Year 13 Croatia Trip

CROATIA - YEAR 13 GEOGRAPHY AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROJECT

Have you ever heard of Mali Losinj? We hadn’t either until Dr Coles suggested the Croatian exchange visit to us in July. Time flew by, and before we knew it, we were on an exciting journey by plane, bus and ferry, heading directly for our hosts on the Island of Losinj.

In the host school, we delivered our presentations on life in Britain to the Croatian students. This was followed by speeches and presentations from the Losinj Tourist Board and the Head Teacher of the school.

We all found the visit very beneficial towards our Geography A Level.
We visited the ‘Blue World Marine Conservation Centre’, where we learnt about the threats to the Adriatic Dolphins around the Island. We took part in a decision-making exercise based upon the threats to the Dolphins caused by fishing and marine tourism (TGGS now has an adopted Adriatic Dolphin). During the week we investigated many geographical themes on the island of Losinj, and this came together on the last day when we made group presentations to tackle exam-style Geographical Issues Analyses.

There was also much history and culture involved in the trip. This included a tour of the amphitheatre in Pula, which is the third largest in the world, and a visit to the Roman settlement now called Osor. We were lucky enough to see a beautiful mosaic, revealed by one of the Croatian teachers from beneath a pile of rotting leaves.

However, it wasn’t all work and no play. We managed to find a local bar where we could see the Rugby World Cup Final on TV (although this turned out to be a disappointment), after watching the sunset over the Adriatic from a nearby hilltop.

We planted three olive trees in ‘the garden of fine scents’, a token gesture to offset our carbon footprint from the flight (we are geographers after all) and climbed to the top of Osorcica, which was 588m above our starting point at sea level. From here we had amazing views of the coastline and learnt about the origins of the limestone landscape. We also paid a visit to ‘Caput Insulae’, an eco-centre that rescues Griffon Vultures and is engaged in conservation projects to protect these rare birds and their habitat on the Island of Cres. We were fortunate enough to see one of these magnificent creatures in the wild, as well as up close.

In the evenings we spent time with our host families who were very hospitable and generous (especially with food!). This gave us the unique opportunity to experience Croatian life and culture first hand. We are now looking forward to returning the welcome when our partners come to England in March 2008.

All in all, the trip was unforgettable and has enriched us both on an academic and personal level. It would not have been possible without the hard work and preparation of Dr Coles and Mrs Davison, as well as their Croatian counterparts, Mrs Mrsic and MissSuncana. We hope that this trip can be repeated in the future as it turned out to be such a success.