Operation Schönheit

What is the first thing you say when someone asks you if you want to travel to Croatia? Yes, of course! Even if it involves acting? Yes!... Wait, what?!

Yes my friends, I got myself in this kind of trouble during the final month of the school year. My friend, Milana, has persuaded me to join the German drama class for a one-time-show in Osijek, Croatia. Naturally, I agreed to help out the group almost immediately, not thinking even for a second that it might just ruin my grand finale in school. But that realization comes later.

Firstly, the drama club began its preparations for the show. The group was consisted of six girls, including me, and our slightly annoying but optimistic teacher. We had practices almost every day, before and after classes. Combine that with an enormous amount of tests and you will end up with a group of hysteric teenagers who will bite your head off unless you buy them muffins.

In the end we managed to prepare a 45 minute show in less than a month and now we were just waiting for the trip to begin.

Friday, June 17. I jump out of bed immediately as the alarm goes off. Luckily, no one wakes up but me and I’m delighted especially because it’s not even 5 in the morning and I have a strong feeling that everyone in the building would kill me if I disturbed them before dawn. As I leave the house I remember that I always wanted to sneak out like this before I disappear with my suitcase, not telling anyone that I’m leaving for a coupe of days (because that’s how they do it in the films, don’t they?) but suddenly a feeling of emptiness wraps around my body and I realize that even though you sometimes get annoyed by your family and their unnecessary worry it is nice to have someone walk you out of the house.

As soon as I stepped on the street I forgot all my worries and while imagining I’m some kind of diva traveler I rushed with excitement to the bus station.

The ride was quick and enjoyable, excluding the minor difficulties that we had on the border for laughing too loud while getting our passports checked. I think our teacher lost a couple of pounds while the police officer was interrogating him. After this torture we decided to act appropriate until the end of the trip. We managed to put together almost 8 hours. And we really tried. It’s not our fault that we didn’t check where the theater is and had to ask a bunch of random people where to go until a group of beer-drinking men in the park had given us the right direction, it’s not our fault that we lost half of the group on a wide and empty boulevard and it’s surely not our fault that we had to run through the town to manage it on time for the opening of the festival. Or maybe it is.

The next morning we had some workshops with several teachers that lasted for hours, therefor it is no suprise we came to lunch drained not only because we had physical exercises but because we had to talk the entire time in German. On the other hand, our teacher had a good night sleep and too much time on his hands so our afternoon was reserved for sightseeing and for running to the theater again to see the other performances. Despite having no expectations from this town and being absolutely exhausted both from the trip and the workshops, I must admit that going around the center was not such a bad idea.

First of all, Osijek is not a typical tourist town, it does not have countless museums, it does not have enormous buildings and it does not have a cute and easy historical past. What I liked most about this place was the fact that the were not afraid to show how hard was it to survive here during the 90’s leaving the bullet marks on every building, including the church. Maybe it’s not the nicest thing they have to show, but it’s the bravest. This town has some kind of energy that is at the same time mysterious and scary, quiet as a mouse and mild like a breeze. Though that does not mean it is not amazing.

Anyway, on the third day, we were preparing for the play all day long and in the end our work finaly payed off. I enjoyed acting more than ever, and I wasn’t even worried if everything was going according to the script, moreover, I couldn’t wait to improvise a little bit. And that feeling made the show perfect for me.

With that being said, I can now officially add another unusual adventure to my list to keep reminding me that maybe not every trip is perfect, but if you find yourself caught up in one second that makes you complete, remember that it was worth it.