Dizdar diary: Sept. 4
After spending the long summer months back home in Croatia, UT senior Petra Dizdar returned to Austin in late August to resume classes and workouts with the Texas women’s tennis team. Dizdar recently took a few minutes to get everyone caught up on her relaxing summer before returning for her final season of collegiate tennis. Petra discusses her travels in part one of her summer diary. Be sure to check TexasSports.com on Thursday as Petra discusses the newest members of the Texas Tennis program! Good day, my dear tennis fans! Welcome back to the first diary edition of my senior year (wow still can’t believe I am that old!). I hope you’ve missed me as much as I missed writing these entries. Another summer has passed and the new school/tennis year has come. Even though I am in denial that this is my last year of eligibility at Texas, I am super excited to get started!. But before starting anything, I have to share some of my summer adventures with you. I was back home in Croatia for the entire three months of our summer break. Sounds super fun, right? Well, it was all that, and so much more. I got to spend a lot of time with my family, friends and my boyfriend, all of whom I don’t get to see at all during the school year. That alone was enough to make my summer great. I enjoyed doing so many little things, and I really took advantage of every day that I’ve spent with my closest friends and relatives. It might have been my last full summer at home for the next couple of years, depending on my graduate school/work opportunities here in the United States. So, to be more specific about my summer activities, I visited some of Croatia’s most gorgeous islands: Bol, Hvar and Vis. If any of you ever get a chance to visit, I recommend you visit those places (and my hometown, Split, of course). I was able to leave all the worries behind and relax while lying at the beautiful beaches, swimming in the clear blue Adriatic Sea and soaking up the sun. I really worked on getting rid of my “attractive” tennis lines. While in Split, to relax after training, I would go for long walks on Marjan, a small mountain in the center of my city. It is one of the most calming places in the entire world (and trust me, I’ve been places). The mountain, shaded by pine trees, overlooks the entire city on one side, while on the other the view spreads over numerous little islands. Some of the other great things I’ve enjoyed doing was roaming around the Old Diocletian Palace that was built in Roman times (the first landmark of Spalato – Split), some 1700 years ago. Also, I cruised along the coast in my uncle’s little boat, played with my three-month-old nephew who is, by the way, the first baby Longhorn ever in Croatia (he already has a Texas football jersey!). I visited my Grandma’s house back in the mountain area, further north from Split. She lives in a small village where people still take water from their wells and eat mostly what they grow themselves. My grandma also has a real animal farm with chickens, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, pigeons, cows, horses, pigs, a cat and a dog. So I never miss out on an opportunity to go spend some time with her and enjoy the life in all of its simplicity. My granny also has the best prsut (prosciutto) in the world! Speaking of food, I indulged in my Mom’s cuisine because it is simply amazing! It has that Mediterranean twist to it with tons of seafood, grilled fish and my favorite special vegetables. My teammates always give me a hard time about this because I always ask for some steamed vegetables in every restaurant we visit. That’s all for now…I’ll check again on Thursday to write more about our 2006-07 team, including our new freshmen! Hook ’Em!
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