Living my life: 2013

Welcome to my life!!

Time before leaving....

March, 2014

I'm glad to finally say that i finished my master's and now my titles are:

Nick Dragoš

BSc Chemical Technology

MA Bank and Financial Management

My title was "The announcement efftect of cross-border M&A on a stock price behavior in the chemical industry". It was a an 63 page master's talking about the 84 chemical companies i analyzed using the event studies. I gathered that the days surrounding the announcement have a positive abnormal return (a 17 day symmetric event window) which showed a positive abnormal return of 2% and i also did a long term 1 year after effect which showed a negative abnormal return of 16%. This is a summary of a summary. I got a perfect grade of 10 for the thesis and everyone was really excited about it, like me!

Well i do have to say that the feeling of getting the pleasure to finish school is not as awarding as i hoped. All this time I was so excited to finish this, but by the end of this it just goes away and you are left with the title. As the know saying goes: "Life is a journey, not a destination". Well I would agree with that, it was all fun till you are doing something, but the finish is not as fun. Getting back to my master's thesis presentation...All my family, Anja, Ferenc and my two Korean's came to the presentation and we also had a little feast with our home made meat products and some homemade wine. It was nice, a little celebration at the Faculty, afterwords we moved the party to my apartment where we continued to party. My friends Aljaž (one of my best friends from high school, but stopped to contact him, because he was too negative and tried to discourage me at every step), Karmen (Surf buddy, she is a crazy open minded person who is everywhere!).I started easy with a little wine and some finger food. I was nice to see them, afterwords my Korean friends came and we had a crazy unforgettable party!!From drinking the sweet wine, to smoking Shisha to all the talking, screaming and cheering :)Legendary :)

I also have to mention that I have tickets to Asia, I will be leaving on April 11th and organized everything for the trip (vaccination, insurance, canceling everything here, etc.) and when I got my Visa for china I was so excited and still am, but there is also a sad side to this...

I'm leaving... I have an amazing family, friends and people in my life I never loose, but this is the time for me to leave. I know that once i leave Slovenia for my Asian trip I will only come back to visit and move on to America (probably). I had this wish to go to America since i first went there, I feel in love with the people and the language, culture and some many things that were different from my country. Sometimes I live my life by signs I see and since than I can only see the signs that I'm not meant to live here, like the case where I found out i was allergic to a Birch tree, which is a traditional for our part of country and so many more, but the most important is that I feel like a stranger in my home country and feel so happy when I'm away.I'm sad that I'm happier when I'm not around the ones i love, but when I'm away I don't have them. There are so many things, so many taught and soo many weird feelings. At the end it all comes down to the fact that I have my own goals, wishes and ? :)

I'm spending my last days with friends i like and those who want to hang out with me...those are the only ones that matter. A couple of days i heard this nice story...

The teacher one day in his class decided to teach the students something. Guess what?

The teacher had a cup on the table and put golf balls inside and asked the students if the cup is full? They answered "YES". So the teacher decided to put inside some smaller balls, which went between the cracks and asked again if the cup is full? Students answered "YES". So the teacher decided to put inside some gravel, which went between the cracks and asked again if the cup is full? Students answered "YES". When the cup really seemed full, the teacher grabbed the coffee and pour it in the cup and asked the students if the cup was full. Yet again the answered "YES". One of the students asked the teacher what this was about and the teacher said....???

ANSWER:" Cup is like your life, you always have things in your life you have to do.The gollf balls present the more important things in life: like family, friends and other that matter. These take a lot of time and small balls and gravel are less important and present the work, hobbies and other things that matter in life. What is the coffee for? When you think you don't have time, there is always time to grab a coffee with your friends!! Think about who is important in your life!!

7th December till End of February, 2014:

Hi, everyone!!I'm sorry I've been out for so long, a lot has been going on! Well let's start from the beginning. December started differently from any other one in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Usually I would be going for hot wine every other day with my friends and just hang out around the amazing Christmas lights in the city. Ljubljana looks really amazing around the Christmas time...

Ljubljana in December

However this year has been a bit different, I worked 8h/6day per week and after work i spent other 8h in the library next to my work place. As you probably read in my previous post, i didn't really like the place where i was working in...but money is money! By the end of December I FINISHED my master's and was ready to submit it, but i'll write more about it later...

