lara

an IBDP student CAS journey

[kilar]

CAS - activity - Biking in Zagreb

On December 31st 2023, my friend and I wanted to go bike riding. My friends and I went to Zagreb for the winter break and my friend Mark and I wanted to go biking. We didn’t have our own bikes so we googled and saw we could rent bikes using an app.

That is what we did on New Years Eve! We packed a little backpack with water, sandwiches and some extra clothes and began our journey. I let Mark lead the way since he wanted to show me a part of Zagreb called Savica, it is like a cultural ecological spot of Zagreb with a bit of wildlife.

The journey was really fun, at first we were by Bundek riding along big grass fields. The sun was out, it was beautiful. Soon enough we were on a real road biking our way when suddenly we realized that next to us there was a garbage dump, some of the garbage already composted and turned into grass but the other half was cut in half and rolled over. It looked awful, smelled even worse I almost threw up.

I’m not kidding, it was really stinky and we rode past that garbage for what felt like eternity. We discussed how terrible it must be to live close to that point and made a pact to not litter at all in 2024, to use our products responsibly and always recycle.

After we passed that point we came to a macadam road that we struggled to ride, but very soon we came to ‘Domovinski most’ which is above the river Sava. We rested for a few minutes under the bridge while admiring the graffiti before continuing our journey.

The ride across the bridge was a bit hard, especially with my body being sore from visiting Amazing, and from already cycling for an hour. But eventually, it was successful and we made it to Savica, which was filled with ponds, sedge, greenery and even a bridge.

There we rested a bit more and chilled next to beavers, cats and even swans. It was really calm and scenic, I have never visited that part of Zagreb before. There were people camping and fishing which inspired me to do so in the future.

The ride back home was hectic because the sun was setting, we were tired and I had a scheduled massage at five pm. But of course we made it after two hours of cycling altogether.

[kilar]

CAS - Activity - Amazinga

On Decmber 19th, I visited Amazinga with my friends. Amazinga is an indoor amusement park located in Zagreb, inside you can find trampolines, walls to climb, arcade games, VR and more. My friend group and I decided it would be fun to visit the trampoline park inside Amazinga since we were already in Zagreb.

We threw on some comfy clothes and went to the park, good thing it was only a few minutes away from our apartment. We agreed to take the hour long set and they gave us socks with little circles on the feet part to be grippier. We were so excited, the inside was filled with kids and was very loud but what could we expect. Well, little did we know we were about to phisically destroy our bodies. Before we started jumping the security/coach guy took us to warm up and explained the rules which literally ruined the fun but whatever.

We started jumping and after a few minutes I was done, I was out of breath and sweating like a pig but kept going. I did a somersault and aerial on the trampolines. Then my friend tried teaching me a back somersault which ended with me 'breaking' my neck on the trampoline and just falling consistently on my back. After about 15 minutes I quit trying and went on. There was a wipe out machine which wiped me out. I then tried some climbing excercises and arm strength. After exhausting myself even more I went on the softest ever platform and just launched myself from there into a pit for what felt like ages. The hour was passing by as we filmed ourselves and took photos. At the end we were so tired and sore we couldn't believe it.

All of the kids kept running and jumping and us 18 year olds were suffering. Afterwards we went to the apartment and made tea, rested and fell asleep.

The next morning, or actually the next few days I was extremely sore I could not believe it, I couldn't move. My body was so sore I couldn't even stretch. This wad a sign I need to work on my physical abilities in 2024.

I used to dance and do gymnastics when I was little, therefor this activity really made me nostalgic for those times. I am not as young nor flexible anymore, but with practice I am sure I can keep some of my talent.

[kilar]

CAS - service - Volunteering

On December 19th 2023, I left school early to volunteer at Socijalna samoposluga ‘Kruh sv. Elizabete’. On that day people in need; financially unstable, marginalized or even homeless people got their wishes fulfilled. Before the 19th they wrote down certain items such as canned food, clothes, toys, hygiene items which they were in need of the most, and then people who have these necessities bought the crucial items for the people in need.

These people were students, kids, families, parents, friends who know and understand how hard and lonely the holiday season can be. Winter consists of short, cold, sometimes even sunless days which for those in need creates even more problems. For us, privileged folk, winter is about family, friends, Christmas, love, unity, warmth, beautiful sparkly lights and rest. Most of the time we take this period for granted and never truly appreciate everything we have around us. This experience opened my eyes and showed me what Christmas is truly about; sharing, peace and love.

I came down to the Socijalna samoposluga at around 12 pm, I met with my dear mentor Elida which I know from my previous volunteering experiences, she introduced me to Jakov, another fellow teenager there to help and bring joy. The three of us got to work and made some sandwiches, filled cups with tea, juice and coffee and began sorting the presents. Another team of three volunteers came to drop off more presents which we then had to sort by numbers. We were all given simple tasks like organizing the names of the people in need next to their present. We all wore orange shirts with the ‘Socijalna samoposluga Kruh sv. Elizabete’ written on them.

