My new friends: my "only" fond memory of Bovec
by Mikebond
My two-week stay in Bovec to attend the "Poletna šola" would have been extremely boring, if I hadn't had such special people to spend my time with, as some of the students who were there proved to be.
The following tips and photos show my new friends, my first real friends since a long time. You should check this section from time to time, since it is being constantly updated.
(I have realized that the miniatures of these photos seem uglier than the real photos are, therefore I recommend you'd enlarge photo if you want to have a better idea of what my new friends look like.)
Tanja: no words to describe her
by Mikebond
Tanja was the surprise of my fortnight in Bovec and I'm not sure of what I should (or could) write about her in this tip. If you knew her, you would understand why. So, I guess I'd better describe her from the beginning.
Tanja is a girl belonging to the Slovenian community of Trieste and she doesn't like Italia very much. I first talked to her, as well as to other new friends, on Thursday 18th August at the Mangartska planina (Mangart "malga"). I was talking to her friend Sara, who is now also a friend of mine, about national identities and minorities. Sara totally agreed with my views, Tanja not at all and, while we were returning to the bus who would take us back to Bovec, she started speaking about this issue in such an aggressive tone that I, the European, felt highly humiliated in the evening and didn't want to speak to her any more (TIP: if you ever had the great chance to meet her, try to avoid dealing with such topics, otherwise you will be attacked. It sounds like a warning against a wild beast, doesn't it? Well, that's what Tanja can become when she disagrees on something). On Friday evening, I was waiting for a table at the restaurant, when Giorgia (see below) invited me to eat with her and the other Italian girls. Guess who I happened to sit in face of? Right! In face of that odious Tanja! Well, it is said that "Fortune is blind"; it is true, you know! That evening we talked to each other as if nothing had ever happened (she didn't even imagine she had offensed me) and our wonderful relation started.
Since then, Tanja let me enjoy the most wonderful moments in Bovec and my character changed a lot: I learnt to laugh, to take life less seriously. I have learnt much more from Tanja than from the Slovene course that was the main purpose of my stay in Bovec. I prefer having improved my character more than my Slovene, rather than the contrary.
Sara: an "elder sister" and a "friend for talks"
by Mikebond
I have the impression that Sara was, among my new female friends, the one who grew the most fond of me and I grew the most fond of, for sure.
She comes from Vittorio Veneto, a little town in Veneto, near Treviso and looks much younger than she actually is.
As you have probably already read in the tip about Tanja, I first talked to Sara at the Mangartska planina and I realized immediately we agreed at 100% almost on everything. She was the friend I enjoyed the most to discuss with and worth remembering is the afternoon of Saturday 27th, our last day in Bovec. At around 1 pm, after having lunch, we sat down at the bar of the hotel, where many other students were singing the songs they had learnt at the German course (sic), and we started talking about everything and more, as we say in Italian: about languages, travels, Europe, national identities, muslims, religions... It was so pleasant to stay with a girl who likes talking about intelligent topics, not only about banal ones. We were so happy in our talks that we lost the conception of time. When Tanja and Antoine came back from an excursion at around 4 pm, we were still talking, all the other people had gone away. Then we four went to the Isonzo/Soèa and Sara and I continued talking.
It was nice and unusual for me to see I could have a "friend for talks" like Sara and Georges beside "friends for fun" like Tanja and Antoine.
However, the reason why I will hardly forget Sara is the long, warm, spontaneous hug she gave me when we said good-bye on Sunday 28th. I had almost never received a hug from a girl, even from my so-called female friends at school. Thank you, Sara!
Chiara: a chaste girl in a depraved world
by Mikebond
Chiara is one of the most fun people I met in Bovec. She comes from Napoli but attends the University for Interpreters and Translators in Trieste, as I do. She studies Slovene at university and she attended the Slovene 1 course at the "Poletna šola" but she didn't like it very much because the teacher always used to repeat the same words and taught them many songs that they performed also in my course, Slovene 2, for her and our great joy, before singing at the final presentation, where she refused to sing.
Chiara is a traditional Italian girl, which is something rare to be found today, and she doesn't like some modern trends of our society that go against nature according to her (and to me!).
Unfortunately I haven't got a photo of Chiara alone, so I have to put one where she is portrayed with Tanja!
Giorgia: the "official" cook of the summer school
by Mikebond
Giorgia is another nice person I have met in Bovec. She comes from the province of Udine and is a very sunny girl. She likes laughing, even loud, and talking a lot. She was in Bovec to learn writing Friulan, the language of Friùli, and I liked listening her and her mates speak Furlàn (that's the official name of the language), that is such a rich and colourful language, like the dialects of Veneto.
Moreover, every student could appreciate Giorgia's culinary skills on the last day, when we ate the tiramisù (more about it can be read here) she had prepared.
I haven't got to know Giorgia in Bovec so much as I would have liked to, but I hope we will meet again. After coming back from Bovec, we have begun exchanging e-mails that let me appreciate this girl more than I could do during the Bovec fortnight.
It was Giorgia who sent me this photo, which is better than the previous one. Thanks a lot, my friend!
Sign in with Facebook
Trip path
Bavsica Valley
Path through tunnel
Fort Herman
