Reunited.

 Today, not only did we have two meetings, but also Marissa and I were going to get to see one of our dear friends from school Lara. Marissa and I packed our bags and got all dolled up to go to the Presidential Palace.  We all crammed into taxis for the 30-minute trip to the presidential palace. Upon arrival we were ushered into vans and taken to the building. Here we met with the chief foreign policy analyst for the president of Croatia in the reception hall, here they have greeted diplomats from all over, including the late pope (below).

He is an expert in the field, and he has written numerous texts (perhaps reading suggestions for next year). The European Union was the issue of discussion today. He first talked about how each country in Europe has suffered one or more of these four issues: internal civil war, occupation, reunification, and or disintegration. The Balkans is no different. Now just 20 years after the conflicts they are looking to be a normal part of the EU.

Croatia is set for admittance in 2013, but emotions are mixed. Many Croats are opposed to joining the EU for various reasons. First, Croatia just gained independence and many citizens do not want to give up their newfound freedom. Also, there are currently problems within the EU, and Croatia has a stabilized economy. On the other hand, the EU would provide protection to this small nation, and if all falls along the EU plan by joining the quality of life for Croatians should improve.

We were then escorted to the bus stop where we waited for the bus to take us to the main square. Once at the square Marissa and I were reunited with Lara. We met for a quick lunch of cevapi. After lunch we made a quick stop at Vincek’s Pastry Shop for some of the best ice cream I have ever had.  We gave our clothes to Lara and then parted ways, and made plans to meet after our meeting.

The next meeting was with the director of lexicology at the University of Zagreb. He talked about both the political and social affects of languages. Which reminded me of the book I had to read for class Blueprints of a House Divided. In this book they discussed how each language has changed due to politics of a region. So the original constitution for Serbia in 1990 included the term Serbo-Croatian and said nothing about Cyrillic. But then in 1992 when the constitution for Greater Serbia was written they called the language Serbian and included the term Cyrillic to describe the alphabet.  As there are differences in languages in different regions of Italy, there are differences in the Balkans region.

 Once the meeting was over we waved goodbye to our group and headed to meet Lara and her cousin Sandra. The two of them continued to give us a tour of the city, and show us their favorite places (the local park right, St. Mark's Church with the Croatian flag on the roof). It was so nice to see another familiar face. We then stopped by the grocery store to get goods for the dinner we planned to make. It was so nice to finally have a cheap and delicious home cooked dinner (me cooking below). We talked about their opinions on Croatia joining the EU, Sandra and Lara both were against the idea, while they said their parents felt oppositely. After dinner we wandered around the town and enjoyed the evening together (Lara and I with the statue of King Tomislav below).