I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

You might say “Battle of Blackwater.” Well I say, “just another walk to class!”

We’re going international with this one!

So, a year ago (even though it feels like a decade) I was studying abroad for the semester in the Pearl of the Adriatic: Dubrovnik, Croatia. For those who don’t know where Dubrovnik is, it’s “located in the crownlands on the east coast of Westeros …situated along the kingsroad at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush and overlooks Blackwater Bay”. Yes, I studied abroad in King’s Landing itself. But to many people’s disappointment, I have not watched Game of Thrones yet. I’ll get around to it at some point, I promise.

Dubrovnik is SO much more than a TV set and UNESCO World Heritage site though. I lived right outside the Old City Walls which were built in the early 1300s, and still functional and safe to walk around every day. Pebble beaches scatter the cliffside town, making my afternoon runs something you could only dream of. And the days I got out of class early, my classmates and I picked up spinach bureks and sat on the pier with the Adriatic Sea’s turquoise waters occasionally spraying us.

As my friend Maheen dubbed this post: “A wild Carlyle in her natural habitat”

Believe me, I’m headed back the minute I can.

None of these things could compare to Mr. Goodlife aka Gin Bar. Let me preface that that bar was not a bar, but just a small, square room tucked away conveniently 20 yards from my apartment. It was the place where every bartender came after their shifts wrapped, and the hours sign simply stated, “Open: Whenever, Close: Late.”

So you might be asking yourself: “How exactly does this relate to Gloria Gaynor?”

Well with Gin Bar being as small as I have described, you can imagine what happens when a program of 20 students walks in. If we were there, it was our spot. And one particular night, Sylvia (the bartender, who was a fellow student) put on a karaoke night. My friend Dani and I “somehow” ended up with the microphones and full control of the karaoke queue.

This is where our good friend Gloria comes in. I think we sang that song, among many others, at the top of our lungs. And with our backup choir of 18, we were an unstoppable choral force. (And as you know from my previous blog post, I do love a good performance) While we had plans set for the night, those were quickly abandoned for an hours long concert featuring Dubrovnik’s best (and only) international students.

So now, any time I hear that piano intro and “At first I was afraid, I was petrified,” I’m taken back to that little wooden shack, I mean bar, and the many funny, joyful memories I made in my condensed study abroad experience.