Day 24 -- End of Program & Final Thoughts

Colin: Each of us came to Croatia with different ideas of what we would find and I am sure we all are leaving with experiences that are different than we expected. I came to Croatia expecting to find a country still mostly involved in an Eastern Bloc economic model, and what I found was a tourist-based market economy. I expected to find a socialized medical system, and to a large extent this still exists, but Croatia is currently going through health insurance reform that is moving them away from a completely state-controlled system. I expected to find a combination of state-run industries and small rural farms, but what I found was an aging rural population (the youth has mostly moved to the cities for work), and a "touristic" economy where the majority of the annual income is earned from German and Italian tourists between July and September. The rest of the year people just get by in any way they can. I expected to find a country with a long and interesting history, and what I found was partly this, but also was a people looking for a unique cultural identity. It is less than 20 years that Croatia has had a truly independent history that was not tied to Yugoslav, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, Venician, or Roman influences. This is most obvious in the facts that the 1991-96 war is commonly referred to as the "Independence War" and that in our travels through 'Hrvatska' it seemed sometimes like you could throw a stick and almost be guaranteed to hit a sociologist looking to help define things as being significantly culturally Croatian (not something I objected to mind you, my own training being as a sociologist and demographer originally...)

One of my professional interests in this trip was to look at the integrated health care delivery system as practiced in Croatia. What I found was a "whole health" model of health-care delivery where mind, body, and spirit are integrated in a holistic understanding of the needs of the individual and an acknowledgment of the power of social networks in the health of all people.

Another of my interest was to get an idea of how Croatia was preparing for the forthcoming ascension to EU membership and what the expected impact would be not only on the delivery of health care services but also infrastructure of the country. In talks with many of the junior researchers, guides, merchants, and service employees that I met on our excursions and in the off-time I have come to believe that, while the official governmental line is that EU membership may cause minor short-term hardship for the working population and is good for Croatian long-term economic well-being, the majority of the population does not have the same optimistic view of social and political integration with the European Union, especially in light of the current economic problems in Greece and Hungary.

What I found here was an amazingly generous people who, as Sasa explained to us, are at the cross roads of Europe -- part East/part West; part Central European/part Mediterranean; part planned economy/part free market; part urban/part rural; and part mountain/part coastal. If there is one thing that this trip -- from Central Croatia to Slavonia to Istria to Dalmacija -- has shown us, is that for something to be typically "Croatian" it is to be a product of multiple influences and sources. There is an assumption in the U.S. that to be Croat is to be ethnically and socially homogeneous. The wealth of diversity that we have seen on this trip shows me that is farthest from the truth!

Charlotte: This trip was truly an amazing experience. This was my first trip abroad and I am not really sure what I expected but I feel like I learned a lot on this trip. Everyone I met in Croatia was very welcoming and they were very hospitable. I feel like our group defiantly stuck out as foreigners but we were greeted politely especially in the smaller towns. I also really admired Croats because most of the young people were bilingual and very cultured. The trip is over but I feel like I am still taking in this experience and making connections for a well rounded over all view of abroad as well.

From a health aspect, it was obvious that we share some of the same health problems as Croatia, these health issues go along with the four priorities for health care in Croatia: decreasing smoking, increase healthy eating, increasing exercise, and increasing knowledge of sexually transmitted infections. It was obvious that smoking is a major health issue in Croatia everywhere we went people were smoking even the very young teens were partaking in this unhealthy habit. I also noticed that a majority of our meals were meat and potatoes with lots of salt and bread with every meal. The entire three and a half weeks we were here we only saw one gym and I did not see anyone else exercising. It appeared that Croats live a relaxed life socializing at cafes for hours at a time; I think increasing exercise will help them in every aspect of their lives. The fourth health priority in Croatia is increasing knowledge on sexually transmitted infections. From the doctors that we spoke with STI’s are not a problem but increasing knowledge will insure that this health issue does not become a problem. While we have some of the same health, problems that Croatia there is not easy answer to fix them. I think we can learn from their education programs and adapt them to our country for example, their sex education, and STI prevention education that are in place in health classes for 12 and 13 year olds. Croatia implements a comprehensive sex education at this age.

This was the trip of a lifetime! I had so much fun meeting new people and learning about another culture. I am also honored to have spent these past few weeks as an honorary bulldog!

Day 23 -- Return to Zagreb

Colin: Today we loaded up early for our trip back to Zagreb. While we had the "Purple Horse" bus for our trip back, we did not have our favorite driver, Franjo (they had to send two drivers just to make up for him!)

