School
My Childhood
Unlike children today, my neighbors and I spent most of our time in nature: in nearby meadows, in forests, and in the yards of our family homes. Every day was filled with creative games! During spring and summer, we built treehouses in the woods and “battled” each other with our favorite handmade “weapons,” such as bows and arrows, various sticks, and slingshots. Of course, we also played soccer and basketball, and our favorite yard for games was at my neighbors’ house, where they had a basketball hoop attached to the roof of their barn. Their dog eagerly joined in on the fun, sometimes even giving a playful nip to anyone who got too close.
All of this happened before the invention of computers and gaming consoles, which eventually captivated us. Fortunately, my parents never bought me one, something I am grateful for today. Instead of “battling” in a virtual world, we did so in our real surroundings: yards, meadows, and forests. In winter, we skied down nearby hills and slopes, built tracks and jumps, made snowmen, and had snowball fights. There were also scuffles, tears, falls, scraped knees, and bloody noses, but I can say that all of it was part of a very happy childhood.
Ivan Goran Kovačić Elementary
I attended Ivan Goran Kovačić Elementary School in Duga Resa while simultaneously traveling to nearby Karlovac for guitar lessons at the Karlovac Music School. In the evenings, I trained in tae-kwon-do, which I later replaced with basketball.
Gymnasium in Karlovac
For high school, I chose the Gymnasium in Karlovac, studying in the same classrooms once used long ago by the famous Nikola Tesla. Any resemblance to him ends there! To this day, I still can’t understand why that school has not yet been named after him.
The high school period marks the transition to a larger environment, as well as the next phase of life – a time of first outings, first crushes, and first loves. I have always loved sports, and they have been a constant presence in my life. Taekwondo during elementary school and basketball during high school were my sports of choice. Two completely different sports, each interesting in its own way, with entirely different coaches and training atmospheres.
Faculty of Economics & Business
Soon, it was time for university. Even today, I vividly remember the summer of 1998, after finishing high school, as the entrance exam approached. The most important thing at the time was who we were playing against in the next match and whether Croatia would defeat its next opponent at the FIFA World Cup in France! In the end, Croatia won bronze! The night before the entrance exam, Brazil was playing France in the final, while I was writing cheat sheets on logarithm tables, worried about the exam I hadn’t adequately prepared for. But none of that seemed to matter anymore, because Croatia won bronze!!!
I chose my university, the Faculty of Economics & Business using the process of elimination because I had no idea what I wanted to become or what I wanted to do. The most common topic of conversation among my peers was which university had the most attractive girls.
At the same time, I enrolled in both the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Political Science, but after consulting with my family, I decided to continue with economics, even though political science subjects interested me much more. What followed were six and a half years of student life, filled with dull and dry lectures that I often skipped, especially the early morning ones, and forcing myself to study law was pure torture.
Luckily, I lived in a very popular neighborhood, home to most of the city’s best nightclubs, just a few minutes’ walk from my apartment. A student’s dream! Who would even think about studying in such an environment? Soon, I developed an exceptional talent for procrastination and avoiding academic responsibilities, which, of course, made everything more difficult and prolonged the agony.
After more than six years, I was nearing the end of this exhausting and drawn-out journey. I had only three exams left, but it felt like I would never pass them. My mom gave me a crucial piece of advice: “Don’t think about all three, just take it one at a time!” A great piece of advice and, unfortunately, one of the few I actually listened to.
Every problem can be broken down into smaller, more manageable parts. Unfortunately, at the time, I wasn’t reading self-help books or similar literature, which I only started devouring in my thirties.