Experience report
Name:
E-mail:
Exchange semester:
Academic year:
Host University:
Country:
T.C.Adriaenssens
t.c.adriaenssens@tilburguniversity.edu
spring
2013-2014
University of Zagreb
Croatia
TOPIC: Admission, arrival, housing
Dormitory Stjepan Radic, building 11.
My part of the room
I arrived in Zagreb the 15th of February around 2 in the afternoon. I could have been picked up from
the bus station (where the airport shuttle goes to) but I did not use it because it costs money. From
the station I took a tram to my soon to be MY dormitory according to the paper. Zagreb University
provides international students with two options for dormitories (100 or 200 euros, the second one
being newer and having a kitchen; in both you share a room with another person). However the
services are mainly run by people who don’t speak English. Despite that I managed to get a key
(students do speak English and helped). Applying for a bed in a dormitory had to be done before
somewhere in December for the next spring semester. Dormitory rooms were reasonable in my
experience, but cleaning is a pain: the dormitory provides only a broom to clean the place. (So don’t
look underneath the bed!)
In the introduction week we started with a tour through the city of about 2 hours and some drink
after that. The next four days were filled with a language course (which was very nice, my teacher
was really sweet; at the end she invited us for a coffee and paid everything). Saturday after that we
went to two museums by bus (i.c. Kumrovec and Krapina; the busses in former Yugoslavia are the
same as used in western Europe 20 years ago: I could still see Dutch or Swedish stickers in it
sometimes. The roof leaked, that was less).
Sometime after that the faculty (Law) had its own introduction. Some basic information and a
meeting with all teachers; in that week the first classes were just about what the class would be
about. After that you could choose/change courses.
TOPIC: Location of university/city
View from a tall building north to Medvednica. In suburb Novi Zagreb.
Menza food
Downtown
Main (Law faculty) building
Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and houses 1/5 of Croatia’s not so big population of 4 million. Unizag
(University of Zagreb) is spread out over the city, unlike Tilburg. Depending on faculty you could
have class somewhere in downtown, in a more off center neighborhood or in Borongaj campus
outside of the city. All are reachable by public transport. Law faculty has four main buildings all
located in the center of the city.
The Croatian state subsidizes food (and other stuff), you will get an Xica-card; with that you can eat a
lot for about 0,85-2 euro’s. In Zagreb there are about 10 of those menza’s (see :
http://www.sczg.unizg.hr/prehrana/restorani/sd-s-radic/ ) The card gives discount in ALL Croatian
university restaurants (So including most tourist destinations along the Dalmatian coast). The food
there is decent, great because of the low price. Otherwise just check tripadvisor (and go to Nokturno
restaurant if you like Italian). For ice cream; Chocolat, near Trg Marsala Tita, is very good. But
otherwise Vincek and Orange. Never Ledo ice cream. Sports can be done at the dormitory too
cheaply (with Xica-card).
Zagreb has about 40 museums, 5 or so USA-style shopping centers and a tram ride to Medvednica
nature park (Mountains). Beyond that Zagreb is a good place to travel to other cities in the region
(Ljubljana, Slovenië is very nice and takes 2 hours to get by a very scenic train ride, for other places
take international busses) and Nature parks (like Plitvice Jezera or Krka). (See: tripadvisor.com)
Zagreb building style is Habsburgian (like Vienna, Budapest, etc. but then smaller).
TOPIC: Academics
Cirilometska- Law faculty building in the old city.
Gunduliceva, view from the window. In downtown.
Unizag offers about 15 courses in English for law exchange students. I had six. Roman Private Law,
Ius commune and Development of International law were given by the same professor, Marko
Petrak, who is professor in legal history. Roman private law was about the origin and appearance in
modern day Europe of the contract of sale. Ius commune concerned the forming of one European
Private Law/Civil code and DIP was about how you could get the world to have the same laws
everywhere. Personally the classes were quiet interesting for me, because I like history. Petrak’s
classes were relatively easy, compared to UvT’s European legal History, but you can still fail. For each
you had to read a (copied) book of about 200 pages. All his classes were on Tuesday.
The other three, Outline of EU employment and social Law, Reforming Public administration in a
European Context & States of Emergency in comparative Constitutional law, all were given (mostly)
on Wednesday. EU employment law was for me one of the most interesting, it thaught me in a way
were most of the Dutch labour law rules came from. Reforming public administration was actually
more a public administration course (oh, really?) but it was very informative to know how another
study looks like. You had to write a paper for that of 25 pages, roughly. States of Emergency was
very, very challenging. The most difficult course I had. But very interesting as it deals about the use
of emergency powers by the executive branches of government. Poorly I only got a 2 for that (1=F,
5=A; so just enough. The grades of the other courses were more satisfactory). The level of English of
most teachers is roughly B2, with a heavy Yugoslavian/Croatian accent sometimes. The workload in
total was comparable with a course in Tilburg for me, although for most courses there would only be
around 6-8 lectures. All male Croatian teachers come at least 15 minutes late, female teachers
sometimes.