Soon enough, people started arriving and we wished them a Merry Christmas with their gifts. The warm smiles on their faces almost made me tear up, I really enjoyed it, not because I myself felt great doing a good deed, but rather because these people were genuinely so happy and thankful for what they got. I was just the person handing them their wishes. A moment I will never forget was when two little girls walked in with their little brother still in diapers, mother and father. They got their gifts but the girls noticed a big box filled with toys - barbies, trucks, cars, stuffed animals, ponies etc. I quickly called them over and the three of us chose a bunch of toys for them to take home. The pure joy sparkling from their eyes really made me tear up. I remember when I was that little, if I had come across a big box filled with toys I would have acted the same. They got their barbies with fancy dresses and went home, hopefully with a big smile and full heart.

We chatted with the people, gave them coffee and hot tea while listening to Croatian Christmas music. We bonded and soon it was time to go home, I cleaned up a bit and thanked my fellow volunteers for the wonderful experience. I felt really good later that day and surprisingly had a very productive evening.

This day will always be engraved in my memory as another happy and successful winter day, but this specific day will be special, because I will always know the people that deserve the most support during this season, got what they needed.

[kilar]

CAS - activity - Ice Skating

On Friday December 15th, my friend and I spent an afternoon in Rijeka’s centre. We wanted to see and experience its advent. There were Christmas lights everywhere, little huts with clothes, food, honey, fritters and even live music. The Christmas tree had been positioned on the same spot as every year, very pretty might I add. The whole vibe was very warm, lovely and Christmassy. Although, one thing was missing…Ice skating! I haven’t been Ice skating in years. Last time I’ve done it was back in 2019. Almost five years ago. There was an ice rink in the city so we decided to go. We rented our ice skaters, size 41 and 43 (EU). It was five euros for however long you wanted, which I found pretty fair. At first, I was a bit uncomfortable, so was my friend. We were a bit akward, it had been some time since we ice skated. Therefore, we took it quite slowly until we were comfortable enough.

Soon enough we started going a faster, we were chasing each other across the rink and avoiding crashing into people. We also tried some tricks, my friend tried teaching me how to turn around by standing at the tip of my toes. Eventually, with some tries, I learned it. But to get there I had went through some serious damage. I fell and it was embarrassing, oh well. I was tired though, after only a couple of minutes, which is definitely a sign I need to work on my shape and its endurance. My legs were getting sore, especially my calfs and thighs. We had a water bottle and a rail that saved us!

We spent about an hour and a half skating in circles in the rink. It was very nostalgic, the music was Croatian and the energy was very innocent and peaceful, full of warmth and love. I really enjoyed it, the feeling of ice skating brought me back to my childhood. I used to ice skate a lot, and I was really good at it, always trying tricks and achieving faster speed. We’re definitely going again before the end of 2023. I think we’re going to visit Zagreb during the winter holidays, counting on skating there.

I’ve never really done any winter sports except ice skating. Of course we would sled here and there when I was very little, but that’s not a sport. I’ve always wanted to try skiing and snowboarding. Hopefully 2024 will be the year.

[kilar]

CAS - Creativity - Cornbread

On Wednesday November 22nd, I contributed to an event my school was organizing in relation to Thanksgiving. My classmates and I, along with our teachers, decided we would organize a Thanksgiving party to celebrate each other and express our thanks.I got interested in baking bread, specifically cornbread. Now, I’ve never made bread, I just know of an incident my mom had when she tried baking hers a few years back. In short, it failed and the bread wasn’t edible. So, in order to be sure I would bake this bread correctly I went to the internet and found an easy recipe that I 100% couldn’t mess up. I took the recipe from this link: https://www.mysticcakes.com/mekani-kukuruzni-hleb/ and helped myself with a YouTube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88oCidoMTrw .I personally love cooking, although I’ve never really explored baking, it was usually something I’d do with my mom and sister for the holidays or sometimes even for fun, but not on my own. Unlike baking, I’ve always cooked, since I was little I’ve known how to take care of myself when my parents were at work, my mom always showed my sister and I how to prepare delicious dishes as we grew. And with time, I got into my own recipes and started experimenting. I have a strange relationship with food, sometimes it’s terrible and I eat junk, and sometimes it’s beautiful, and I eat very healthy and am very motivated to cook.Alright, so first, I laid down all of my ingredients, which were: 250g of smooth wheat flour, 150g of corn flour, ½ or 5g of dry yeast, ½ bag or 6g of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 150ml of warm milk, 50ml of warm water, 50ml of oil and some polenta to sprinkle on top.Next up, as the recipe followed, I got a bowl with all of my dry ingredients in there and mixed them up. Then it was time for the warm milk, warm water and oil. When those mixed with the dry it was time to start to knead the dough. After some time it became a semi-sticky texture and I placed it on my table which was covered with flour and started kneading again until the dough became very smooth. Now it was time to wait for the dough to rise for about half an hour. Then I took it out of the cloth-covered pan and would you know it, the bread rose. I placed it in the oven pan and covered it again, waiting 40 minutes this time before pre-heating my oven to 250 degrees Celsius. Afterwards, I went over the bread with a wet brush and sprinkled some polenta on top to make it crispy. Finally, before putting the bread in the oven, I stroked 4 diagonal lines with a knife, for aesthetic reasons. The bread baked for about 25 minutes in 200 degrees Celsius. And just like that, the bread had been made. It was not a long process at all, but an interesting and educating one, my mom watched over me and it was really special to have some bonding time with her. Our whole house smelled amazing and we agreed we would bake our own bread more often!Anyways, this was kind of like cooking, but not really because you can’t taste any of it until it’s fully finished which was strange, I couldn’t be sure if my cornbread was going to turn out okay, so I just had to trust the internet. In the end, it turned out good, I won’t say great because it was a bit too crumbly in my opinion, but the taste was amazing. Overall, it was my first time baking bread and in retrospect it was the best version I could make!