Everybody was very sedate on the 6 hour trip back to Zagreb and many of the folks just slept. The joke made by one of the professors was that we were going to stop to see a church on the way back (it seems like we have visited every church in every town in Croatia in 3.5 weeks sometimes...). The weather was bright, and clear and windy, and you could see forever it seemed!

We checked back into the Hotel Jadran and everyone scattered to take care of necessary errands, arrangements, shopping, or making plans to go in our various directions as the program ends tomorrow (we even left one of our party in Makarska because he was catching a bus to Split, a ferry from there to Italy and a train to Rome). I am personally going to the central train station tomorrow morning to catch the train back to Vienna where I will spend a few days before flying from there to Atlanta through Amsterdam.

The evening was spend by a small but dedicated group of us going out to celebrate the birthday of one of our group members and the successful completion of our journey.

Day 22 -- Day Off #2

Colin: Our second day off (and our last full day on the Makarskan Riviera) gave me a full day on my own to go explore the coast on foot from Makarska to Brela (a distance of about 11 km or 6.8 miles each way). This allowed me to see many of the things that we could not have seen if we were in a larger group. One of my first observations was that, unlike the pebble beaches at Makarska or Bol, there actually are some smaller, less well know, beaches that actually have sand on them on the Dalmatian Coast!

The other chief finding was that there are many former socialist era towns and villages that were either "Worker's Paradise" resorts or some other form of subsidized industry that are no longer viable under the transitional economy that Croatia now has. The town of Bratus (pop. 50) has an abandoned Yugoslav Army Retreat, and even though the small beach there is beautiful, and the infrastructure exists, the facilities and the town itself are in decline. The town of Promajna (pop. 250) has found a way to re-purpose itself with a small boat drydock industry. Baska Voda (pop. 2,900) and Brela (pop. 1,800) are smaller than Makarska (pop. 13,800) but are much more desirable as small, exclusive 'get away' locations. The hotels and restaurants are not as large as Makarska but the beaches are nicer (if smaller and more exclusive) and I am sure the accommodations are more expensive.

Baska Voda (pronounced Bash-Kuh Vo-Duh) was the scene of a major WWII landing in 1944 by the 12th Dalmatian Partisan Brigade in their push to liberate Split from the control of the Nazis and their Croat Ustasha allies. There was a monument to this that I discovered on my trek, but honestly, these are the pieces of locally important history that make up the legacy of a people. But if you are from another country, you probably would never know it about unless you went there...

The coastal "trail" is a path that goes through the coastal pine forests, rocky cliff faces and dirt tracks as well as the pebble beaches and paved "rivas" of the waterfronts of the towns. It was an adventure to explore and I made it 3/4 of the way back before the heavens opened up (rain in Croatia no longer surprises me...) and I was drenched by the time I got back, looking like a drowned rat, but happy that I had gone.

Apparently the majority of the rest of the group spent a relaxing day at the beach in Makarska laying out, renting paddle boats and playing in the water until the rain came in. After the storm blew out (a result in a change of the wind patterns from the southern "Yugo" wind to the northern "Bura" wind), we were left with the clearest weather (though windy and somewhat cool) that we had seen on our entire trip, and the most beautiful of sunset imaginable. (Ben - to the left is a picture of what the clouds look like when the 2 winds collide and push the storms away. This lead to the clearest weather we saw on the entire trip)

Ben: What Colin said is correct, the majority of us did spend part of the day relaxing at the beach, until the heavens opened up and the wind kicked in. At that point, we all decided to head back to the apartments and spend some quality time cleaning up and packing our suitcases. The rains eventually stopped, and Colin was not exaggerating when he said it was the clearest weather we had seen on the trip. The view was absolutely breathtaking. Some of the group decided to do a little cooking for dinner, but for the rest of us, we decided the weather was too beautiful to pass up. So, we opted to eat dinner at a nice little restaurant on the beach. We left just before sunset, and on our way, the boys decided to stop for a nice, pensive-photo op. This was the perfect sunset to end our stay in Makarska.

Day 21 -- Upper Tucepi

Colin: Today our hike took us to Upper Tucepi (pronounced Too-Chep-ee), a town in the mountains above Makarska. Our guide for the day was "Joe", a Dalmatian who grew up in this town, then emigrated to Australia (apparently there is a fair-sized Croatian population there), and has since moved back.

We discovered on our hike, as we had already seen in our visits to Biokovo Nature Park and DESA-Dubrovnik, Dalmatian mountain culture is in decline. Joe explained that the combination of the 1962 earthquake, migration to the cities for work, and the "Independence War" are only a few of the reasons that these small towns are dying and their distinct culture is in decline.