My work was getting me more and more unhappy and working with other really made me think about my goals and wishes i had for the future. I was working physical job and had time to think about these things and there was one day in particular where I was working really hard and for the first time i realized that my hard work wasn't appreciated! Well I didn't except anything, but it made me think about other people and how they were experiencing work there. I remembered the moments when my mom was working in a pharmaceutical company near our home and she was really unhappy and a lot of pressure was put on her and she was given work no one else wanted. It made her really unhappy. Well to conclude, my mom left her job and ventured on her own. It was the same for other workers in the store and most others i know. The people in charge pray on those with less power, even if they have less competence!! At that moment i knew i don't want to be stuck working for someone who doesn't appreciate my competence and i want to build a business on my own and be happy at it! To keep the story short, i can proudly say i left that job mid February, when i had enough money for my trip to Asia!

Back to my thesis...So i finished writing my thesis at the end of December and submitted it to my mentor first working day in January. He wrote me the next day and he called me for a meeting to discuss the thesis. I taught he corrected it and i had to do some corrections and BAM I'm done!! Was i stupid!! I met him for 15 min and he corrected around 10pgs and told me that maybe i could do something more (didn't actually tell me, more like ordered me to!), because there were some public articles on the similar topic and he wanted me to do everything they did and in some cases even more! I don't mind that, but i would prefer he would have told me that at our first meeting!!However, 3 weeks later and 200h working hours later i finished my second version. I submitted it to him and told him I'm in a hurry and i want him to correct it ASAP, as that time I already missed the Chinese new year (had some really sad times). I got the scanned copy back 14 days later and he only corrected the first 6 pages and said: " do the other pages like i corrected these"! I was sooo pissed and wrote him a half page email on how nonprofessional, disappointed i was and how angry it made me!! I did what i told me to and my mom corrected the grammar and made it more readable, since she is American. I sent it to him again a week later and this time he corrected in 6h!!! That was mid February and here in SLOVENIA it takes 1 month till i can defend it. It will be 21st of March!!

My Asia story... Well I can finally say I'll be in China/Asia by the end of March!! I decided to do an Au pair in China, because i want to personally know more about the Chinese culture and how people life, which is why i didn't want to teach or anything else. I want something more personal! Most people around me don't understand that, since i have a master's and bachelor's in chemical technology, but this is time for myself, to really do what makes me happy before i start building my career and checking my goals off! And because i'll be an Au pair all have a lot of time to learn Mandarin, meet new people, read a lot and learn more about investing. I have a bunch of goals while traveling, i do believe that everything has a purpose...I'll talk more about that when i'm actually there!
The family i'm going to seems really kind, mom looks like really serious but interesting and dad is just funny. He asked me if i have a gf and no one can sleep over at my room, when i'm there!haha...Nothing about the kids, but that!!extremely funny to me!!haha. It's going to be an interesting 3 months!!I also had a bunch of weird questions at the Chinese Embassy, they didn't believe me that i wanted a 6 months tourist visa and that the family would pay my plain ticket all costs when there! On Thursday i go and get the visa, hopefully. I'll let you know!

About other things..Since coming back from France everything changed. It's like you're wearing wrong glasses your whole life and you put on the right ones and everything that you used to believe is not the same. This was meant for my family and the place where i live at!

This are the sausages we make

The Christmas tree me and my friends from Korea chopped down

From the rigth (Mom, Dejan, Mark and Janja (Mark's girl)) playing monopoly

Everything i used to see, changed! I always loved my family, but since i returned i changed and so have others. I started to appreciate people in my life. My mom who has taught me so many things. I'm who I'm because of Mom, from teaching me about investing, dealing with people, to support different people and be one, .... she is my inspiration and my idol. My dad taught my to work hard and to be nice to people and that you have to work hard to achieve something. My younger brother who is extremely intelligent, who will take over of out farm (I'm super happy he will, because he is the most capable and deserving) and we also share similar interests. My older brother Dejan who is a crazy good computer tech., extremely smart and always finds an easy way to do things (really good at it!!) . My grandma who has always been there for me, cooked, took care of me when i was young and always comforts me with amazing food and my best aunt Milena who took care of me when i needed her the most. She was there for me when i was younger and i taught no one liked me (the usually teenager thing) and took me places, showed me the world of mountains and she is always there for me. :). My really good friends Ferenc, Anja, Tina, Vernes, Blaž and many others...
Nature around me has never been so amazing, and wine!!!! :)

Here are some pics during this time :)

Dinner i have with my great friend/guru/ex-mentor and amazing cook

Cooking for my Korean friends :)

Skiing at Karvavec (Alps)

My best friend graduating!!