[kilar]

CAS - creativity/service - Re-purpose

Last year, I realized that Rijeka has many abandoned factories and buildings. I love exploring these abandoned places, such as Hartera (ex-paper factory) or abandoned buildings in Industrijska ulica, specifically Torpedo. Although I like them the way they are - useless yet cool with their fun graffiti - I started thinking about ways that Rijeka could improve or utilize these buildings and give them a long-lasting purpose. As a part of the younger generation and a student in Global Politics, I believe it is important to think about these unresolved problems that affect our city. Perhaps, in the future, some of my ideas or those of my peers will be used to fix certain problems and help Rijeka grow as a city and a community.

Repurposing old abandoned buildings is important to utilize the space that once had a purpose. There is also a big ecological plus to reutilizing these buildings that had a purpose before. Why let all that material go to waste when we are already in a terrible state with the environment around us? Sustainable living is about reutilizing what we already have instead of wasting it.

Many of these abandoned buildings are closed down due to unemployment, instability, war, economy, fall of industrialization and the rise of tourism. Now that Rijeka is valued for some different aspects rather than being an industrialized port, we should shift our focus towards creating a city that attracts tourists through its beauty and community.

I had an idea to recreate some of the old abandoned places by updating them to become recreational centers that would consist of community-led activities. These centers could include everything you need, such as coffee shops, restaurants, a hang-out space, a library, a gym, and a few apartments as well. I believe that these centers would improve Rijeka's reputation and contribute to modernizing the city while utilizing its cultural heritage and history. This would benefit and positively impact tourism.

I decided I would go through with this project using the game called The Sims 4, which I truly adore. After a long period of struggling and decision making, I finally completed this project by creating a generic-looking building whose architecture and style can be implemented almost everywhere, especially the abandoned buildings. I really liked working on this idea, I believe it connected me further to my community and the city of Rijeka by making me think critically and ethically about choices I would have to go through to make these buildings useful while not making them too complicated. I also believe historic heritage and culture is extremely important in cities all around the world, and I dislike modernization and simplicity over tradition, that is why I would leave certain parts of the building (such as walls, windows, exterior parts, the roof and details) how they were before - to preserve the culture and identity Rijeka once had and flourished with it.

[kilar]

CAS - activity - Camping

15th of July my dear friend Mark and I decided to go visit Platak and spend the night camping. This was an out of the blur idea and we went with it. We randomly packed the things we though we’d need such as: a tent with enough size for two people, thankfully my friend had that, we thought about getting two sleeping bags, but since it was summer we decided best not to. Instead, we packed blankets and sheets to throw under them because all year round Platak tends to get quite moist and wet during the sunrise/sundown and during most nights. We packed a huge bag full of snacks, granola bars, but also vegetables and fruits which were easy to prepare, we also took some bacon, a few slices of bread and a few fried chicken pieces we bought on the way, with that a little pocket knife and like two forks, paper plates, some chocolates and of course big jugs of water, clothes to stay nice and warm during the night, we also brought beach towels to cover our tent in the morning, we improvised a bit. I also brought a mosquito repellent and my friend brought his hammock. We came up during the sundown and decided to find our camp area, during our visit there were a lot of people camping and hanging out together, almost like a little camping event. We settled somewhere near people so we won’t be isolated. There was music and a pit fire, I loved that part, we all gathered around, talked, listened to music and ate while staying warm. Before complete sundown we decided to set up our camp and enjoy the music.

The following morning we woke up nice and early due to our inefficient beach towel improvisation moment and decided to take a hike, bringing the hammock. It was beautiful, the sky was blue and the sun was shining but not in typical summer hot weather, but rather in a nice warm enjoyable way. I loved the incredible landscape that was surrounding us, we ended up in the middle of the woods and decided to chill a bit in the hammock, we ate there and talked for a few hours, which seemed to be flying by. The way back was a bit more hurried, we were kind of lost, not staying on route was the biggest mistake we could make. But with a bit of patience, teamwork and little to no panic, we found our way back to the campsite where we enjoyed the presence of more campers, reggae music and each other.

What I remember fondly was what bad of a muscle ache I had the following day, from sleeping in the tent and laying on weird rocks, to hiking up a hill and getting lost in the woods. But it was an experience which will last a lifetime. I love nature and I couldn’t have asked for a better companion.

