’t be studied from books or photos, it must be contemplated and absorbed live, and you’re the one to shape your opinion about it.

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.

Officially: Christmas mood on!

Personally for me Christmas never bore a sacral meaning: in our family it is usually associated with my mom being a godmother and inviting her children to get presents either on January 6 or 7. It gradually turned into parents-children-family celebration and required both much preparation and cleaning.

That’s why, when I had my Erasmus Master’s Exchange in Belgium last year, I didn’t mind switching to West-European tradition and celebrating it earlier in December. To tell the truth, I didn’t even mind skipping it at all. My girls were planning their trips to Slovenia, Germany and Poland, I was already too old for getting presents from my Ukrainian godmother, and I literally had no plans for Christmas.

But here is the trick: when you expect nothing, something amazing happens. And it happened. It all started with a Christmas market popping up in the centre of Leuven: nice winter decorations, the smell of hot gluhwine, the house of Santa and most important – Christmas mood created by hundreds of happy faces everywhere, Christmas discount fever in shops and impatience all around. It seemed that everyone was waiting for a miracle despite the fact everyone knows it doesn’t exist))

It changed in a moment for me: my skepticism turned into happy anticipation and obsessive idea of visiting Christmas markets all over Europe: in Leuven, Brussels, Luxembourg, Maastricht, Bratislava and even the capital of Christmas – Strasbourg. You should know that in Ukraine it’s not typical to organize this kind of markets with hot wine, advocaat liquer and mushroom soup, hot dogs, sausages and pancakes, music, fun, souvenirs, and even fireworks. Once you’ve experienced it, you keep coming again and again. Surprisingly enough, Bratislava Christmas market amazed me most, and still reminds me of perfect winter time we had there.

Self-understandable, this year I was pretty sure my Christmas mood would knock at the door as soon as I smell hot wine and see first decorations in the center of Zagreb. That’s why, my going-out-for-amazing-ćevapi thing turned into tasting Balkan version of hot wine (which has no difference in comparison with its Flemish version) next to Ban Jelačić square and choosing cute from-Zagreb-with-love souvenirs to send home.

An interesting thing about Zagreb is that Christmas markets and stages are literally everywhere starting with Zrinjevac park and European Square in the centre, fuliranje kod Uspinjače near city funicular, the main Christmas tree with Sveti Nikola on Ban Jelačić, an open skating-rink in Tomislav park and other attractions who knows where else: this is something to be yet discovered. It’s not only about drinking hot wine, trying ‘special’ hot-dog that we call French in Ukraine, tasting typical palačinke and fritule (sweet stuff), but good reason to go out in freezing winter evening and meet your friends and dear people for a drink and talk.

You might say November 30 is too early for Christmas shopping, but Black Friday discounts and me being a girl forced me to go to the biggest shopping centre a little bit on the outskirts of Zagreb for a new dress (I still have 2 dresses I never wore in Zagreb and really need new winter shoes more, but who cares: Christmas mood is already on and out-of-control). The dress was successfully worn on Christmas Syncro party (that was forbidden to be called Christmas) and added to the collection of black dresses for all cases.

The last thought to share is that Christmas in Vienna was my dream. It somehow happened that Austrian capital has this special connection with Christmas for me: Amsterdam is a sin city, Brussels – European capital, Paris – romance, art and high prices, Zagreb – already second home, but Vienna…Vienna… Instead I got an invitation to celebrate my next Christmas in Germany, and surely, accepted it immediately)) Sorry, Vienna, probably, next year. As I say, some dreams should stay dreams for some time, and with time they will inevitably come true.

P.S. And yes, if they don’t give me my Christmas Schengen visa, I’ll meet Balkan Christmas in Montenegro, or Albania, or Serbia…who knows, what other Christmas surprises will December bring!

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.

96km game changer in Samobor.

While I’m enjoying my EVS year in Zagreb besides doing a lot of new stuff I still follow my old hobbies like running and biking. To give you glance what its all about here is a strory of recent adventure with my new friends from Zagreb running club Upri Gelender.

Three days before the race I receive the sms from Vedran(my training friend one of fastest trail runners in Sljeme) ,,Andris do you want to join me in 100k run in Samobor’’ my first thought was ,, it is too insane offer to reject’’. What scared me was the fact  that the longest mountain run I have done so far was 55k 3 years ago and I was completely wasted afterwards. On the other hand what motivated me was three things - curiosity what would happen after 100km, wish to see Samobor surroundings and hunger for adventure.

It was allmost midnight when we arrived at Samobor the temperature outside is around 10 degrees and there is a refreshing mist in the air. My watch was showing 15minutes past midnight when we start  our run. Altogether we were crew of 8 mens , chating and craking jokes first five hours went like a one moment.  At some point around 5 o’clock I got attacked by sleepmosters, luckily then begun more hilly and techical part of our route and I was forced to focus which drove away all the sleepiness.

At eight o’clock we reached Trdinov vrh or in other words the highest point of our root and also midway which meaned that there isonly half way left. It was really nice realization and it gave our team extra motivation to move faster which resulted that slightly before then we arrived at Šosice where we had refreshment point in local bar. Some guys grab some water other change their socks or tried to dry their feet.
After ten minutes refreshment we could continue to run it was only 35 km left. 

Because the speed of different team members varied I decided to split and I got Hrvoje(guy with a quite an exerience in ultra marahons) as a companion to run rest of tack. Hrvoje was a really nice companion because or speed matched as well as our sarcastic humor. 

Somehow the closer we get ro finishline the slower the time go. For me it was downhill what was iritating for Hrvoje it was uphill but together we balance the disatifaction and cheer up each other by saying some jokes which made us run last kilometres faster then the rest of the track.

When we reach finishline I have a pain in my legs and joy in my hart.

Before this training I would never imagine myself running ultra marathon but after all the nice emotions I got during this weekend it is more than clear that this is something I want to do again and probably Istria 100miles will be my next years goal.

Huge thanks for Gelender team for letting me join their amazing event!