One of the main reasons is the lack of land. The size of the individual land holdings has gotten too small to be able to adequately be able to farm or herd the land and be self-sustainable as centuries of dividing lands among large families has left everyone with unusable plots. When the plots have not been divided, the problem regularly becomes that not all the members of a family can agree on the use of the land, so rather than maintain, develop, or sell it, they let it decline. This is the story in many of the mountain towns apparently where the family members no longer live there, cannot agree on what to do with the land, and therefore do nothing. Because of this, these beautiful Dalmatian mountain towns, and their unique culture, may be a thing of the past.

We stopped into a mountain town church (yes, another church), and saw examples of a painted faux marble effect that apparently is very traditional here before taking the customary end of trip group photo that they do here every year.

Since our traditional Dalmatian Dinner in Topici had been pushed from tonight to the night that we toured Biokovo, this left us free to hike back to Makarska, go to the beach, or do whatever we liked in preparation for our last day off tomorrow.

Day 20 -- Dubrovnik

Charlotte: Today we went on an excursion to Dubrovnik, one of the southern most cities on the Croatian coast. Dubrovnik (pronounced DOO-Brov-nick) was damaged very heavily in the war in the 1990’s, and while much of the city has been restored, it will not soon be forgotten. Upon arriving we went straight to DESA- Dubrovnik. In its self description, “DESA (pronounced DAY-Shuh) is a non-governmental, humanitarian and peacekeeping organization, founded in 1993, aiming to stimulate and develop various activities in order to help a women and her family in the war and post-war period.” Their vision is to “develop civil society that uses available local resources on the principles of sustainable development, in which the leading role will be given to the women as a peace-maker, as n advocate of the tolerance and dialogue for building the better co-existence in multi-ethnic society, as well as the bearer of the positive changes in the family and local community.”

This group was originally made up of displaced women who had fled to the city of Dubrovnik. They felt that the city would be spared by war because of its rich history, and also because of the protection provided within the cities walls. Unfortunately they were wrong. The city was the scene of heavy destruction.

These women originally came together for comfort and to share their similar cultural backgrounds. They were trying to find normalcy where they could and that is when their mission began and they started working together and finding resources to help educate and create peace. DESA has had a very significant number of projects their projects called the “Return to Life,” in which these projects specifically focused on the cultural and economic developments of Dubrovnik-neretva county that were implemented during the war and still to this day. These projects include:
Project Silk- renewal of traditional heritage of Konavle
Project Rural tourism in Konavle
Project renewal of the traditional costume from the island of Mljet
Project Women’s entrepreneurship in tourism

The products of many of these projects can be purchased at DESA and a portion of the profits go to continuing the education and projects DESA is a part of. Many of us bought their beautiful hand made silk scarves, hand made lace table runners and a variety of other treasures.

Our speaker at DESA also informed us that the building that they are currently in was once used as a quarantine location for ships before their crew or animals could enter the city. Every one coming into the city by ship was required to be quarantined for at least 40 days, because that was the general incubation period for any number of diseases that could be spread within the population of the city. This may seem like a strict policy but it saved the city of Dubrovnik from experiencing the plague and other disease outbreaks. They were very much ahead of their time.

After the meeting at DESA we went on a short walking tour of Dubrovnik and we were given the afternoon to explore. Many of us walked the walls of the city and shopped at the local market places. Dubrovnik was a very beautiful city with lots of history, but it was hard to take all of it in due the number of tourists from three cruise ships that were in their port today. We've been somewhat spoiled so far on this trip; every place that we have visited has been very undercrowded and free of other tourists.

Day 19 -- Biokovo Nature Park

Colin: Today we went on an excursion to the Biokovo Nature Park (Nature Parks in Croatia are distinguished from National Parks in that there are logging, herding, and hunting activities allowed in the former, but not the latter). Biokovo (pronounced Bee-OH-ko-vo) is 196 km² in area and ranges from 200m to 1,762m above sea level. It is known for its biodiversity and the cultural significance of its small villages and highland pastures with semi-permanent stone shepard houses. Biovoko plays an important part in the history of the Makarska region. In 1962 the region was hit by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that destroyed many of the high mountain villages causing much of the remaining population to migrate to the coastal area and give up their herding lifestyle for one of fishing and eventually tourism. War, natural disasters, and economic betterment are all majority reasons for populations to migrate and we have seen examples of all three of these as we have traveled through Croatia.

Biokovo, like Plitvice Lakes, is an important natural wonder that may form a likely economic draw that will increase tourism with closer EU integration. However, as with all such endeavors, a careful balance must be struck between accessibility, marketability, and sustainability. Hopefully this can be achieved.