[kilar]

CAS - creativity - 'CrAL - Creative Audiovisual Lab'

In March 2023 I signed up to participate in 'CrAL - Creative Audiovisual Lab', a CTK Rijeka project. The projects goal is to encourage young individuals (aging 14-19 years) to participate in various interpretations and productions of audiovisual content. I signed up with three more students from Gimnazija Andrije Mohorovičića and together with our mentor Leonila Marač we stared with the project. Our mentor would present videos from the CrAL Platform YouTube channel, we would discuss different topics and get assignments to photograph certain subjects and present our photos or writing our own stories based on the photographs. The workshops lasted for about two months and we soon began the final and the most important task of the project; a three minute short film. This is where the work really began. The three of us had to make up an idea and really actualize it. At first we weren’t sure what to capture, we first thought about making a survey, walk around town with a camera and microphone and ask questions regarding a certain topic, then we though about making a skate clip, ideas were flying. After some time we agreed we wanted something very aesthetically pleasing. What we all had in common was love for cinematographic masterpieces. We wanted our short film to be impactful but also present us. After some time we agreed our film was going to be about our perspectives, the way we view the world around is. We wanted to show how beautiful life can be in all of its simplicity. We came up with an idea; we split three minutes by four and captured the scenes on our own until we finally meet up and edit it into a short film. The filming process was beautiful and extremely fun, however, finding my location was a little bit tricky. I had so many beautiful places in mind I couldn't choose where to go. I thought about piecing up a clip of all of my favorite spots but in the end I opted for my favorite, a place I come to when I need closure and peace, I set up the camera and played with settings, I would then take turns going and passing by the camera, then to check the video recorded, then re do it, and so on and so on until I finally felt like I got what I needed for my 45 seconds. In the end I edited it on an app my laptop has preinstalled, it was nothing grand but it did the job, I liked that part almost as much as the filming part. I like editing and filming. I've been doing it since I was a child. I find pleasure in holding a device which can capture moments. I used to edit photographs and video clips of me and my friends, spend hours watching cinematographic videos and movies, from murder mysteries to documentaries about our planet. I am a big movie lover. I found this project extremely inspiring and exciting since I plan on continuing my studies in the movie industry direction, cinematography to be exact. Our film was premiered at the CrAL awards ceremony in September 2023. Schools from Croatia who applied to this project were invited to Dječja Kuća Rijeka for an awards ceremony, all of us fit into a room and watched our movies, connected to the community, enjoyed ourselves, shared our art and stories. We did not win first place, but were very close, what mattered was that we created something that we liked, with mindfulness and creativity. 

'Through the Looking Glass'

A short film made by students of GAM and PRHG during a CTK Rijeka project under the name 'CrAL - Creative Audiovisual Lab'

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CAS - service - Slovenian Language & Culture

From September 12th until October 3rd I attended my colleague’s Slovenian Language & Culture workshops that were also her CAS project activities. The workshops took place every Tuesday in our school, PRHG’s library and were hosted by Mia Baškovič, my dear Slovenian colleague. The first workshop was oriented towards the Slovenian language, more specifically, some of its basics. We learned the alphabet has 25 letters and is similar to Croatian, just without ć, đ, lj, nj and dž. Fun fact - Slovenians have dual, which is like when you refer to precisely two persons or objects, isn’t that crazy!? We also learned about some peculiarities in pronunciation regarding letters such as u, v and l. We talked števila (numbers), barve (colors), greetings (pozdravi) and also something called “Lažni prijatelji” (“False friends”). I’ll try to explain it the best I can, so basically it is a word that means or sounds similar to a different word from another language, but differentiates in meaning. For example, in Slovenian stol means chair, while in Croatian stol means table. I found that bit very interesting. We also talked about some proverbs and idioms, my favorite idiom is: “Volk sit in koza cela” meaning: “A full wolf and an unharmed goat”, I just like how goofy it sounds. In the second workshop we talked about some national and geographical aspects of Slovenia, its population, area, lakes, rivers, mountains, the president, major cities like Maribor, Celje, Kranj, Koper and of course Ljubljana. We learned about Slovenian provinces and what they’re known for. My favorite was Gorenjska with its beautiful mountains and lakes, I believe it captivated me the most of all provinces because of the snow sports, I’ve never been skiing before. In the third workshop we talked some more culture; sport evens, competitions and athletes, historical discoveries such as the Neanderthal Flute or the Wooden Wheel also architecture; castles, bridges, historical buildings and churches. We also talked about some art, I loved this part! There’s this famous silent movie called Kekec which is quite popular over there even though it was created in the last century. We also listened to some music, it was beautiful to hear an acapella group called Perpetuum Jazzile, it is truly incredible what the human voice can achieve. Another fun fact!!! Did you know that the Slovenian band called Laibach performed in North Korea…isn’t that interesting? This workshop was the last before the great Kahoot quiz!The great Kahoot quiz was the final workshop, all of us who attended gathered around a table while Mia presented the quiz. The tensions were high as we’re all very competitive. But there was another twist, the first place prize. It was two tickets for Škocjanska jama. Now, this was a big deal since Mia got them for free. I am almost finished with my driving lessons and am working towards getting a drivers license, so I was really hoping to win it since it lasted until March of next year, 2024, and until then, I’d surely be done with driving lessons. Spoiler alert, didn’t win the tickets. But, that doesn’t matter, I won third place, just behind a few points. I got a notebook, pen and some kind of neck keychain. I liked it and I use it. The purpose of this whole workshop was to learn about a culture that wasn’t mine. I have Slovenian friends that thought me a bit about the language, but I didn’t know this much about culture. I realized how similar yet different we are. We’re neighboring countries that share the same sea and interests. We live off each other, Slovenians come as tourists during the summer and Croats also come as tourists but during the winter. I like exploring new cultures because it enables me to seek new perspectives and find new attractions. I also do believe I’ll be able to understand Slovenian a bit better today than I did a few months back. I also love supporting my friends and their projects. I truly enjoyed my time at the workshops, Mia always brought homemade Slovenian dishes such as Potica, cookies and Prekmurska gibanica. I really enjoyed those.