I'M ALSO REALLY GLAD AND PROUD IF MY FRIENDS FROM SLOVENIA, THAT MOVED TO CHILE AND OPENED THEIR FIRST HOSTEL!! (DREAMS DO COME TRUE...BELIEVE)

I'll write more before i leave or when i get there :)

3rd October to December 7th, 2013:

Hi everyone! I have to apologize for not writing such a long time. I guess I got lost in my work! Once i start thinking about it, i really don't like it!
What's new? Hmmm
I've actually been working in a grocery store, Maxi market, for the last 13 weeks and i have to say I've been going through a wide range of emotions on the job. From really liking it to hating it with passion!Why? Well at the beginning it was really nice meeting the people and getting to know them a bit and i always wanted to know what is a background story when you are in the store. Since then I have gradually start to hate it, due to many reasons:

I have noticed I don't belong there!
I learned that people with no motivation and NO goals get minimum pay!
They are negative!!!In some cases incredibly negative!
Its starting to change me. I do a lot of work there, I work so much so that others take advantage of that and don't work. I usually don't care about that and only look at what I have to do....lately i started to compare their work with mine.I don't like that at ALL!!!
I noticed that I was made to be my own boss! Our boss there is terrible and doesn't work at all and everyone else kinda has to do stuff for her and when she does something wrong, she doesn't care...it's our fault!Well...I don't like her at all...she might be 1/5 people i don't like!

Well there are way to many reasons to quit!!But i won't till i finish my master thesis and leave Slovenia!Talking about my thesis....

Well I already turned in my disposition and am still waiting for an official conformation, but i already got an unofficial conformation (It doesn't mean anything!). I have been resting though, I have been working hard on my thesis and currently have 40 pgs written and started to calculate my results and my goal is to finish my thesis by the end of December and hopefully present it till end of January and get out of this country before the end of January! I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I Have TOOO!!

On the side I'm also learning Mandarin and doing my TEFL exam for teaching English! Unfortunately they are not going as fast as i want them to due to the high concentration on my thesis, but in time i will do it!!in time....

If you don't know it yet...I'm going to Asia for one year ...I ctually want to go China before the January 30th and hopefully go to visit my other brother from another mother, Franc. And travel around China for a month, before settling down in Shanghai for three months as a babysitter. This will give me time to meet some people and get my plan for the rest settled!I need that time to think what i want after these three months and get it!! Also another reason to go to Asia is to visit Aki, she is my super awesome friend and really missed her over the last couple of days!!

Today I looked at the pictures of the exchange in Reims and i realized that this, point in time, is not the place i belong and I really need to get out and continue to enjoy life and go toward my goals, to make them true!! TRAVELING, MEETING NEW PEOPLE AND CULTURES IS WHAT I NEED NOW AND THIS ONE YEAR IN ASIA, I HOPE WILL GIVE ME MY DRIVE AND PASSION FOR MY LIFE IN AMERICA...TO ACHIEVE MY GOALS...

I ALREADY REACHED MY GOALS IN MY HEAD, NOW IT'S ONLY TIME TILL I GET THERE :)

I REALLY MISS ALL MY FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD!!

LOVE, Nick

September 3rd to October 2nd 2013

Work:
So what's new?? Hmmm Well it's been a long month full of stuff.

Well lets start with my job opportunities: Well I started working at the call center at the beginning of September and at it was really good at the start, but it became a real nightmare really soon! I was selling a health magazine for older generation over the phone. It's actually cool calling random people and trying to sell them something cos one, i like to talk to people and two it's something that might come in hand one day. My mentor was a good sales person and was one of top 10 salesman 3 years ago and Italy and he gave me a lot of valuable knowledge about selling :). But he is also the reason why i left the job after three weeks!! It was a job that payed 3EUR per hour (that's almost nothing) and he was always in the office sitting next to me and controlling my every move and criticizing everything i did wrong...nothing wrong with this, but after one week he really started to push on me to do better (I sold on average 1,5 yearly magazine subscription in a 4 hour work shift, more than any other intern there ) and starting to be rude about it and at the end even mocking me in front of others. Soo I decided that he could shove this job somewhere where the sun don't shine and left. I hope I will get payed as said! Terrible!!

Of course I left for a better job, since I'm working not to earn as much money as I possible can i decided to take a job working in a big store in the center of Ljubljana which pays 4EUR per hour and i work 8h a day, starting at 6am and finish at 2pm and have the rest of the day off :). I do have to say I was in a little bit of a dilemma since I was also excepted for a Chemical job which would get me a good reference but they would only pay me 500 EUR per month which is around 200EUR less than the first one, so I decided not to take it. I have been working at the store for a week now and I have to say I already know how to do everything on my own and the job is easy and good, sometimes really busy but nothing special and I like that the day goes by really fast. I like the job :)...A right decision

Thesis:

Well it's sad but there was no big change. I had to cancel my first preposition I made since after one month my mentor told me that what I'm planning is impossible. Basically I lost one month, so now I'm in search of another mentor and a total change of topics. I already know quite a lot about my new thesis, read a whole bunch of articles, now i just have to find a mentor. My new topic is: Stock price behavior to M&A announcements in Chemical industry. We will see how it pans out!!!I NEED TO FINISH THIS ASAP!!!