TOPIC: Social life
ESN Croatia’s Rijeka carnival
event. It was rainy that day.
Dubrovnik field trip of the history
faculty, by state paid (=free) bus.
Mostar’s rebuild old bridge.
The local branch of ESN organized most social stuff, and for law students ELSA was busy as well. Trips
to nearby places and such. Regardless I went half the weekends abroad to other places with some
newly met friends. From Zagreb you can take reasonably cheap busses to most nearby capitals, but
in Croatia I would advise renting a car for such trips as with 4 people in it is 50 % cheaper than by
bus. Whether or not you would have contact with “native” students depended largely on which
faculty and which class you would follow. I went along mostly with the other exchange students,
because they too were strangers in a strange land, more or less. From Zagreb I saw Zadar, Pula,
Rovinj, Rijeka, Samobor, Sibenik, Trogir, Krka national park, Split, Solin, Knis, Ston and Dubrovnik
(Croatia); Ljubljana, Bled (Slovenia); Venice, Trieste (Italy); Sarajevo, Mostar, Neum (BosniaHecogovina: It’s really, really great there. In Mostar go to hostel backpackers); Kotor, Podgorica
(Montenegro. Podgorica is rather boring.); Belgrad (Serbia); Budapest (Hungary); Vienna, Halstatt
(Austria); Prague (Czech Republic).
TOPIC: Living costs
As I lived with my parents before going abroad I had to change the grant from the government,
because for some time I wouldn’t live there. A third contributor to paying my Hrvatska life were my
savings (goodbye money). =Erasmus grant + government grant + savings. In Croatia most things are
less expensive than in the Netherlands but not everything. I took the dormitory with kitchen but
there was nothing to cook or eat with, except a waterboiler. So I had to buy cooking gear. Most
money I spend either on rent or public transport (like to the other countries), so if you intend to
travel a lot, buy a car; it will save you money there.
According to my neat accounting in a month I would spent roughly this:
Rent:
+/- 200 euro
Tram:
+/- 15 euro
Food:
60 (if I would only go to menza) – 150 euro
Cooking gear: 5 euro (20 euro, 4 months)
Going out:
+/- 60 euro
Travelling:
+/- 500 euro (250 for hostels and such)
Copy/print:
+/- 30 euro
Post office:
+/- 12 euro
Phone:
12,30 euro (according to the annoying Vodafone guy: “do you know how much you spend”)
Miscellaneous: +/-30 euro
TOPIC: Culture
There are two major differences between Dutch and Croatian/Yugoslavian culture, I would say. First
is the fact that Croats like to drink coffee a lot in cafés. They take their time for that, about two
hours. A second, very important, difference is the pace. That one was terrible sometimes. If you
have to go get something like a tram pas, residence permit, hiring a car, transcript of grade class,
treatment in a hospital busses you’ll have to wait 15 minutes to 5 hours. I was bitten by a vicious
insect and after some days my ankles were completely swollen, so I went to the first aid post (1
hours waiting). They send me in an AMBULANCE and I had to lie on a brancard, once in the center I
had to wait five hours, till 03:00 in the night, before treatment; I got a recepy for painkillers. All that
time there was a needle in my arm used for tapping blood. I had hoped for some faster treatment. I
had to pick the painkillers up myself. As is told to me by someone hit by a car (Croatia and Italy:
same driving. Less cars) courts take their time too. Trains are slow and stop at almost every station.
Positive point is that Croatians are more lenient than Dutch most of the time. A Croatian bbq is
apparently meat, meat and meat.
TOPIC: Personal development
Somehow I forget things very slowly, so I will remember a lot. The worst experiences were the
waiting for Croatian officials and the lack of any idea there what to do or whom to ask (no English at
the foreigners desk e.g.), hospital waiting being number 1. From all the people I met I can conclude
that nobody likes their government. Good experiences were probably travelling, especially Mostar,
Pula (when my sister came) and lovely Slovenia (to look at). As it turned out it was true that I have a
lot of patience and am very calm, compared to others. I learned some new stuff about other
countries too (like Korean education system being Hell incarnate, and Lithuanians liking Baseball).
TOPIC: Tips for future students
As long as you are a healthy person Croatia is a very good location to go to, with lot’s of things to do
and learn. Unless you are very font of cooking like me, you should save money and go to the Cvjetno
Nasjale dorm (or try to rent an apartment yourself, but that is not that easy; ask for help to ESN or
so. Croatia is nice country and education in Zagreb is good; Zagreb is relatively cheap and a good
location to discover eastern Europe. If you like cheese or peanut butter or satésaus, take it with you.
(same applies to bitterballen and other frying stuff, Yugoslavia only has cevapi; but that is hard to
transport). Ryanair flies to some Croatian coastal towns, and from Split or Rijeka it will take you
some 3-6 hours and 12-20 euro to get to Zagreb. That should have saved me money.