In all, this was a great new experience, I learned a lot about Slovenia, its language, culture traditions, cities and attractions and had a lot of fun doing so. I can’t wait for another project of my friends, I think Mara is next! Until then, stay safe and eat some Potica!

[kilar]

CAS - creativity/service - Porto Etno

From 9am until 3pm this Saturday, June 3rd I volonteered at Porto Etno 2023 - a gastronomy and music festival that includes national minorities of Croatia. My collegues from Business Management and Visual arts along with our mentors Nina Šepić and Bisera Karanović and Icame up with a plan. The plan was to make a lemonade stand to gain donations for Udruga Rijeka 21 (Croatian community for down syndrome) for the price of 1 euro per cup. We started planning and iniciating the project a week before. My Business management collegues sorted out the materials needed, finances involved and shirt designs, while us, Visual arts students created the stand's aesthetic features. My friend Lucija Perkić designed the promo for the project. Maja drew drawings for the stand and I created the stands name which originated from an idea me and my friend Ena had lasr summer. See, we were drinking lemonade every day while visiting Rab together, we were joking how the lemon aided us and decided to create a new name for the lemonade we were drinking - lemonaid. The project was then named Lemonaid. The final plan was to include homemade kiwi, mint and edelberry syrups which we would then make into juice by mixing water in it at the stand. We also calculated how many lemons we will need per cups, calculated the perfect ratio as well as organized what materials need to be brought. My job was to bring a strainer and mint, create the banner for the stand and finally to volonteer. We arrived at 9am to Export Drvo where Proto Etno was organized. We immediately got to work. We put the stand together and started squeezing the lemons to make lemon juice. Before we knew it it was 10:30 and people started to arrive. It was very vibrant. There were so many different countries with various foods stands as well as distinct cultural dances. It was very inspiring and interesting to taste different spices and sweets, watching the dances made me realize just how different our cultures can be which made it even more special and beautiful. We "worked" at the stands in shifts. We were slowly starting to collect money. The experience of working at a stand when there's a lot going on around me was a bit confusing at the beginning, but as time went by I got the memo and it was quite fun. I liked the rush of making the lemonade as well as communicating with tons of different people. It was very interesting to hear and see so many different cultures at one place. We worked, danced, ate and had so much fun while learing new values and appriciating some new, and some already kown cultures. At the end I believe we managed to gather around 150 euros which is so incredible and inspiring, we could support a community that is in need of financial support. Volonteering is an act I truly adore, especially if it involves some creative aspects. The feeling of being able to help other people while having fun and also learning truly makes you wonder just how special and unique life is. I feel like this experience helped me gain another view on volonteering because I learned something new, seen something I’ve never seen before and tasted incredible delicies. It’s very importand to note the sigificance of brining people, communities together and celebrating eachothers differences.

[kilar]

CAS - creativity & service - ECI PECI CRES

From March 31st until April 2nd, I accompanied my peers along with prof. de Karina, Uroš Krčadinac, Ivona Petrov and Kruno Lokotar on the island called Cres. There was 10 of us students and four authority figures. We all went to Cres together for a project which I will explain in this blog post. We stayed in "Palača Moise" for 3 days and explored Cres. The idea of the project was tocollect as many signs (photos, videos etc) on the island as possible. The signs differed from person to person. We all collected a bunch of photos we found interesting, we explored Cres, listened to the locals talk, even went biking to really get the full experience. Then, when we collected all our materials, we exported it to a big document. After what felt like an eternity we finally got to work. We were supposed to write either poetry or short stories to explain our collected material."For what?" you may ask. Well, to answer your question; the project idea was to create an online interactive map of Cres for people to play with. The site would consist of a map that's numbered with all our experiences, and when you click on a certain point of the map youwould be lead to a specific story that happened in that particular spot - we decided to call it ECI PECI CRES.Now, in order to do this we needed to go over all of our texts, photos, videos and find the exact coordinates of the moments that occurred. There was a lot to fix, we were struggling with the text (as students) and were left on our own to figure out what to write. I found that bit very confusing and hard since I didn't really know what kind of form I want to write in. In the end I wrote mostly poetry to accompany my photographs. In the end we managed to get the document somewhat sorted and semi-complete. What was left was to finish our texts, check for mistakes and find the coordinates. Looking back this was an amazing project to participate in. It was both creative, active and serving to a point:Creativity – taking photographs, exploring the Nikon camera settings, writing the poetry and short stories, thinking creatively and analytically to create works/art that will leave an impact on others Service – globally engaging with community around me, expressing interest in my surroundings and voluntarily participating in a project that will expand a community and show its significance, its culture and beautyI went to Cres feeling overwhelmed from all the tests back in school. It felt like a vacation walking around Cres and noticing the little things. I realized how special the people and things around me are. I connected with my peers and learnt a lot about what surrounds me as well as a lot of new hacks for photography. It was very calm and it introduced a somewhat new perspective. I always liked to notice the small things but recently I've been so busy with school and my projects I've failed to notice the good small things that we take for granted every day. I loved the project because it took me out of my comfort zone and let me engage in the community around me. I think it's very important to look for small details because it will lead to a greater story that needs to be told. Engaging with the locals and realizing the importance of the nature and Cres itself was really inspiring, especially because Cres is an island in my country and has a big influence in tourism. I loved the creativity aspects, especially photography which I engaged in mostly. Writing the texts was a bit harder than I expected but I think I did an okay job, definitely something I need to work on. I also learned a bit more about the art of creating, especially writing. In all the project was amazing and I think it will leave a good impression on people visiting Cres, it's very detailed and it shows a lot of different perspectives and stories that might have a big influence on not only the people visiting, but the locals as well. 