Other:

I'm a tutor helping the exchange students that come to our University and i was helping our team at the orientation week and international dinner. I love it, I'm so crazy about this...meeting foreign students...makes me feel like I'm back in Reims!I love it!! <3
I also have 7 of my own babies to take care of, I really love some of them...having a really amazing time. Since time is important i have to continue with my work...talk later :)
hf

22nd to 2nd of September 2013

I guess I finally woke up from this nightmare of not doing anything. I guess till a couple of days back I have really been just walking around with my head cut off! I noticed a big difference there last couple of days since I decided that I will leave the thesis I'm working on and just let my mentor choose something. Well actually I was having a lot of problems with my master thesis report, since I really tried to do too much for it and in reality it would take me around 6,7 months to do that and I it would still be really hard to get all the information. So I decided I will chose one of the topics that the mentor usually has. Well It's been 2 days since I wrote her an email I won't something else and she still didn't reply...we will see how it goes! But it has to be going a bit faster, i don't like this pace and not doing a lot of work during the day!!

I did find a short term job at a calling center, I'm working for 3Eur per hour selling a magazine to old people!! :/, It is interesting to learn more about sales and how to talk to people...something that will come in hand some time in the future. Today I'm actually going to start talking to the customers so I hope It will fun :). I'm currently working around 3-5h a day which is nothing, but it's a start! I'm also looking for other jobs, cos I need the money If I want to go to Asia!!! I will tell you more about Asia next time we talk :)

talk later, hf

12th to 21st August 2013

Well after writing my preposition the same night my mentor checked it out and replied back. Well the answer I got was not good, not good at all. Well she basically said that a 6th grader could do it better. Well of course I was quite shocked that she taught that, especially since i taught it as great! After thinking about it a while i realized that it's not all that bad since from the start i didn't know what she wanted at all since she only gave me some questions i have to answer and that's it, at least now she told what is wrong, what i have to fix and a couple of things that are not clear! Well It's a good thing she said all that :)... Well that Monday we had a shisha in our flat also drank a bit and of course I got sick as a dog the very next day! I caught a flu and i was sick till Saturday!I couldn't move or do anything, all my muscles were aching and joints hurting and I could barely swallow. Instead going straight to the doctor i took some over the counter drugs which did the work and on Saturday I was ready to pick the potatoes :). Sunday was a day of work, tried to do as much as possible before my parents came home from vacation...at least i can do for everything they did!

On Monday i met with my really good friend from Australia/New Zealand/ now will from Chile...and we had a drink for 5h! I love her, she is the one that really inspires me, she is amazing as well as her bf :)....they have a plan to buy a guest house in Chile and live there...i love it! She is one of the only people I can truly talk about everything, I really missed her...I have to spend a lot of time with her since she is leaving again in October!! I also have to thank Howie and Tina for always being there to kid around! Really lucky to know them! Well today I gave in my second report for the thesis and I will see how it will go! I'm wishing for the best!!p.s.: watch the blind side, a great movie :)

P.S.: Thank you for giving me some great ideas about my next trip!!

I have a big news to tell next time...but first i have to tell it to my family this weekend! :/

love u

From 1st August - 11th August 2013

So finally over with all the traveling and chilling. This was the week to actually start something, did I?

Well, my goal for this month is to finish my master's thesis disposition or report so I could start on my thesis. Well my Monday started a bit lazy because I had to do million other tasks that were piling up and I wanted to do that first, but half of them I couldn't do since everything was closed at my school cos it's the holidays :/. But from Tuesday till Sunday I was doing my disposition and after an almost break down on Wednesday I finally gave in my report for a check up and on this Tuesday I will get a reply what I still have to do and with some hope I will give in the report next week and wait for a positive response!! :)

I didn't work that much this week, It was quite easy to write the report since I know the topic of real estate quite well and it was easy to bullshit but i did have to open a couple of books to get some extra material :). Writing it in English I also noticed my writing is really shitty! I had to correct everything I wrote the first time and rewrite the whole thing so it looked nice, but i did it :)...I'm hoping for a good result tomorrow, but otherwise the week was OK. I sent a couple CVs around for the job, started to learn Spanish and got back to starting trading and learning more about it!! It was a good week with a great ending...at the farm games...check out the pics and mote...talk more next week, enjoy :)*

This is how Slovenians say my name

Me playing

Farm games: looking for straws in hay

Carrying water on a plank on a wheel barrel

From 23 July - 1 August 2013

MALTA

We left Ljubljana at around 7:30 am and got to Venice at 11h where we were flying to Malta with Ryanair. We still had to wait 3h, but it was funny watching all the people and guessing where they are from, etc. We finally arrived at 3pm in Malta and were nicely greeted by Franklyn. A good friend that found me a job in Malta last year J. After we went to Frank's mom where we were staying to drop our bags and already off we were to the normal Maltese life...of course it was beach time J. Nice to be back in Malta....

