Friends in the past

I'm going to write a bit about my friends from my past. Most of us just grew apart, but since we once had some kind of relationship, I can not leave them out of my Family and Friends series (link is to the intro post about this).

• Martha. She was once my best friend. I met her the first day of my elementary school. It didn't take us long to realize we were very much alike. Even though we spent every day together, true friendship was born around 4th grade (we were 10 or 11). We went everywhere together. I was more at her place than my own. We went all the way from walking with our dolls to make-up, boys and going out. Eventually, she changed and, I have to be honest, I didn't like the change. We still remained good friends with more visible dislikes more often. We finally parted somewhere in the first grade of high school (freshmen as you would say). I seriously think I need to call her.
• Petra and Joseph. They are brother ans sister. They are younger than me but we grew up together. They live in a village where my grandparents live so we spent every summer, winter and occasionally some other seasons together. It didn't matter that we haven't seen each other for the whole school semester because it was like I never left. We were together every day from 8 a.m. till 10 p.m. The only time I wasn't at their place was during lunch (if their grandma cooked something I didn't eat). Eventually our families got in a huge fight and we were kinda caught up in all that. Unfortunately, we haven't seen each other for about 7 years now. I still think about them. A lot.
• Antonija. (It's Anthony, only female.) She came into my class in the 5th grade if I'm not mistaken. She was the opposite of me. She was wild, kinda rude, a smoker, a bit of a darker,... I have no idea how, but we got really close. We could talk about almost anything. But our friendship was a bit weird, so to say. And then we got to high school. We haven't talked since.
• Mathea. She was my first best friend in my life. Those were the times when a doll and some leaves were enough to make us interested. We could make a game out of anything. We were about 7 to 9 years old when we hung out. I would go to her place very often. I still remember how her living room looked. What now puzzles me is whether she lived only with her grandma. At that point, I was too young to connect the dots or ask something like that. But now, as I remember it, I remember only her grandma always being around. She transferred to a different school in the time when we didn't have cell phones or Facebook or anything like that. I had her phone number only. I tried it few times and then gave up. I have no idea what's happened with her. (And I tried to find her on social networks. I didn't succeed.)

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I don't want to accept it.

10 things to know about Croatia and Croats

Hello :) Since I live here, it would only be fair to invite you to visit my beautiful country. But (there's always a "but"), before you do, here are some basic information you should know.

• Trivia. We are in Europe. The capital is Zagreb. We have 7 airports (not all in the link are international) so you can visit almost any part of Croatia. There are 3 parts: lowland (Slavonia), central  - Croatia proper (Zagreb and surroundings, Lika and Gorski kotar (Mountain district) and seaside (Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia). Have in mind this isn't a legit division, it's only how I see it.
• Size. Croatia is a small country. And we know it. You do not have to point it out every few seconds. In spite of being small, Croatia has it all - sea, mountains and valleys. We have sun in the summer and snow in the winter. You could almost say we are perfect.
• Prices. Well it's not easy to talk about money but here's how I see it. For most of the Croats prices are high, but tourists usually do not have that problem. Everybody I've seen as a tourist in my country has said that prices are either really low or acceptable and reasonable.
• Languages. We do speak a lot of languages and we speak them quite well as Croats can adjust their pronunciation to almost any language. I'm not saying that every person knows 10 languages but we do try to speak the language you know if you ask us something (unlike for e.g. Italians who speak only Italian or French guys who won't say a word of any other language). However, older people probably don't know any other language than Croatian. Btw, Croatian is really hard to learn if you are a foreigner.
• Way of life. If you like to live in a rush, visit the capital - Zagreb. For more easy way of life, visit any other part of Croatia, preferably seaside (Dalmatia mostly). All jokes aside, this is actually a fact. People in Zagreb are way more active than other people (not referring to jogging or fitness). People in north Croatia (e.g. Zagorje and Međimurje) and east Croatia (Slavonia) work more in the fields and they are usually always doing something (job in the morning, taking care of domestic animals and field work in the afternoon - all day, every day).
• War. "Where were you in '91?" This is a question young generations take as a joke but to older people it actually can mean something. There was a war between Croats and Serbs (I'm not getting into this right now) but it was really important where you were in 1991. Be careful how and who you ask that question. Or don't bring it up at all!
• Nightlife. Croats do enjoy going out. Fridays and Saturdays are usual days to go out but since you get into college, you adjust your nights out according to your schedule. There's a great chance you'll see a bunch of people out on Monday, Thursday or any day for that matter.
• Religion. Croats are mostly Christian. We do not chase around people who are not Christian but it's still kinda strange if a person says they're different religion. This doesn't apply on tourists. We know tourists come from all around so we do not have any issues with different religions.
• Style. Most Croats have neutral style, if that means anything to you. I'm thinking jeans and a shirt. There are rockers, hippies, punkers, goth, emo and all other styles of life that you can imagine. We do not hate different people but we will look at you if your style isn't "neutral". Not because we don't approve, just because you're different. As we will look at you, we will also look away like nothing has happened.
• Coffee. Having a coffee with someone and sitting in a coffee shop for three hours is normal here. If you have that time. That's why the city is full in, usually, the Saturday morning. If you're looking for better prices of it, go in cafes which are not directly in the center of the city (e.g. main squares, near the sea).