[kilar]

CAS - service - 10th Simulated session of Parliament for high school students

On Monday May 8th 2023, my dear colleagues Erik Černeka, Ena Šoić, Maxim Debelić, Mia Baškovič and I visited the Croatian Parliament along with our mentor and professor Marko Miočić. The reason we went to the Croatian Parliament was to attend the 10th Simulated session of Parliament for high school students[1]. The session is described as “the most demanding program of the Citizen Service of the Croatian Parliament, which is based on cooperation with educational institutions and begins with preparatory education for high school students who visit the Parliament during the school year as part of extracurricular/field lessons from the subject curriculum, and concludes in the Parliament”. In short terms the session could be called a pretend Croatian Parliament session that high school students attend in and discuss a specific topic. The topic of discussion at this year’s simulated session was the Law on Environmental Protection and the Declaration on Environmental Protection in the Republic of Croatia. The session was attended by 151 student-representatives (41 high schools in total), student-president of the session, student-secretary of the session, student-president deputy and student-secretary deputy. All of the students considered a Draft Law on Environmental Protection, then conducted a Final Draft (recommendation)  of the now changed Law as well as an open discussion for the Proposal for a Declaration on Environmental Protection in the Republic of Croatia. Prhg had two representatives – Ena Šoić and Erik Černeka that held a speech regarding the said topic.

The session started at noon and ended at 4.30 pm. The session followed a plan which all of the students had printed and we all listened, talked, discussed, and at last had lunch. I took part in the 10th Simulated session of Parliament for high school students to acquire knowledge about the legislative procedure and the process of passing laws and other acts passed by the Parliament. Basically, I took part to see how our country actually works and how specific rules and declarations, laws are made. I wanted to acquire knowledge that will prepare me to be a good and active citizen of Croatia, and to further understand the politics that take place in my country.

This experience was very valuable not just for me, but for every individual student that now raised their level of knowledge about the highest representative and legislative body of the Republic of Croatia. I believe this type of political activity is very important for the young minds of our country because soon enough the law will be in our hands which is an important step to realizing and understanding our role as citizens in a democratic country.

I found it very interesting listening to all the proposals the student representatives talked about, as well as the open discussions we were able to participate in. I think it’s very important to show encouragement and passion for communities that surround us every day, and I think we did just that by participating and showing our hard work to other fellow students and therefore expanding our knowledge, expanding the community and understanding the importance of love and unity.

[1] https://www.sabor.hr/hr/o-saboru/ustrojstvo-sabora/sluzba-za-gradane/edukativni-centar/simulirana-sjednica

[kilar]

CAS - activity - Gym

On Wednesday May 3rd I went to the gym again, but this time with my dear friend Erik. I wanted company because I was so unmotivated and lazy, so Erik came to help me out. We met at the gym where I ran on the treadmill for 10 minutes. I started with 8km/h and ended with 11km/h. After cardio we went up so Erik could show me how to lift weights. I was kind of scared, and a bit embarrassed because I’ve never done it before. He showed me how to squat and it was my turn. I ended up lifting 30 kilos worth of weights and did about 10 reps per series (about five series in total I’m not sure I was very focused). I found it kind of difficult - I wasn’t sure if my form was correct, but Erik helped me, the only thing is that my back hurt a little and the squatting was quite difficult. After that I did 50 reps on the hip abductor, both inner thighs and outer, this exercise was a bit more easier than last time which showed me some improvement. After that I went to the seated leg press where I did four series of 10 reps with little breaks in between. Erik told me that it’s important to take breaks so my muscles don’t overwork themselves and that it’s very important to do the exercises correctly. Even though I went only on four “machines” this time it was a lot more fun to do with company and the time passed a lot quicker. At the end I decided to walk a bit on the treadmill, I tried running but my legs hurt too much I almost fell. Anyways, after a five minute walk I stretched and left. In all, I spent an hour and 30 minutes in XXL. With Erik in the gym I realized how much fun it can actually be, I also learned something new – lifting weights and that it’s not that important to do a ton of exercises as long as I’m doing them correctly. Next time I’ll try to lift more and maybe try dead lifting. I need to get a whole routine situated so I can properly start to exercise and see results. I also need to be very careful about the risks – I need to concentrate on my technique and always have a spotter. Until next time!

