On December 6, 2022, Mr. Paul Bradbury held a seminar at our faculty called How travelling the world and experiencing cultures helps build a media career in Croatia. Mr. Bradbury comes from the UK and has lived in Croatia for 30 years. Through various media (books, podcasts, blogs, etc.) he comments on the way of life in Croatia and our culture in an interesting way. It was great to hear how someone from abroad looks at our country, it was about insights that can open the eyes of young people to the good things that life in Croatia offers, as well as the business opportunities that arise from it. He also presented his book called Croatia, a Survival Kit for Foreigners. Afterwards, he asked how many students of our faculty wanted to emigrate after the graduation and how many planned to stay. He caught up with three students after the seminar to find out their thoughts. The Englishing team also had a nice conversation with Mr. Bradbury, which you can read here:
1)How did your family and friends react to your move to Croatia?
- They were very angry with me. Back in 2002, when I was working in Somalia and Rwanda, they thought I was moving to a war zone, so buying a house on Hvar for them was “me liking to be in a war zone“, but then when I photographed it, they were surprised how beautiful it was. That summer I went to live in Japan, I was working in Hiroshima as a teacher and I gave my house to my friends for free, it was a full week and then three of them bought houses on the island (Hvar) and said: ”This place is amazing, Paul!” (laugh)
2)You said that you had come to Croatia because of the 30-second commercial. If you hadn’t seen that advertisement, would you have ever considered the possibility of coming here?
- No, no. It was completely by a chance. Most of my life is like it.
A lucky coincidence!
- Yes!
3)What is the most beautiful place you have ever been to in Croatia?
- Hmm…Probably the view from our terrace in Jelsa (Hvar). We lived on the top (of the building) and the view from was just amazing. I think Hvar is obviously very beautiful but I…I really, really, really like Korčula as well – that is a really beautiful island. And I love just getting out there in the hills…You got really different kinds of places here and it only depends on what you are into.
4)What is the biggest flaw in our country?
- You are all the champions of complaining. Honestly, I have never complained the way the Cro can. You do it in the café and you never turn all that complaining into a change – you are just happy to get it off your chest…So yeah, when you have lunch, you also have a good coffee and complain, then you feel great. I find it a little bit strange.
5)What are the most underrated things in Croatia?
- I think that the most underrated thing in Croatia is Slavonia. I think it is a fantastic region. Also, I think the East of your country is really underrated, like Vučedol (war museum). I was blown away by Dalj and the Milutin Milanković museum there, which gets only 3,000 visitors in a year, considering that he is one of the world’s most famous scientists…It is incredible inside that museum. I think Baranja is sensational. I also noticed that Croatians don’t appreciate the lifestyle they have, they think that everything is better in the West, but you really need to stop and look at what kinds of treasures you have here and start to recognise and appreciate them.
6)You’ve visited Slavonia, you lived in Dalmatia…What are the differences and which of them do you like more?
- I live in Zagreb now, I lived 13 years in Jelsa, 5 years in Varaždin and now one and a half years in Zagreb…I think Dalmatia is more beautiful but in my opinion, people in Slavonia are 10 times better; the hospitality here is so much better and the work. I think you guys know how to have fun and if you gave me the chance of going out with a bunch of Slavonians or Dalmatians, I would take Slavonians every single time. (laugh)
7)What is your next big project?
- We will start a new portal dedicated to returnees and then I am looking to become a 53-year-old Youtuber, a little bit sad, isn’t it? (laugh) So I’m starting a channel called ‘Paul Bradbury – Croatian and Balkan expert’. I am going to mix videos of my experiences here, my take on destinations, opinions on certain things…And then start to do some sponsored articles with entrepreneurs to promote their businesses. Also something with Croatian and Balkans in terms of geography and mindset. We are going to start with people that Croatian media love. There could be actually a good video of the 25 most common mistakes Croats do when speaking English. (laugh) That can be a really good way to check on our English, without people judging us, so people could watch a video and say: ”Oh, I didn’t know that.”
8)Speaking of languages, my first question is what was the first word you learned in Croatian?
- Punomoć.
9)And how difficult was it to learn our language?
- I still do not speak it fluently; it wasn’t hard to learn because I spoke Russian before so I’m already over that pain for another language. My biggest problem here was the dialect because I learned all of my Croatian in a café, I thought it was Croatian, and then when I got to Zagreb I realized it wasn’t. (laugh)
10)Is there one thing you would change about your travels?
- You know… what I would like to do, if I travelled again and I will, – I would like to roll back time and take technology because on my last big trip in 2001 and the one in 1998 there was no Google, there was no Tripadvisor, no booking.com, social media, email… It was just like you have a guidebook and then you go and travel with that and the part of the experience was funny in a good place and a bad place so the stories were about good places and bad places, but now you check all the ratings that are available and open… Everything is summarized so people don’t actually have the experience anymore. They take photographs, put them on social media, so they don’t actually remember the experience, ‘photograph’ the experience. I didn’t take my camera when I went to South Africa, but I can remember every day there, but in the past 10 years I can’t remember anything because it’s all on Facebook.
11)What is your favourite Croatian dish?
- Well…If I needed to eat one dish for the rest of my life, that would be sarma. (Englishing team cheering)
The Englishing team wishes you all the best in your future. We hope you are going to stay in Croatia as long as possible. Thank you.
- You are welcome.
Check out our talk with Mr. Paul Bradbury:
Estera Kovač
Dora Markulić