Foreign Exchange Student In Croatia

[HumidDesert]

Hello there, i apologize for the double post, but it appears that the "Regional" threads are woefully under viewed.

Anyways, as the title suggests, I am a 15 yo American student who will be studying abroad in Croatia next year.

My questions are these:

(1) Have any other INTP's gone to school overseas, if so, what was the experience like? i've heard many different opinions, but i figure the ones from people who acctually think like me should be headed.

(2) Ive seen several forum users speak Hrvatski and attempted messaging you, i guess i just wanted your words of wisdom, and to talk about your country, high school equivelant education, language and anything else you find mildly interesting.

(3) Now for the unwashed masses, (congrats to those who understand the historical refference,) opinions? Thoughts? witty remarks?

Hvala!

 

[HumidDesert]

My apologies, it appears much of it was Serbian, and perhaps Bosnian. I hope i caused no offense, im quite emberassed. Questions still stand though.

thanks

 

[AlisaD]

There's really not much difference between Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian - anyone who tells you otherwise is a puny little nit-pick desperate for a feeling of national pride which is a pretty hard thing to come by if you're from ex-yugoslavia

I currently live in Serbia, but am half Croatian and have lived in Croatia for a while - it's a beautiful country, the people I met were mostly nice, the language is going to be hell if you're not of Slavic origins, but studying abroad is always a great experience, so I think you should have fun.

 

[HumidDesert]

Yes, i have heard that the languages are nearly identical, but i was also told that i could cause severe offense if i got them mixed up, so i elected to play it safe and make the distinction.

And thank you, i'm sure it will be a very beneficial experience but i share the concerns regarding language.

Btw, i love the quote :P

 

[AlisaD]

Btw, i love the quote :P

It's not entirely a quote. The original is from Fight Club:

"Self improvement is masturbation. Now self destruction... "

I tried self destruction, turned out to be the same crap - hence the signature

 

[Lostwitheal]

Dobro dan. Kako si?

Yeah, that's about the limit of my Croatian I'm afraid...

Where abouts in Croatia will you be out of interest? It is indeed a beautiful country, though going through a bit of a rough time economically at the moment as I understand. My parents in law are Croatian and just got back from a visit there on Friday - apparently there are quite a lot of people out of work and looking for a 'free ride' right now. There are some truly lovely people around too though!

As for the language it is very broadly similar as Alisa says (and she'd know better than me ), though there are some small variations on words and meanings even in different areas within the same country! Nothing that hinders understanding mind you, just colloquialisms I guess.

 

[HumidDesert]

I will most likely be on the istrian penninsula, or perhaps somwhere farther inland, like Slavonski Brod. It depends on where they find a host family.

And i hadn't heard about the economy thing, is it serious?

And thanks for the language advice

 

[Fukyo]

Croatia is fine, I think. The bad blood is between the neighboring countries, foreign people are received well as far I as can gather. The cultural differences aren't that drastic I'd say, but it all depends on the kind of people you'll be staying with.

On the subject of schools, I wouldn't really know. For what it's worth from my personal experience Serbian education is quite rigorous compared to western one (those SAT sample tests I saw online were somewhat appallingly simple). The distribution of grades is different than in the US though, unless the Croatian educational system made some changes I'm unaware of, 15 is the year when students enter high school here.

The economy, I guess that depends on what you're used to. Even though I technically live in a poor country, I don't feel that affected by it because my living demands are rudimentary. The difference between the standard of life is noticeable, but it shouldn't affect someone who'll be there only temporarily. Besides, I don't think a family would accept an exchange student if they had no means of support.

 

[-Z-]

Whoops, just noticed this topic. ^^

I'm Croatian, living in Croatia so I guess I can give some insight.
As far as people go, generally they are warm and welcoming toward foreigners so I don't think you should have much trouble with that. Now, I'm not sure what the educational system in the U.S. is exactly like but here is the description of how things go around here. First you do elementary school which last 8 years, after that comes high school which lasts 4 years for gymnasiums or 3 to 4 years for specialized high schools and finally after that you go to college if you want to.

Anyway, my guess is you will be attending a gymnasium so you can see a scarce description of it on the link above. Although, note that some gymnasiums "specialize" in a certain field (like mathematics or linguistics for example) which means they have broader and more detailed classes on that field in contrast to other gymnasiums.

That said, the difficulty of your education will depend on the school you are assigned to so I can't really give more detailed information about this. And yeah, for the distribution of grades it's 1 (fail/not satisfactory) to 5 (excellent).

Now for the language part. Croatia is a small country but very diverse language-wise, or maybe should i say dialect-wise. We have 3 dialects which are notably different from one another and are distributed through the Croatian regions so, having said that, the dialect you will encounter on a daily basis depends on the region you will be living in. Non-native speakers say it's quite difficult to learn the language so you might need quite the time amount to master that.

I might be missing stuff you really wanted to know and could continue rambling like this for hours long, so I guess it's better you ask your questions specifically.

 

[HumidDesert]

Whoops, sorry, haven't visited the forum in awhile. I was most likely going to be in Pula, at an economics specializing gymnasium. Update: The whole thing has been delayed a year. . The Croatian consulate changed their policy, and i wasn't told till about two weeks before i was to leave (which was actually today.) The change in policy meant that my student visa needed to be turned in in person in LA (i live in new mexico.) this was simply not possible. I live in a lower-middle class family, and my tuition for the program was paid for entirely by grants and a scholarship. (wrote a winning essay on US foreign policy.) Additionally, it did not seem as if a host family had been ironed out yet. And thus the whole shabang was delayed a year. Thanks for the information though, it will come in handy eventually.