[kilar]

CAS - activity - Gym

On Tuesday March 28th, I went to XXL again. This was not my second time, but the second time I recorded it for CAS. I was there for an hour and 15 minutes. This time, I wanted to try out more gym equipment. I didn’t know where to start nor what to do, and was quite nervous, but I pulled myself together and explored. I began my workout with cardio, 5 minutes of fast walking, then running for about 7 minutes 9km/h and then walking again for a few minutes and finishing it off with a 2 minute sprint. Next I decided to try the seated leg press machine. Firstly I started out with 25kg which I soon realized was too light for me, so I moved it up 20kg, making that 45. I am not really educated when it comes to lifting weights, but I think I did okay for my first time, I honestly don’t know how many reps I did. I kept going for as long as I could, until I felt my muscles were sore. After about 15 minutes on the seated leg press I decided to try out the inner thigh squeezes machine which took me out. I thought it was going to be easy, but I tricked myself. I started out with 40kg thinking I could do it, after realizing I was too ambitious, I lifted pushed it back to 30kg which was also quite demanding. After that, I went to the floor and did my own workouts: 50reps of heel touches – two series, 50reps of Russian twists – two series, 25reps of fire hydrants – two series, 25reps of glute bridges – two series along with lifting one leg up while in a glute bridge also 25reps – two series, and finally I sumo squatted with a weight of 15kg. At last, I stretched and walked on the treadmill for another 10 minutes and was finished. This time I felt a lot more comfortable in the gym. I felt more energized and definitely felt a bit better while running in contrast to my first time. My favorite part is stretching and relaxing my muscles after training. I love the feeling of my sore muscles extending and the pain which tells me I’ve done something right. Regarding risks, I try to maintain the correct position and movement while exercising so I don’t hurt myself and also to see results. I would like to try to deadlift or just in general lift actual weights, I’m not sure I’m quite ready for that, I’ll need some help with that. My friend told me that there are big rooms in XXL where I can practice gymnastics on the floor like she sometimes does. I danced for a long period of time where I learnt acrobatics. I really loved that, so maybe next time I’ll search for that room to try to regain some of my skills, before starting I will definitely need to warm up and stretch in order not to hurt myself. Our spring break is starting soon, I hope I’ll be back here soon.

[kilar]

CAS - activity - Gym

This Monday, March 13th I enrolled myself in a nearby gym called XXL. Now, I’ve heard about the gym from my friends but was pretty sure I would never go. First of all, too many people I know, second of all, I have no free time whatsoever, and third of all I am in terrible shape. But, since I have decided I need to improve in my abilities and I got myself running shoes like last year that have been collecting dust, I went and got a membership in XXL. I was very nervous about my first time, I got lost on my way finding the gym, then got lost in the building trying to find the gym but in the end I got there. I spent and hour and a half, from 12pm to 1:15 pm. I started with walking fast for about 20 minutes (my shape is very bad), then I ran 8 km/h for 5 minutes and then cooled off with walking fast for another 5 minutes. That was my cardio. A risk that I’d like to address was feeling very light headed and almost black-outish after my run. I would definitely recommend that I eat before the gym and not force myself to do something I clearly can’t because it will end with me blacked out on the floor. So, I have to keep my mind on that. After the 30 minutes cardio I went to do some exercises on the floor which included a 10 minute glutes and abs workout YouTube video by Daisy Keech[1] (link is below) and a 5 minute glute workout by a random YouTuber called Gabriella Whited[2] (link below). After that 15 minute workout, I did some of my own ab and glute exercises which included heel touches, bicycle crunches, donkey kicks, glute bridges and sumo squats with a 5kg weight. After I had done that, which had taken me another 15 minutes I stretched for the last 15 minutes. I used to dance. I danced since I was a kid, and stopped in 2021 due to no motivation that occurred because of COVID. Since then I’ve gotten into skateboarding and that’s basically it. I just walk and skateboard when I can. I thought I would start running so I got myself running shoes which have been collecting dust, but no more since I started to go to the gym. I’ve been another time last week, on Wednesday but hadn’t recorded it, I didn’t have a lot of time and did not want to waste it on videos. In general, I really did like it. I was nervous before I went because I thought people would judge me and stare at me but in reality it was very nice. I loved the rush and I felt great afterwards, my muscles are still sore but it will be worth it in the end. I would like to work on my core, abs, legs, glutes, back, basically my whole body, and in order to achieve that I will need to be consistent. I really like that I got out of my comfort zone and tried something I was afraid of before, I also like to contribute in global engagement, or in better words supporting nearby communities. I think I will get myself a friend to go with so we can explore other workout machines and actually practice on them correctly. I am excited to go again!

