Montenegrins – Brave, NOT Aggressive

Generous, caring and brave are some of the words that describe the people I met during my EMU Study Abroad in Ulcinj, a small town on the southern coast of the breathtakingly beautiful country of Montenegro.  My positive experiences with Montenegrins will resonate with me forever and here are a few examples:

• There are no words to fully thank Silvija, who is hugely responsible for opening her native Montenegro to us. As busy as she was, she graciously educated us on the culture, answered even our silliest questions, and went above and beyond to ensure the program’s success. Who does this? A Montenegrin does!
• My daughter and I were whisked off on an unforgettable late afternoon tour by Medina, a gregarious woman who wears many hats, including being a local English teacher. Knowing how busy Medina is, I kept thanking her and telling her to go home to her lovely family. She insisted that she wanted us to experience some of her favorite places and continued to grace us with her time, energy, and fun personality. Oh, and we saw INCREDIBLE areas that we probably would not have seen on our own. Who does that? A Montenegrin does!!
• One of our local drivers (we called Joseph) opened car doors, patiently waited for us to have our morning coffee at the local bakery, happily agreed to our often-inconvenient requests of driving ALL OVER, made helpful connections for us, and MUCH more — with a smile and without keeping the meter running. In fact, on numerous occasions, Joseph refused to charge us for short trips! Who does that? A Montenegrin does!!
• The staff at the Copacabana Beach Restaurant graciously treated our entire Study Abroad team of teachers to a delicious dinner – just to thank us for being teachers! Who does this? You got it. A Montenegrin does!!

I have countless more stories like these. Needless to say, I was appalled to hear anyone describe Montenegrins as aggressive. That was quite the opposite of my experience and anyone who takes the time to get to know the people would surely agree with me.

Thank you to the lovely people of Montenegro!

Montenegro – Day 3 and beyond

Unbelievable! The clear blue color of the water in the Adriatic Sea is mesmerizing!

Days 3  and 4 of my Study Abroad were filled with teaching, sunbathing, and exploring. The school and our apartment are located in Stoj, which are basically suburbs of  Ulcinj,

My morning routine is to walk down the street (about 10 minutes) to the bakery, have a fattening breakfast of  Burek or other delicious pastry, and of course COFFEE.  We ask for “American” coffee and it’s a hit-or-miss because they basically bring out whatever they feel like it — usually cappuccino.  (By the way, I tried Turkish coffee, which is super thick and nothing like American. Let’s just say it’s not for me.)

After sitting for a few minutes (since they don’t like to give  “to-go” cups), we start the hike over to the school. On the way, we encounter several animals, including COWS, sheep, cats, and dogs. Oh, and there’s a rooster singing his song nearby. The cows stare you down and are basically grazing wherever they want. The stray dogs have clipped ears — I was told it’s to show that they are neutered/spayed and safe.

The hike to the school (from the bakery) is about twenty minutes. I’m loving the exercise, but we had a couple of rainy mornings and I was totally not prepared! Luckily my roomie bought an umbrella for me. So sweet!!

The kids are adorable! They absolutely love everything we do, but they especially LOVE a particular song that is now forever engraved in my dreams — Baby Shark!  They beg us to let them sing it EVERY DAY! These kids are so eager to learn that they show up 30 minutes early every day…in the summer!

Basically, after school, I am either doing lesson plans, homework or sneaking off to an adventure like the beach or the downtown, which they call City Center.  I also went to nearby towns called Budva and Kotor. Both of these places had cobble-stoned streets and little quaint shops and restaurants.  So fun!

On the weekend, I went off to Croatia with four other teachers. It’s an adventure just to get there since we had to catch a ferry and go through customs.  Once we got settled in, we explored Old Town, where Game of Thrones was filmed! So exciting. We also went on a private boat tour and stopped at three islands. At one of the islands, we swam inside a cave, which had the most beautiful blue water I’ve ever seen!

After that amazing trip, it was back to work on Monday morning and, even though I was exhausted, the kids’ enthusiasm made me forget how tired I was. I even played soccer (for a hot sweaty couple of minutes.} The weather warmed up quite a bit, which made our morning walks difficult. And sweaty.

Tuesday afternoon, about 15 of us ventured out to Ada Bojana Beach. It was the BEST day! We hung out at the beautiful beach and then hopped on a boat to get dinner at a seafood restaurant. The staff was attentive and the food was yummy! We were all so happy with our little adventure.

Today (Wednesday) was interesting. We were told the power was going to go out for the whole city. Why? Who knows? Then we found out that it’s not happening. Meanwhile, there were two earthquakes in neighboring Albania and many people said they felt it here.  (I didn’t.) Later in the after school, all of us were treated to a special dinner cruise by one of the locals. It was relaxing and a fun way to end our week. Well, almost. Our last day of school is tomorrow and then on Friday, the kids will perform for all the top officials in the area. Oh boy. I’m going to miss these kids!

Stay tuned. for Rome…