Malta from the air

Marsaskala at night

This whole trip was quite tiring and we saw and did loads if things, but I'm going to mention only my highlights!

The second day in Malta Franklyn hooked us up with a free boat cruise at Captain Morgan cruises. We left at 10am going from Sliema down to South of Malta and around up to comino (Blue Lagoon). The boat ride was really nice and relaxing for a change, we got to see many things that usually can't be seen from the mainland like all the caves and the shores you didn't know existed. We also got a nice lunch before going to Blue Comino swimming in that amazing lagoon. It was nice spending spending the whole day with Franklyn and Anja chillin at the beach and on the boat :)

Comino

Anja eating ice cream at Comino

BBQ in Malta is something special for me and it brings back all the old memories from last year and this time we also did it and there were all of our friends there and of course lets not forget the amazing pink Maltese sausages and the Chile wine. Everyone including the small Jacob was there and this time we had it a bit far away from Marsaskala, near Buggiba.

One of the last days I went to check how everyone at work was doing and I actually spent the first hour talking to Melissa, Viola and Francele. After chatting I finally remember why I came there and off I went to talk to Trevor and Dianda, my two supervisiors from last year and i really enjoyed talking to Trevor, he is a really kind and was always asking me about my plans and if I'm coming back to work soon...like someone who cared more. A floor lower I got to see all my friends i worked with, from Hillary (my sister) to David the BMW, rovinnah, Paul, Shelly,... and also the new guys that are there now and it was kinda funny, cos we were all laughing loud and talking even louder and the newbies didn't know what was going on!haha...Lunch fallowed at »Hillaries« restaurant Il Potro and meet with all of them there as well. It's nice seeing everyone J. Hils and I spent the day there swimming in the pool and drinking outside. Anja joined us a bit later and we continued talking and drinking and also Anja gave her expert advice on how to decorate her new house and i talked with her awesome mom, who i met in Munich and gave her advice on her upcoming trip to Slovenia. I love my sis <3

My friends from work

The next day Hils texted me and wanted to meet, of course I can't say no and with Anja and Ricardo (Hils fiance) to Blue Grotto and set at a restaurant, looking upon a small island of Filfla. He is a really cool guy and I hope I talked a lot about Slovenia so they can come by for a visit. It was nice hearing from her and seeing her excitement to get to see Anja and I again, I can really see that the one month we spent together working really payed off in multiple ways...my sister for life <3

Popeye ville was another thing i was excited to see with Anja. Spending two month on the island and seeing it for the first time is nice, now I have to see the movie :)

There has been many more stories, but these were one of my favorite ones...Here is my family from Malta:

Franklyn (dad), Melissa (mom), Hillary ( crazy sister), Violet (funny sister), Micquela (smart sister), Audrey (awesome aunt) and other member Francelle, Manuel, Gabriel, Meggi, Helen, Gean, Olaf, David, Shelly, Rovinnah, Ricardo,...

My family

My sis Hillary

It would not be the same without you, I'm really thankful to have friends like you who I know will be there if I need them to be. Especially big thanks to Frank and his mother for really taking good care of Anja and I over this last couple of days and also Melissa and Hillary for entertaining me when i had no plans :)

All of you are always welcome to visit and stay with me (if I have space) where I'll be!!

Until next time,...

From 13-23th July, 2013

Next trip on the 13th was to Italy to see Andrea, Vanessa and Mariana & her brother :)

Right after I came from the trip with my aunt and cousin Anja and I headed down to Italy to see the gang :). After being home for one month and a half, It's nice to see them again :)
Since it is a 7h drive from my place to Andrea's place, we decided to stop in Padova, A small city like any other city in Italy with the exception of the beautiful circle of water with statues around it :)

Looks like this...still have to get the real pics from anja

From there we headed down to Cesena to visit Andrea, vane, Mariana and Umberto!!!
We arrived around 7pm and were served with a nice welcoming, food and drinks :)
We stayed at Andrea's place for a bit, went to the amazing beach at night and got some kind of a discount to a club we went to later and than of to Bia Imperial (something like that). The club was HUGEEE, it had like 8 party floors with statues and pools everywhere, It looked like a mansion!We really went crazy and finally i was dancing after a long time!! We ended the night at 5am and slept on the beach :)