[1] https://youtu.be/f0gCKK0lixM

[2] https://youtu.be/Px1tVU1ZqPI

[kilar]

CAS - service - Radio Roža

Last Thursday, January 26th, I, with the companionship of my two dear friends Kaja and Vita, went to Radio Roža situated close to PRHG, in an ally-way street called Palach. Radio Roža is a community based internet radio created from the need to follow and keep up with the cultural acts of Rijeka as well as promoting underground genera’s, you can read more on the following link to their website - https://www.radio-roza.org/o-nama – you can find useful information about the Radio Roža there, as well as find a way to listen to them. I visited Radio Roža (RR) with my two friends to promote, spread awareness, benefit and expand our Kult community. My friends and I talked about how Kult came to be what it is today, the process of making the magazine as well as our thoughts about it. It was very interesting, RR is a small project and not a lot of people know about it, to be honest, neither did I until last week, but I always noticed their sign while walking through Palach. I was nervous because I had never talked into a radio microphone before, or like, been in a studio, or like, been featured on a radio show before. So I think you can imagine the stress that I was overflown with. But, never the less, I collected myself with the help of my friends and the supportive environment there. I thought to myself I would sound more natural if I just took a deep breath and realized this is nothing scary, and it worked!

I thought about posting this to my CAS experience portfolio, but is this considered CAS in any way? Well, I did my research beforehand and I assure you it is. I found a photograph from a website which explains it:

As we can read from the photo describing service acts as: ‘Experiences that involve interactions with individuals or groups, which provide benefits from the community. These experiences should not only involve contributions to others, but also with others, while developing a deep commitment’ so there you have it. It is CAS.

Back to what I was saying. I loved it. Truly, deeply, amazingly loved it. It's as simple as that. I liked the idea of my voice talking about something I am so proud of while also promoting it and sharing the news about something very cultural and important not only to PRHG but to Rijeka itself. I also loved the atmosphere of the studio, very nice people, amazing vibes, beautiful colors and space, I was so intrigued by the artwork that was surrounding me, it was like I was inside a painting or an artwork. The only problem I encountered was collecting my words and making reasonable sentences, I bluffed so much we had to do multiple takes, so in conclusion, I think I could work on my vocabulary and public speaking a bit more if I want to continue public speaking and promoting other works. I also feel like I contributed to the community because I helped spread the word of something that's not really heard of, a lot of other student's work will be promoted this way, as well as our school PRHG and community. I would love to repeat something like this again! The radio feature will soon be available on their website so be sure to check it out, when they upload it I will attach a link here! Enjoy!

From the 37th minute on the link below you can listen to the interview!

[1] http://ibtucker.weebly.com/cas.html

[kilar]

CAS - creativity - Kult

Back in March of 2022 I started doing my work for Kult. Now, let me explain what Kult is.Kult is a school based magazine that has been active in PRHG since 2017. Kult first appeard back in the 1980s when two, so called 'trubled boys' decided to hand make a magazine about PRHG. They created and wrote all the materials inside themselves and then sent the magazine to print. To their surprise the magazine was a success! From then Kult stayed relevant for a few years and then reappeared in 2017 as a project for PRHG's 390 year anniversary. To touch up on what Kult is about, it's basically about anything the students want to write about. The theme is chosen every year through a council of students who participate in the making (anyone) or with a survey. This year the theme is 'Cancel culture' – 1000s of people who use Social Media to single out a one time incident or bad decision by an individual to destroy their life as they know it.[1] as Bil-liam states in the Urban dictionary. I have been an active council member of Kult since my sophmore year in PRHG. I was the graphic designer for last years and this years Kult as well as a text writer for some pieces. For example this year, I interviewed three young people for Kult on what they do in their life and made a texr about it. I interviewed a former student of PRHG who transferred to a sport school in Zagreb, she plays football, then a boy a bit older than me who skateboards and a boy, also a bit older than me, who drives a romobile and snowboards. How did these interviews happen? I just contacted them, we met up in a cofee shop one by one, I pressed record on my phone and talked to them. Beforehand I made up a few questions and prepared for what I was going to ask them about. The last step was to listen to the tapes, write them down, edit them, make my intro text and send it to my Croatian A teacher who is a mentor for Kult. As well as my writing, I also drew for Kult, you can find some of my drawings there – a drawing for the content page and a few main title's i handwrote, scanned and sent to editing. We edit Kult in 'Prirodoslovna i grafička škola Rijeka' where a few of us, editors, meet with our mentors (prof. de Karina, prof. Miočić) as well as PGSRI's professor called Matija. We then discuss the content placement, decide on the front main page and shortly explained we just differ, edit, discuss and bam, you have Kult! Drawing for Kult took about an hour and a half, as well as editing it in PGSRI, so all together about 3 hours, oh and including interviews, listening to them, writing them and editing it all, let's say about an hour per intervju and an hour to edit one, so 6 hours, add that together and it's 9 hours, omg. I love writing for Kult because it's without censorship and I feel free in every way. I love to write, I have done it since I was a kid but was very shy about it, I mostly keep journals and read what I like – in English ofcourse. I feel like Kult is also a type of a diary just a bunch of people share one. I also love drawing and I feel like with Kult I will improve more and connect to the multimedia artistic world. I can't wait for the next Kult number, I feel like if we spread the word we can connect to other students in PRHG who will positively impact Kult and make it into something even bigger, just like we did for the two boys who made it up!

[1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cancel%20Culture