Our traditional Dalmatian dinner night at Topici (pronounced Too-PEE-Chee), which is generally held on the last Sunday we are in Makarska, was held tonight because of weather concerns (big surprise there, huh?). Everyone dressed in their best (see the two pics in the final post) and had a wonderful night full of food, drink, song, and dance in an "almost" traditional Dalmatian style. I say almost traditional since a couple of the more musically inclined members of our party (who had been dying for weeks to get their hands on a guitar) borrowed one from the traditional band and proceeded to lead us in a "sing-along" of current (and not so current) popular American songs to the great amusement of everyone including the band!

Day 18 -- Mostar, Herzegovina

Charlotte: Today we made a day trip to Mostar (pronounced MOW-star) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Security at the border was more lax than what I thought. Basically a BiH boarder officer loaded our bus and checked the passports of only a few people and hardly glanced and others and then we were free to enter the country and did not even have to show passports upon reentry of Croatia.

Once in Mostar we had a tour guide show us the city. We saw the street that was front line in the war in 1993, saw the famous bridge that was destroyed during the war and later rebuilt, visited a traditional Bosniak mosque, and saw an authentic Turkish house. We were then given free time to explore the city and do some shopping in the beautiful cultural markets.

Colin: Mostar is still a divided city in many respects. After the initial assault in Croatia by the Serbian controlled Yugoslav Army in 1991 wound down and a stalemate ensued, the Yugoslav Army moved into BiH to "protect" the rights of ethnic Serbs living there, and helped them to establish the semi-autonomous "Republika Srpska" (pronounced Serb-skuh) which was opposed by an ethnic Croat and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) alliance. This alliance broke down and fighting broke out between these groups over who would control the remainder of BiH. Mostar, a traditionally Croat & Bosniak multi-ethnic city, was one of the centers of this fighting which lasted a year. The current city government is a Croat-Muslim coalition that is held together by a combination of EU and UN support and pressure. This apparently is true of much of BiH which we found has a currency, the Convertible Mark (abbreviated KM), that is fixed at 2-to-1 to the Euro (based on the 2002 exchange rate between the German Mark and the Euro before their adoption of the Euro), making it artificially stronger than the Croatian Kuna (abbreviated Kn), which is a free-floating currency. This meant that some of the savvy shoppers in our group were able to get some very good deals when negotiating prices between U.S. dollars, Euros, Kuna and KM since many of the merchants in the local bazaar took all four in exchange!

Day 16 -- Split

Charlotte: This morning we took a trip to the Institute of Adriatic Cultures. Currently the University of Georgia’s agriculture department has a grant though the USDA to help Croatia develop their pomegranate and kale farming. We toured their wine lab and their olive oil labs. It was very interesting to learn about wine testing and olive oil testing for the best ones. This institute has olive oil and wine making down to a science and they inform the Croatian people how to better their plants for production. Most of us had never been to a facility like this and it was very beneficial for us because we could taste the Croatian olive oils that we may want to take home as gifts.

We then departed for Split (pronounced SPLEET), where we visited Diocletian’s Palace. Split is a very fascinating town because it is almost all surrounding the palace. The part of the palace we visited was the basement however; many things were built up as it was during the era that it was built. The palace was very beautiful and really gave us an idea of how these people lived. After our tour we went and walked around the palace explored Split, this town’s economy is driven by tourism and has a lot of very cool shops and restaurants. Split also has a university and it was a very vibrant city to visit.

Colin: Our last stop for the day was the gallery, and former home, of the famous Croatian sculptor, Ivan Mestrovic, whose work we had become familiar with during our travels through Croatia. An anti-Communist, he refused to return to Croatia after WWII, however, before his death in 1962, he sent 59 of his works to Croatia and willed his estate in Croatia to the "Croatia people." This site is now a museum of his works.

Day 17 -- Day Off #1

Charlotte: Today we had a free day for excursions and other activities. Several of my classmates and I took a charter boat trip to the islands of Hvar and Brac. We spent an hour on the island of Hvar (pronounced HA-Var) were we saw the small island town and walked around. Then we went to the island of Brac. Brac (pronounced Brach) was the most beautiful island we have been to on the Croatian coast. We spent three hours here in which our group spent almost the whole time sun bathing and enjoying the gorgeous views of the coast and the mountains. Bol (pronounced Bowl), the beach on Brac, was also very interesting for its peninsula/beach. The beaches here are all stones and depending on the time of day and the current the direction of the end of the peninsula/beach can change. We also saw some kind of supermodel photo shoot on the beach while we were laying out. We then took the chartered boat back to Makarska. Our classmates who stayed behind in Makarska enjoyed the day on the beach and rented paddle boats with slides on them.