Sleeping at the beach :)

The next day we spent on the beach relaxing and playing Baci, on the way back we stopped at Cesenatico (amazing town), came back at night and slept like babies :)

In Cesenatico

On Monday we took a tour to San Marino, a small country near by which has an amazing castle and village on top of a hill and the view on top is amazing <3

Us at San Marino

We also had a really typical Italian lunch (amazing pasta) and of we went to Cesena. The night ended with an amazing lasagna dinner at Andrea's place and of course tasting of Italian alcohol and Sambuca shisha to finish it off :)

On tuesday we left Andrea's place and headed to Venice :)

Spent the whole afternoon there and went to Ljubljana where I showed them the city at night and also had a fancy drink at our skyscraper :)

Ljubljana at night

Wednesday we spent on the famous lake Bled and Bohinj. In Bled we swam to the island and it was so funny watching all of us swimming the long distance, almost died at the end :P

Lake Bled

Lake Bohinj

From there we went to see our common friend from Slovenia and she showed us Novo mesto and castle Otočec. Alja and her family also made an amazing dinner :). While the night was approaching fast we drove to Anja's tourist farm. Where we ended the night drinking her wine and eating traditional Slovenia bread :).

At Otočec

Next morning we headed to Plitvice, Croatia. One of the most known places in Croatia, but we were really excited to go to Pag, Zrče for an unforgettable night!!ohhh And we definitely had an amazing night and also the afterbeach party at Aquarius was amazing!!AMAZING...Umberto had an even better time :P

Plitvice lakes

Plitvice

Pag, Zrče

We spent the Saturday on river Kolpa rafting and afterwords a big feast at my house with a roasted pig!!Amazingly good ;)

Unfortunately I had to say goodbye to my friends on Sunday after breakfast.

This was a really short story of the trip, but we basically partied everyday and had an amazing time together and always doing stupid stuff!! I love you guys, hope to see you soon :)

From 1-12th July, 2013

Finally I have time to write on my blog. I am currently waiting for my mentor to come so we could have our first serious discussion regarding my master thesis, but she is already 25min late and I think she will probably be gone for another 30min or soo :/.AAAAAaaaa drives me crazy

Well going back to the first twelve days in July. I have been many place, from Pula to Germany, Austria and Czech republic.

Pula

Anja and I went to Pula on the 3r of July to see the famous 2Cellos group playing live in the amphitheater. We spent the the 3rd going around the city and enjoying the view of the beautiful city. Pula is a city in Istra part of Croatian which is known by its many Roman statues and different buildings from that era. The city center is quite beautiful while other part of the city is a bit less nice. Sitting near the center was the amphitheater where the concert was held. The concert was at 10pm and with the amazing guys playing different modern tunes on their electric cellos was amazing! Who would have taught that two guy playing on cellos could be fun...it was actually much more than fun :)

Here is the link of one of their songs performed : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqC9Ay1-KIw

Smooth Criminal

Anja and I only booked one bed in the hostel so it was really funny how we had to sneak in the flat without the owner knowing. We also had a great time in the car while in Pula, it's nice having a car...really comfortable ;)

6 days trip to Austria, Germany and Czech Republic

I made this trip with my aunt and cousin that came from United states for a visit.

We started the trip on the 6th at 5am leaving from Ljubljana. not seeing her for such a long time we had a lot to talk about and on the way to Salzburg we mostly just talked. Since most of the cities we decided to take them I have already saw, I decided I want them to see the most as they can possibly see in the amount we have. Our first stop was the beautiful Salzburg, It took me around 3h to show them most of the city. When I'm traveling I usually have a fast tempo and I want to see as much as possible!The whole way in Salzburg we were walking and later in Munich as well. Unfortunately we could not stay to long in both of the cities, because I booked our hotel in Stuttgart. Ended the first night in Stuttgart, while they were really tired and went to bed quite early, I went out and met with my friend from the 1st semester of exchange Jess who was doing an internship there. We had a blast, went for a couple of beers in a pub and afterwords to a club in the center (7 degrees) with her and her friends. I drank a bit too much and thanks to Jess ended up home at 5am :). I was really lucky that the next day we only had a small trip to Frankfurt where were suppose to meet Savannah, another cousin that came to study in Germany.

