An experience of a different kind
Another week, full of experiences of a different kind. 
Watching the roses outside my window bloom reminds me of winter in Lahore, especially when I used to go running on the tracks at LUMS. Right outside the sports center, is a garden with different flowers. One night last December I was walking by in the pitch dark, and I was overwhelmed by the smell of roses. Couldn’t see a thing but just the smell was intoxicating. The next morning I went to check out the flowers, and they were the most beautiful roses I had ever seen. It was one of those moments when you just praise Allah unconditionally.
So, I am seeing these roses bloom, a little bit everyday. And its amazing. Haven’t smelt them yet though. Being a complete nature lover, I definitely go crazy in the mountains and among nature. On Monday last we went to Plitvicka Lakes (pronounced Plitvich) National Park. This is a collection of lakes surrounded by 3 mountains, divided into 12 upper lakes and 4 lower lakes. And the most amazing water falls … I had the most awesome time trekking there … we spent the whole day and was just wow. Once again I marvel at the beauty Allah has blessed us with. My face book status of the day “I spent Rs 800 to see the Taj Mahal, and I spent Rs 800 to trek the Plitvicka lakes — surely there is no comparison of the beauty Allah has blessed us with on earth.” I was just awestruck by the colors, the landscape, the beauty ….. Check out the pictures on this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=306991&id=508317781&l=7c335c7a74 …. Completely missed owais and aamir my trek buddies … specially when we went up one mountain, came down it …. went to the big waterfall, figured the only way to go was climb up the mountain, climbed up, trekked to the ferry and then Julien wanted a post card so walked back to the station where he thought the postcards were, ofcourse had to climb a mountain again for that and realised it wasn’t the place, that same place was another half hour trek across another mountain …. 
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It was a good week, got a lot done, in terms of official work like bank accounts and learning agreements. And Hira tries cooking 
…. so the first day I tried to make rice and vegetables at home … it tasted horrible, absolutely horrible … … but for want of food, I ate. The second day I decided to fix it, so made a little desi stir fry with chinese chili sauce and pickled green chilies … not super but good hogaya tha … …
Had a different kind of b’day this year too …. .. spent the day with some great people, missed some special people … my room mates Noora and Aurore threw me a surprise party with all the other exchange students … funny thing is there are no bakeries in Zagreb, cause people kind of bake at home … so none of the coffee bars would serve them a whole cake to cut, but they agreed to cut slices and serve us … i gotta collection of Zagreb souvenirs as a b’day gift … had a multicultural b’day celebration, and got sung happy b’day in French, Spanish, Russian, Hravatski and Finish in addition to English …. attached pictures with the mail … … but the best bit was the surprise party humair, rabayl, sahib and hussain threw for me … ..
Completely enjoying the lets meet for drinks culture … and love the horrified looks on people’s faces when i get my Nestea Peach or Nesquick Chocolate … completely made friends with the servers at Dizzles … an awesome ice cream place and Surf ‘n Fries …. they have the most awesome Fries … ..
One more thing I love about here is the awesome fresh bread that is always available …. so getting hooked to Krossan and coffee … … although its raining outside so modifying the plans for the day now, and din’t get to go get the Marmalade Krossan’s … had banana’s and chaat masala instead for breakfast …
but yeah, its cold, its healthy … and discovering the little magic of data and technology that have just read about, now experiencing it … so anyway .. gonna go do some research now … catch ya all later …