Day 15 -- Makarska

Charlotte: This morning we went on a walking tour of Makarska where we saw the main square, the Rivera and became acclimated with our city that we will be spending our remaining time in. Upon completion we went to a meeting with the mayor’s office were we discussed local issues.

Currently there have been several protests in recent weeks on a new proposal to close the delivery ward of the hospital here in Makarska. Closing of this hospital will have serious implications for pregnant women in Makarska and the surrounding areas. The nearest hospital is in Split a little over an hour drive with out traffic from Makarska, with tourist travel during the busy summer months this travel time could increase dramatically. Do to country wide budget cuts money has to be cut, but protesters are urging the local and country governments to find money to cut else where. Currently the minister of health has partially withdrawn some of the closings but no definite decisions have been made as to weather or not the delivery ward will be closed for good.

Today we also went to talk to Dr. Ivanda a director of the school health program in Croatia. The school health program is a full scope program that monitors each child in a variety of ways. Every summer each student is evaluated based on an outlined battery of tests. Each grade is generally tested for something different, testes can include things that test their motor skills, cogitative skills, and physical needs, as well as possible learning disabilities. Children that have been identified as learning disabled (i.e. Dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, ect.) are then given the modifications and help that they need to be successful in school. This yearly evaluation is also the time when school aged children are given their up to date immunizations.

Dr. Ivanda also explained that Croatia has a very low teen pregnancy rate. She stated that this was because children between the ages of 12 and 13 are given a comprehensive sex education class in school that talks about contraceptive methods and students know where to go to get contraceptives. She also stated that sexually transmitted infections were not a problem in Croatia. I am unsure if she mean that these low STI rates were because of the comprehensive sex education or not but this is not a problem for them.

Overall I think that the United States can learn a lot from Croatia's approach to school health. If we took the time to evaluate students each summer before school starts in the fall we might be able to better identify learning disabilities or other factors that may make success in the classroom difficult and give us time to help children over come or help compensate for the issue.

I also think that we should take not of Croatia's view on comprehensive sex education. they do not have the problem of teen pregnancies and STI's like the United States.

This afternoon we spent the day exploring the city on our own and met for dinner at the Roma Restaurant.

Day 14 -- Off To Dalmacija

Charlotte: Today we departed Mali Losinj, one of the northern islands, and headed south to Makarska (pronounced Mah-CAR-skuh). It is a small, beautiful city on the southern coast of Croatia, just down the road from Split. We spent almost all of the day traveling, but at least the drive was interesting. In order to leave Istria and enter Dalmatia, you have to pass through a tunnel that had to be at least 2 miles long. Those of us that play the "hold your breath until the other side" game didn't last too long. Once we were on the other side though...wow. I am so happy that this is where we will be spending the next 8 days of our trip. The Dalmatian roads we took along the coast offered some breathtaking views of the Adriatic.

After a few more hours of driving, we finally reached Makarska! We unloaded all of our luggage, waved goodbye to our faithful bus driver Franjo, and slowly checked into our apartments on the outskirts of the city. Once everyone was settled in, we regrouped at our new base of opperations, the restaurant Roma, and had a wonderful dinner. I already have a feeling we're going to enjoy this city.

Ben: We did spend the majority of today driving, but aside from the breathtaking views along the roads, we encountered one more thing that I believe is worth mentioning: the Croatian drivers. I've had some pretty close calls in my life while driving, but nothing compared to what I witnessed in Croatia. The coastal roads in Dalmatia are very narrow and very windy (and windy too - sometimes the wind coming off of the mountains is so strong they have to shut the roads down). There were countless cars and motorcycles that zoomed past our bus on these roads at just about the worst possible moments, narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic by mere inches. If only we had been filming, we probably could have sold the footage to Hollywood for some new high speed chase action movie. It was very intense.

Day 13 -- Veli Loshinj & Krk

Charlotte: This morning we checked out of the hotel in Mali Losinj, and headed to a Theraputical Facility in Veli Losinj (pronounced VEL-ee Low-Shing) that focused on skin and respiratory diseases where we met Renata Zugic the director of the facility. She explained to us that the main things that they treat there are skin diseases such as psoriasis and other skin conditions and asthma and other related respiratory diseases. Their goal is to treat with natural remedies and not use drugs to control these aliments their main therapies include:

Thalassotherapy - inhalation therapy and respiratory kinesitherapy that helps bronchial asthma.