Photo: Es gibt sie noch: Die Männer, die dich auf Händen tragen :D
Awesome night, woop woop

Jess's friend, Jess and me in the club

The next morning at 8am we went around Stuttgart and in the afternoon headed to Frankfurt. We arrived in Frankfurt around 5om and from the start we tried to contact my other cousin and meet up with her but unfortunately she didn't find the time to meet us!I really didn't like that since we planned this trip around seeing her and it also cut our time in Berlin!!!However Frankfurt was a really nice city and be spent the afternoon and night walking around and seeing the sites. There was an ironman going on in the city while we were there!!It's a really nice and different from other cities. Next morning we went to Berlin which is one of my favorite cities!!It was a 5h drive from there so we decided to take a small detour and see the city Elfurt...a really small city which extremely organized, clean and has amazing buildings!We spent 2h there and back to Berlin....THIS IS WHEN ALL SHIT BROKE LOOSE!!

This next story needs a new paragraph!

Well by this time we were all quite tired, but I was still having a good time and there was no drama between the travelers and than it all started. When we arrived in Berlin, we went straight to our hotel and from there we went to the center where my aunt has to meet someone and I'll meet Osama and Olga :). So I navigated from the Hotel to the point where they met. We all went to the metro from the hotel (which is 200m from the hotel). Took a metro to the center and than walked 20min to get the the place where they met. Since I knew we are going to separate I made a circle where we live and which metro to take to get to there, unfortunately there was one map that didn't exactly show the street we lived in since it was a bit, bit outside of the map. I gave the other map to my aunt and on the way to the meeting point i exchanged the map because it was much easier to navigate with the other map. So with some problems we managed to arrive at the meeting point and i dropped them of and I went out to see Olga and Osama. We had a great time and we all caught up on our lives after exchange. CONGRATS OSAMA AND KUBRA ON YOUR ENGAGE!!Osama did a really amazing proposal <3. Afterword me and Olga took a stroll around one part of the city which is known for their diversity! It was really nice to see all the different people coming together. From there a took a walk home at 1am and I really felt safe walking home...surprising for such a big city!

Going back to the story...I came back to the hotel and I didn't have the code to the hotel so i had to sleep in the car, since my aunt had it! Next morning I woke up at 7:30 went in, since someone came through the door, headed up and there was my aunt pisses as hell. I look at my computer and they were already looking for places to see, she came to me and started saying that I gave her the map where you can't see the exact place where we live,.... and i told her that it was only 200m from the metro station and it's really easy to walk back...uhhh that was wrong!!!She started being even more angry saying that there are more exits...i again told her that she should have payed more attention when going to the metro...soo the story went on for some time. Than i took them around the city and we saw a bunch of stuff and on the way we decided to go our separate way and decided to meet at one point, of course they didn't come!! So i went to see Olga and Hacer, unfortunately we didn't have to much time...but the time we spent was amazing, I'm really looking forward to coming to this city again :)

Well to keep the story short, we than went to the beautiful Prague where I almost left my cousin and aunt and then Brno where I had the freaking best time with Anna partying and the next day at her amazing house near Brno! She really showed me a lot of things and their wine cellar. That was a truly amazing time with her. Last stop was in Vienna where my aunt and cousin relaxed a bit and we traveled together again and she finally said to take it easy and also she said what she wants to see. She finally spoke!!

All in all it was really nice to see all my friends from different cities and to visit so many amazing places!!! Regarding my aunt and cousin...I have a really fast tempo and i don't get tired soon! They are not used to walking and traveling as much so i guess we are not the best traveling couple, but at least we both saw a great amount of new things and experienced a lot of stress!!haha :P

Pictures from the trip :)

Berlin...east gallery

Salzburg

Prague

Salzburg

Heavy machinery

Munich

Frankfurt

me, my aunt, cousin and good friend from Czech, Anna

Anna and I

Olga, I and Hacer in Berlin

From 20-30th June, 2013

Well not much has happen....
I have started to work on my master thesis and been writing back and fort to my mentor who is now traveling around and won't be reachable till 23rd of July :(. Well after a couple of emails we came up to a small agreement that I will write about how to go from an individual investor to making a company in buying and selling real estate, i guess I'll have to do also a business plan and everything. Well we still have to talk more about all the details, but it's going to be something in that direction! :)

I had such an amazing weekend in Pakoštane, Croatia this weekend. I went alone with Anja and we spent the weekend in their house by the sea. I was a small but comfortable place. The atmosphere was amazing, our normal day consisted of relaxing by the sea, drinking some beers, a lot of exercise and chilling at night at the lounge. We also went on this really cool boat ride, Anja's friend there has a speed boat and we took a 2h ride around the islands and seeing the different beaches and islands on the way. I almost had my perfect moment there, just sitting in the back looking at different island while we pasted by them and all the nice rocky beaches. It was truly amazing, I will definitely visit Kornati and the islands again!!

