Written by: Stephen Christopher George
16 January 2008

In August of 2007, madriaticBLU was fortunate enough to be able to guide a group of 25 MBA students from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University on a tour of Croatia. The tour was an opportunity for new students to get to know each other while visiting places like Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes National Park and the Island Pag. madriaticBLU designed their tour to include as many opportunities for the students to become better acquainted with each other as possible, from nights out at the most popular clubs in Croatia to volunteering at a local orphanage, and the madriaticBLU staff had as much fun as the students.

As part of their team building activities, the group split up into teams that wrote humorous summaries of each day's activities and presented them at the beginning of each day. Below is an excerpt from the scrapbook.

Top 10 Signs That You’re on KWEST Croatia

10. Your hunch that Europeans think all Americans overeat is confirmed when the tour guides order a full size pizza for each person.

9. Your tour guide advises you it will be easier to skip sleeping and just party until the bus leaves at 6:45AM.

8. The biggest logistical dilemma of the day is which Croatian beer to buy (heaven forbid we get the “girly” one) and how much.

7. Your tour guides speak 3 languages for every language that you speak.

6. You learn that the number 24 in the Croatian language is derived from the English word “Chutney”

5. Half of the women on the trip are reluctant to enter the Cathedral of St. Stephen because they are inappropriately dressed.

4. Your group threatens to crash your Zagreb tour guide’s wedding, and she believes you.

3. You engage in highly scientific discussions on what makes the Plitvice Lakes the color of 2,000 Flushes.

2. When the tour guide asks if you can guess what made the holes in the countryside homes, you say, “the tanks across the street?”

1. Trip to Croatia: $1750 dollars, 4 beers at a bar in Zagreb: 60 Kuna, Experiencing the sounds and smells of 12 dudes sleeping in the same room: priceless.