Heliomarinotherapy - ultra violet light and sea water therapy that helps psoriasis.

Aromatherapy - using herbs and essential oils to heal aliments.

We then went to the Town Museum at Place Fritzy in the town of Meli Losinj. Mrs. Zrinjka Ettinger-Starcic lectured us on the discovery and restoration of a statue of Apoksiomen that was found in the sea off the coast of Mali Losinj.

We then had lunch at Restaurant Leut in Belej, on the island of Cres. This was a very interesting lunch; we were served lamb cooked on a spit fire. It was an interesting new experience and some of our classmates were brave enough to try the delicacy of eating the brains, cheek, tong, eye ball and tail of the lamb. We then took a ferry to the island of Krk (pronounced KIRK), where we had free time for dinner and we proceeded to Njivice where we checked into our hotel.

Day 12-- Mali Losinj

Charlotte: Today we departed our mountain top hotel in Motovun, and headed for the coast! On our way to the coast, the Public Health students met with Helena Valcic, MD from the Medical Center in Labin. I can best describe this Medical Center with an American county health department and an emergency room all in one. This medical center included: primary care physicians, emergency department, OBGYN services, dentists, school heath, a dialysis center, a hospice, epidemiologists and public health inspectors for hotels and restaurants. We surprisingly got to tour every wing and saw several patients in the midst of their care. I did feel a little bit uncomfortable about seeing patients in the midst of their medical care, I felt like we were invading their privacy as comparison to the medical care privacy stands that we receive if we go to a doctor in the United Sates. While the public health students were at the Medical Center, the other students visited an old mine museum.

We then continued our journey by taking a ferry to the island of Cres (pronounced TRESS). Once on the island we stopped at a huge freshwater lake that is heavily protected by the government because it’s the only source of fresh water for the island. They have been very fortunate to have access to drinkable water on the island, many islands have to pipe their freshwater in from the mainland.

Drinkable water is a very important thing to think about when cities were designed. The five key aspects to water access include quality, quantity, proximity, reliability, and cost. All of these aspects must be accounted for when choosing where to live. Fortunately, Cres does have this lake to use as drinking water and the government and the people of Cres take great pride in keeping this water source free of pollutants. We then went to the historic town of Osor which is currently populated by only 68 people.

We then traveled to the city of Mali Losinj (pronounced MAL-ee Low-Shing) where we checked into our hotel. For dinner we went to a near by restaurant to try some local sea food. When we go out in a group we generally have a set menu that we are served and each course is usually some kind of a surprise. Our main course came out and it was whole fish was the heads and everything! I guess I looked a bit scared by the food and a server who spoke no English came over and slapped a fish down on my plate and started cleaning and preparing it for me to eat. The server then had to do the same for several other people on the trip. Once we got past the initial presentation of this food it was delicious.

Day 11 -- Pula

Charlotte: Today we visited the beautiful ocean city of Pula (pronounced Pool-LUH). Upon arrival we went straight to the coliseum, which is the second most intact coliseum in the world taking second to the coliseum in Rome, Italy. The architecture was amazing and to see it almost completely intact over thousands of years was unbelievable. We then went on a walking tour of Pula where we observed other beautiful buildings and arches. On completion of our walking tour we went to a lecture held by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Pula, on tourism. We learned that Croatia has many sites on the World Heritage list under UNESCO Protection a few of these sites include: the city of Dubrovnik, Plitvice Lakes National Park, the Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik, and Diocleation’s Place in Split just to name a few. Their main tourists population is made up of people from Germany 22.7%, Slovenia 11.2%, Italy 10.2%, Austria 8.9%, Czech 8%, Polish 5.4%, Dutch 4.8%, and Slovakia 4.0%. Their main tourist months are June through August and their main tourist locations are located on the Dalmatian coast. At the end of this informational lecture the University of Pula presented each and every one of us with a welcome gift, a leather bound, full size planner and journal, a pen and an informational packet on tourism and the University of Pula.

Our professors like to go to new places every year they do this trip and this year we were the gunnie pigs for probably the most unique experience ever! We went to Vodnjan, where we went to see mummies of the Saints! I truly thought this was a hoax and that it would be some tourist trap on the side of the road but it was actually at the local Catholic Church in Vodnjan. We took a tour of behind the alter, where the mummies are kept. We saw 4 whole mummies and body parts of other saints. This experience was truly eerie and one of my most memorable experiences of this trip. We were told the stories about why each of the 4 mummies was a saint and what made them famous, but it was really interesting to find out that they were not mummified. Their bodies were dug up from the grave and they their bodies were fully in tacked, two of the bodies even had elasticity left in their mummified skin. One of the nuns who was a saint had, an MRI six months ago and it was determined that her internal organs are still fully intact and that she is still giving on an energy. It is also said that she heals people with health aliments who visits. We were told of stories when a blind woman miraculously regained her vision by being there and praying and couples who were having difficulty getting pregnant have said that they were able to get pregnant after going to this site and praying to this saint. Maybe these events are miracles or merely hoaxes but it was defiantly and experience of a life time no matter what higher power you believe in!