I found out for sure that my aunt, cousin and grandma is coming to Slovenia!!!I'm really excited to see them after such a long time. I am also in charge of taking my aunt and cousin around Europe a bit. I planned a small 6 day trip to Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. We will see i think cities in 6 days, i feel like the Indian's on exchange!! I'm also really happy that I will meet a couple of the exchange students on the way in different cities...Exchange all over again!!!I'm really excited to see Olga, Maria, Jes, Anna, hopefully Lucie, and many more :)...I am sad that i won't see Anika :(

I also planned a trip to Italy, Croatia and Slovenia for Mariana, Andrea and Vanessa to see!!!another 10days of having a good time!!

And after that I'm going back to my home Malta for 7 days!!!to party it big time!!Malta style!!

And after that It's time to work really, really, really hard...finally!!

I'm really excited to see everyone once again <3

Pictures are coming later...i have to get them from anja!!

From 10-20th June, 2013

Well i came from Reims by bus, I arrived in Zagreb where my older brother Dejan picked me up and drove me back home (it moments like these where I really appreciate him). Well Croatia's capital is actually closer to my home then Ljubljana. So it was a bit over an hour drive back home where my mom made us a good old home made dinner with potatoes and aged beef (it's stored for 1month at a temperature of 5C in a some liquid) and a huge salad. Finally some real home grown food :)...well it didn't take my mom to long to pull out her 1 page do to list for me. Well I guess she really was saving it for me to come home. It was at least 20,30 tasks, but I was actually really looking forward to it since I haven't been doing anything for 9 months! Tasks were like fallowing: Bring to wood to the wood shed, Clean the attic, basement and the ground floor (well the whole house), To go the vineyard and pick the fruit and mow the lawn, Change the lock on the door of..., all kinds of shit. Since I decided to be home for a bit more then two weeks, for everything to settle down and get back to my normal life i decided I would go to the capital for one day and surprise Anja. Also the first night I had a really good surprise when Howie, Gorka, Andrea, Vane, Jeff and Edo called me on skype....soo awesome, i loved it!! <3
Well in the capital I met my amazingly awesome friend Tina! She is a beautician and also close to graduating from Chemical technology...actually the funny thing is that when i came to Ljubljana she just passed her last exam and at my school the recognized all my grades so I'm finished with all my exams as well!!What faith....well getting back to the story...Tina told Anja to get together for a drink, because she past her last exam. Well little did she know i even came to Slovenia, I surprised her with a red rose and a bottle of beer (The Slovenian way)...she was shocked cos she didn't expect me so soon!!haha...surprise!!Well she also told me that i look hotter then on the pictures on last pics on FB...I guess that a compliment,...Well we continued to hang out until Tina had to leave and so did Anja and I.
Don't let me forget the party of Anja's mom, she turned 40. Holy shit she is hot...Well If this what Anja is going to look like when she is 40, every man that's going to be with her is going to be super lucky!!She went all crazy and the party was really big and caters with a lot, lot of food and of course a live band!!

Pictures from the party

Now tell is she is hot or not??

I went back home the next morning and stayed home till the 18th (my bday) working around 12h a day...which was a good thing, I was just left to work and think about nothing since I really missed everyone from RMS, especially some friends :O.
MY BIG DAY: I woke up at home, ready to work on the farm :). My mom gave my a nice gift, as well as my grandma :) and a list of things to do before I go to the capital. I decided also to go to the cemetery to see my two grandpas and say a couple of words whats been happening lately. I'm not a religious person but It makes me feel good If I still think they are there. After a good meal I headed out towards the capital where I met my best friend Tina, since she could only stay for 20 min we quickly had a beer and a talked about her big plans...she did make up for a photo shoot by the sea, she is getting more and more famous in Slovenia, I'm really proud of her :)
From there I went to see Anja and we spend a nice romantic night together. She also made a super awesome dinner and we went to the nearby lake and ate dessert...A really nice relaxing day :)
I also have to thank everyone who sent me a message for my bday, especially have to thank my brother Edwin for the really nice video he made for my birthday!!awesome...i love it :)
19th and 20th I was also in the capital and more or less I was just doing some small stuff I had to do. I became a tutor for the exchange students coming for Summer school and for the first semester of next year. I'm really looking forward to meeting all the new people, we have Mexicans coming July 3rd :), also taking care of some public transport crap and doing a present for my mom &dad's wedding anniversary. I'm going to make a book from some letter they were writing to each other when my mom was in the States. Such romantic letters, I could never believe they wrote them!! till next week...