I've put down 10 basic things you need to know. If you want to know anything else, fell free to comment below and ask anything. Have in mind that this doesn't apply to all Croats. This was written in general and mostly from my point of view. And, yes, I know I've written half of the names in Croatian half in English. Just let it be.

Just Google Croatia and you'll want to visit us!!

I will write another post about what to visit in Croatia and another one about what to visit in Zagreb as I live here.

Stay good till then. Bye :*

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Oh, my beautiful!

Today: 21.10.2015.

Doing: wasting my time watching TV (The Nanny is popular again) until I have to go to college

Mood: pretty good so far (staying positive!)

Favorite person: not sure yet, I'll find somebody at college

Thinking about: expanding my blog with some short videos (tell me if you would like that)

Missing: currently nothing (haven't had that feeling in a long time)

Loving: my paycheck (will come today or tomorrow)

Hating: that my paycheck isn't bigger haha

New discovery: great discounts in Muller stores (translate it into English)

Listening to: Rihanna - Please don't stop the music (getting back to the good old days) and VH1 channel

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Movie review: The DUFF

Hello :)

I don't know if you watched this or not, but here it comes. I have to warn you about spoilers. If you do not want to read spoilers and you want to know how I feel about the movie, scroll down to my impressions.

The Duff is relatively new (February 2015) teen film based on the novel written by Kody Keplinger. There are Mae Whitman as Bianca, Robbie Amell as Wesley and Bella Thorne as Madison. So, the movie starts with Bianca hanging with her friends Jess and Casey who are obviously more popular than her. She is also in touch with her neighbor and childhood friend Wesley. He is, of course, a school's football hero. As Bianca and Wes are talking in a hallway, Madison comes and kisses Wes stating that he is hers. Well, they are on-and-of all the time. This act did not bother Bianca as she has a crush on guitar player Toby. At one party, Wes discovers that Bianca is, in fact, the DUFF in her group. Designated Ugly Fat Friend. After being pissed off some time, Bianca asks Wes to help her quit being the DUFF. She needs his help, he needs her to pass science. Perfect deal. In all this process, she and Wes start to communicate more; they actually get to be good friends. This annoys Madison who doesn't miss an opportunity to turn the whole school to mock Bianca after one silly shopping time with Wes. After some time Bianca gets to go on a date with Toby but it turns out to be a total disaster. He is not the half of a man she thought he was. He accepted her invitation only to get some information about Jess and Casey. After finding this out, and seeing Wes kissing Madison at her favorite "thinking rock" that's supposed to be a secret, Bianca goes back to her real friends and her mom. They are preparing for homecoming dance and encourage Bianca to hold her head up high. At the dance, Wes is crowned king, Madison is crowned queen. In spite of everything, Wesley finally sees Bianca, turns down Madison and the title and kisses Bianca.

My impressions: I only went to see this movie because it's cheesy romantic one and it has Robbie in it. It turned out to be a good cheesy movie. Everything is pretty much predictable, but that's the whole point of romantic movies, right? It basically shows how teenagers (although played by Mae and Robbie who are both 27) can change over short period of time and how little it takes to destroy everything or to make everything the best it could be. You get me? I would recommend it if you're into this kind of movies, but people do say that the book is better. I wouldn't know.

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Designated Ugly Fat Friend

My father

Hello :) Intro post about all this is here.

So, my father... This should be a 1000 pages post to really explain what's going on here but I'll try to keep it simple. I was daddy's little girl for about half of my life (10-12 years); until I hit puberty. Now, I'm not saying that I started bi*ching around when I did hit puberty, but I started to see some things I didn't used to before and I started to think with my own head more. And my father apparently did not like it. That's where we started parting out ways. Everything he did annoyed me, everything I said annoyed him. We fought a lot. A lot! I cried for about 4 nights in a week. For sure. It was hard living like that. Knowing that my own father dislikes the real me. That he dislikes the fact that I'm standing up for myself and trying to explain who I am and what I do and don't like. He basically didn't like anything about me. Now I'm thinking it was either because we really were that different or because he didn't want me to grow up. I guess it could be a bit of both. Anyhow, we're far away from it and it's looking better now but I have a feeling that we'll never be as we used to. I can not go back with everything I know now. There are some things he does which I really can not approve and that won't change. And I can't change myself. I won't. I see him as a hypocrite and that's so annoying. I can not live with that and I have to. So I do my best. The good thing is I see him trying. He is trying to reach me, he's trying to find some common ground. And it's hard for me but I have to help him here. I don't want to live with somebody in a constant war. Me having some interests the same as him (e.g. riding a motorcycle) is helping our relationship. I think the major issue was the fact I was scared of him. He had so much power over me just by talking. When he raised his voice I immediately started crying. It was horrible experience. One of the worst feelings I ever had. Good thing is that I'm overcoming my fear. It has been happening over some years now and I'm more and more satisfied with my life and my decisions. I'm not afraid to stand up for myself anymore. More or less. I actually think he's proud of me now. Every now and then, I get this vibe from him and that makes me extremely happy. It is the best feeling after all that we've been through. The time will tell but I really hope we're done with all the sh*t.

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My father. Oh boy...