After our mummy experience we went on the hunt for vampires! Well kind of… There was a legend of a vampire cursing a near by city for decades and we went to the location of the grave yard where he had been buried and explored. This stop on our trip was a bit disappointing. We could not see his actual grave because they keep building up the grave yard level after level when they get full and his level was near the bottom, so there was nothing really to see except for some really cheesy, Vampire Café Bar signs. After leaving we drove on a very scary, curvy road out to a country farm in the mountains where we had a very traditional dinner that was 7 courses! The food was unbelievable but the food just kept coming!

Day 10 -- Porec & Rovinj

Charlotte: This morning we departed Motovun, and visited the Euphrasian Basilica in Porec (pronounced Pour-eck) where we also met our tour guide for the next few days, Aleksandra Paic. We toured the Basilica and made the long trek to the top of the bell tower to get our first view of the coast. After a mini tour of the city we were given free time to explore. We had lunch in a fjord off of the Adriatic where we had the opportunity to try any sea food items we wanted.

After lunch we went to the city of Rovinj (pronounced Row-veen) where we visited another Catholic Church. We had free time in Rovinj and then we stopped at an abandoned castle outside of the city on the way back to the hotel. The castle ruins were really cool! The castle was abandoned many centuries ago due to plague. It was situated on the top of a mountain and the view was gorgeous! After we explored the ruins we traveled back to Montovun where we had dinner on our own.

Ben: I guess this is as good of a time as any to continue my discussion of pharmacy. In my previous post, I talked about the wide scale, macro view of pharmacy as it is in Croatia. Today I’m going to bring the scope in to a more micro, functional view of how the pharmacy operates. Again, I’m going to do my best to compare it to the American system, and then try to show you how all of this is relevant to public health.

We’ll start today where the prescription normally starts: the doctor’s office. Croatia employs socialized healthcare (about which I’ve heard a wide range of opinions, but I’ll leave that for someone else to touch on), so when you get sick, you go to whatever doctor you wish to see, and in most circumstances, they will write you a prescription. The physical prescription basically requires all of the same elements that are required on a prescription in America: patient’s name, date of birth, medication, dosage, frequency, amount, and refills allowed (so far so good). The piece of paper that each prescription is written on is also color coded to correspond to how the medication will be covered by insurance: Blue = free medication (completely covered), red = partially covered (copayment required), and a 3^rd (yellow I think) that the insurance doesn’t cover at all (these are special case medications that are usually very expensive).

Once a patient has their prescription, they take it to a pharmacy to be filled, just like America. However, that’s about where the similarities stop (and some of the health issues begin). Before I dissect the Croatian pharmacy, I want to point out that they are somewhat behind America in terms of technology in the pharmacy. A few decades behind, actually. According to what Mr. Pharm. Spec. Maja Bernasek told me in our meeting, all labels on prescriptions are written in by hand. No computer generated labels, just pen and sticky paper. This is not really a problem, unless the pharmacist has poor handwriting (such as me). The problem is that there is no continuous electronic record of medications that the patient is taking, and there is no medication cross checking run through a computer. This can potentially lead to many serious (and deadly) drug interactions, just because the pharmacists do not have an electronic record of what medications each patient is taking or is allergic to.

When MPS Bernasek told me this, my jaw hit the floor. I cannot imagine working as a pharmacist and not having these tools at my disposal. I would love to see some statistics on the number of deaths in Croatia due to drug interactions, but as of now I have been unable to find any (in America, drug interactions kill thousands of people, injure millions, and cost the healthcare industry billions of dollars each year). The good news is that pharmacies are slowly trying to incorporate these computer systems into place (unfortunately, cost is a preventative issue).

Aside from an obvious lack of technology inside the pharmacy, the process runs about the same as it does in America: a patient drops the prescription off, the pharmacist fills it and then checks it, and then the pharmacist dispenses the medication to the patient. When they hand the medication over to the patient, the pharmacist counsels them on any pertinent information relative to the prescription. At this point, any information the pharmacist passes along to the patient comes either from memory, or from any medical text they might have on hand. Again, this is due to a lack of technology. In America, practically every pharmacy has access to internet based medical data, as well as computer-printed medication labels that automatically list any pertinent information the pharmacist should inform the patient about. Hopefully this will change with time.

