81 summer universities in more than 20 different countries… it was very hard to decide where to go this summer. Then a friend of mine contacted me and said: ‘I know a place, where should we go’ and then the summer dream started..
I am talking about a Balkan dream which started in beautiful Serbia and ended in crazy Croatia. While travelling between these two beautiful Balkan countries, this summer dream also included and showed us all the beauties of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was a perfect combination to feel the Balkan way of living and real Balkan Spirit. The name of this summer dream was Balkan Funk Travelling Summer University organised by AEGEE-Beograd and AEGEE-Zadar.
It started in the capital of Serbia. As soon as we arrived to the train station in Belgrade, there was an AEGEE member waiting for us. This was the first sign that we were going to have some very responsible and caring organisers. When we arrived to the accommodation place, we had the second sign indicating that this SU would be well-organised. We stayed in a very nice youth hostel with very high standards and good conditions. We all know that we are students and AEGEE is not a travel agency, but still when you have good accommodation conditions, it makes all participants feel better and happier. So, 40 participants from all over Europe were completely ready to enjoy the next 15 days. All the participants were very friendly, active and open to new friendships. We could see the Spanish invasion in the number of participants but they were always very polite to talk in English even among themselves while we were in the same group. After the funny ice-breaking and meeting games, there was a special welcome ceremony for all the participants. It was a very nice experience to have the chance to learn Serbian traditional dances at this opening ceremony. It was also a very interesting experience to have unlimited free shots of national alcoholic drink rakija. I would like to write more about this first day of the SU but I cannot. All I can say is that one should not drink more than five rakija shots if you want to remember the rest of the night.
Second day started with a Serbian culture and history workshop. It was nice and useful to learn more about the country we visited. We continued with city tour and fell in love with the beautiful river of Danube. We also had some funny problems with money exchange rates in Serbia. Considering 1 euro equals to nearly 120 Dinars, we started to show off like millionaires in Serbia carrying thousands of dinars in our pockets. Of course, we faced reality once we entered a supermarket.
Third day we had the magnificent Balkan train trip. I must be honest that it was the oldest train I have ever seen. I doubted if it would arrive in Novi Sad without breaking down. But in the end it turned out to be great fun. We were dancing and singing all the time until our last stop. And I assure you that a standard train compartment can take up to 27 people. Tested and approved.
I recommend everybody to visit lovely Novi Sad especially for the EXIT Music Festival. It is a very nice town. We spend three great days in Novi Sad and we – I mean 40 participants plus organisers – had the unusual experience of using taxi all the time for all kind of transportation. I think that taxi drivers of Novi Sad will never forget AEGEE. I believe we made them rich and all of them must be in Hawaii now having their holidays.
The trip from Serbia to Croatia was a legendary one. At first, it was supposed to take 7-8 hours. Guess what? We arrived in our destination in Croatia after 19 hours of bus trip. I cannot complain at all, it was a funny and unique experience. The funniest thing is that we had to pass Croatian border twice. Yes. We entered Croatia after all passport controls. We thought that it was an easy border check and everything was fine so that we would arrive in our final destination soon. But after a few hours, we exited from Croatia again and entered Bosnia Herzegovina. After a few hours we re-entered Croatia and did all passports control process again. I still suspect that the bus driver was confused and missed the road. Of course we had to wait the borders for passport control for more than two hours. This trip gave all the participants more awareness about the importance of being a unified Europe without borders. I hope that all Balkan countries enter Schengen and European Union very soon. They definitely deserve it.
And we were finally in fabulous Croatia. It was the first time for me in this country. I always used to hear very good stories and praises about Croatia. And after spending one week there, I definitely agree with all of them. I must admit that Croatia seems to be the most developed Balkan countries among all ex-Yugoslavian states. Of course, they have the sea factor. Tourism is very developed in this country. You can see its effects everywhere. We spent three great nights in Zadar. It is a lovely small town by the sea. To be honest, the SU was better organised and well-coordinated in the Croatian part. It seemed that it was more fun in Croatian part or maybe it was just deceptive eyewash of the beautiful sea-side, beaches and nice weather.
The highlight of the Croatian part of the SU was Pag Island, Zrce Beach. I did not know anything about Zrce before. And now I am very glad that organisers had included Zrce Beach into our program. It is hard to explain and describe the atmosphere there. If you like 24 hours non-stop party, then you will love Zrce for sure. It was just a crazy party island, like a smaller Ibiza. I remember dancing for ten hours non-stop. It was my limit. Maybe I am just getting old. I know that some participants were even more energetic than me.
In the end of these 15 great days, all 40 participants were completely satisfied with the SU experience. Some of them even met with their new loves and returned home as couples.
We are grateful to all the organisers and helpers from both AEGEE-Beograd and AEGEE-Zadar for making our summer unforgettable. They did a great job and as participants, we also played our role well. As a result it was one of the best Summer Universities of this summer.
Balkan Funk TSU was a summer dream that came true. In our last day in Zagreb, I was thinking what to do after this great SU and then a friend of mine contacted me and said; ‘I know a place, where should we go’ and then this great summer dream happily came to an end.
Written by Gökhan Bozkurt, AEGEE-Çanakkale