There was one very important item that I particularly like about pharmacies in Croatia: patient privacy rights. In America, we have HIPAA (The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), which, if violated, offenders can face criminal and civil charges. In Croatia, they have some very similar laws that require pharmacists to maintain discretion with sensitive health-related information, and violations of this are also punishable by law. This is definitely a step in the right direction, as it helps bolster the defense against disease-based discrimination.

So, to wrap this up for today, Croatia has a functional healthcare system that allows for any citizen that is in need of medical attention to be taken care of. Although the pharmacies may be lacking in cutting edge technology, the pharmacists themselves work very hard to ensure that the proper care is given to each and every one of their patients. They are a crucial cog in the healthcare machine of Croatia.

Day 9 -- Leave Eastern Slavonia for Istrian Peninsula

Colin: No one is sorry to be leaving Osijek for the Adriatic Coastal portion of Croatia today. Six days of very cold and wet weather are more than enough for anyone. We are cold, and tired, and are getting on each others nerves (and getting each other sick). But as we drove West towards the coast, the weather warmed, the sky cleared up, and at a rest stop the mood started to brighten as well. People started to laugh, kick a soccer ball back and forth near the bus and generally appreciate the change. We have left Eastern Croatia behind and have moved onto the second part of the trip.

Istria (pronounced IST-ree-uh) is a peninsula that sticks out into the Adriatic Sea and contains the oldest Roman ruins in Croatia. The climate is one more like the Greek islands and less like that of Central Europe. The local diet will be one more based on fish, olive oil, and figs, as opposed to the Central European-influenced meat (especially pork) and potatoes that we have been eating for the past nine days. However, we had one more meal of it as we dined for lunch on venison and dumplings at a restaurant in the small town of Fuzine, and afterwards we took a side trip to the cave that was discovered in the 1960’s but had been sealed for 100’s of thousands of years.

When we first saw the sea a great cheer went up on the bus. Our bus driver is named Franjo (pronounced Fran-YO) and we have become very impressed with his skill as he maneuvers the “Purple Horse” through a variety of locations with much skill and acumen. We have started to refer to ourselves as the “Purple Horse Gang” and have become one big happy, dysfunctional family. [Ben - the "Purple Horse" (of course, of course) refers to our gigantic purple bus.]

As impressed as we are with Franjo’s driving skills, we are less impressed with the skills of other Croatian drivers. Motor Vehicle Crash deaths and injuries (including those to pedestrians and bicyclists committed by automobiles) are the leading source of Emergency Room visits in Croatia. Many of the safety standards that we take for granted in the U.S. regarding mandatory safety equipment and speed zone enforcement either do not exist in Croatia or are not enforced. We are glad to be in the capable hands of our expert bus driver.

Our destination for the evening is the hilltop town of Motovun (pronounced Mow-tow-voon), where a group as large as ours cannot even be taken all the way to the top because the bus cannot climb that high, but must walk the last 500m up the narrow cobblestone streets to the Hotel Kastel. The town has a spectacular view of the valley below and many folks celebrated late into the night and were very happy with our new surroundings.

Day 8 -- Day trip to Vukovar

Colin: I am not sure if the weather could have more perfectly matched the mood and subject matter of the impact of the “Homeland War” on the City of Vukovar. We were cold and wet and trying our best not to get sick. We had to stop to buy vitamins and warmer clothes in our best attempt to ward off any further sickness. And, while all of this was going on, we were being told about the 1991 siege of the city where 40,000 inhabitants held off the Serbian dominated Yugoslav army and its associated Serb militias for better than 3-months. We met the doctor who ran the hospital during the siege, Dr. Vesna Bosanac. She is a Croatian National Hero and a living treasure, who explained what she and her staff did to help the population during this time of crisis from the underground bunkers below the destroyed hospital.

After the siege ended, the entire population of the town was forcibly relocated or killed. Some were sent to prison camps in Serbia, while some were allowed to return to Croatian controlled territory. Others, however, were taken to places like Ovcara where they were shot and dumped into mass graves. Many of these graves were not discovered until after the Dayton Accords were signed in 1998 and Vukovar returned to Croatian control.

War not only has an impact on the physical health of populations, but also psychological repercussions. Refugees not only have the trauma of being subjected to the war, but also have the long-term impact of being displaced from familiar surroundings and from ones livelihood. Vukovar is a living example of the resilience of a community that is able to recover from such atrocities.