Beach Lovers Be Jealous!

Back after a few days without internet so it’s time to catch everyone up.  We left Mostar in the relatively early morning to start our drive to Dubrovnik.  I’ve noticed that as we moved from Bosnia to Croatia you still see these great mountain ranges but they get rockier and rockier as you move west.  Also, they’re less covered and when they are, it’s not with tall trees but with low bushes and grass – it seems like there are less places for things to put down roots.  There were three important things to note about the drive over.  First, the rain had stopped by the time we arrived at our final destination but not necessarily the intermediate ones.  Second, there is a tiny strip of Bosnian coast that separates Croatia.  Third, most of at least the second half of this drive had us winding along the coast.  On our way from Mostar to Dubrovnik we made two of our three scheduled stops.  First, we stopped at a Catholic church.  This church was built on the site of an miracle unrecognized by the Church.  Apparently, it has become a sort of pilgrimage site for Catholics all over Europe.  Unfortunately it was raining while we were there and very crowded so after taking a look at the church we took shelter in a nearby café for some hot chocolate and snack/lunch before piling back in the bus to the go see our next site.  It turned out that this one was an Orthodox monastery.  Although it was really pretty on the inside (and out) I was disappointed that the Muslim site we were also supposed to see with this one was closed for reconstruction.  After this it was just a hop, skip, and a thirty minute drive to the border.  This went smoothly, especially since we’re all pretty practiced with it at this point; the only news here is that I have a Croatian stamp in my passport too now.  Dubrovnik is in the part of Croatia that is separated from the rest by a strip of Bosnian coast.  This meant that there were two more technical crossings we had to go through, one to get back into Bosnia and another to get back into Croatia.  These turned out to be easy though, more like checkpoints than official crossings.  I suppose this makes sense since tons of cars must pass through all the time.  The drive up to and Dubrovnik itself are both beautiful – I can see why the tourists come here.  The water is more blue than the tropical blue green we’ve see and possibly even more breathtaking.  The view of the Adriatic Sea stretched out before us was amazing.  I’ll add some pictures so those beach lovers back home can be extra jealous.  Oh and did I mention that our hotel had a private beach?  So needless to say, with no meetings on our schedule we spent almost the entire time down at the water.  It was amazingly clear and warm, at least as warm as any pool back home and way warmer than the frigid New England Atlantic, and salty.  After extremely scientific testing – aka just holding our breath, not treading, and seeing what happened – we determined that you don’t float but you don’t sink either.  You do however bob along with your head half in and half out of the water in a way not conducive to breathing.  We were only in Dubrovnik for the weekend but I still got to spend plenty of time floating on the waves and enjoying the sun.  On one of our nights there it was a friend’s birthday so we went out to a nice dinner by the water and celebrated her and the other we went into Old Town and explored.  Almost every place here has an ‘old town’ and they’re all pretty.  This one was part of an old fort on the sea that used to protect the city.  This morning we once again piled in the bus this time bound for Split, Croatia.  The drive took a while so we arrived in late afternoon.  Some people headed into town or to the local beach (we’ve still been following the coast) but I’ve been using the time to catch up on some writing and attempting to upload pictures.  Hopefully this posts!

Mostar Wanderings

Today was a bit of a lazy day and that was just fine with me.  Unfortunately, sleep was apparently not in the cards for me as I woke up way earlier than necessary.  Unable to sleep I decided to just start my day.  Grabbing my laptop and a chair I headed out onto our little balcony in an attempt to take advantage of the internet while everyone else slept – it has a tendency to work better when as few people are on it as possible – and upload some pictures for you guys.  Sadly the internet was not cooperating but on the upside, trying took long enough that it was time for breakfast!  Sleepy dialogues filed in pretty steadily throughout breakfast.  It’s only an hour here and we’re college kids, you won’t see us missing out on free food.  Breakfast definitely hit the spot; they had tons of fresh fruit (yay watermelon!) and black tea which was probably my favorite part.  Tea here is kind of hard to come by, usually it’s pink or green or fruity and just generally icky in my opinion so I was pumped for plain old black tea.  After breakfast we discovered that the hot water heater in our room doesn’t work so after frigid showers we headed out to explore Mostar some more.  This was our main aim for the day and I’d say it was well accomplished and we explored the whole area around the bridge and old town, getting our fair share of pictures.  I was feeling under the weather so I headed back a bit early to rest before our afternoon meeting.  In the afternoon we spoke with members of the Croatian Democratic Union, one of the Croat parties in Bosnia –Herzegovina.  They had an…. interesting perspective.  Their main goals seemed to be increased representation and a reform of election laws.  Even though I mentioned in my last post that I usually enjoy hearing from politicians, this pair proved too much even for me.  After the meeting, my little group wandered off in search of food and found chicken nuggats (no typo there) which actually are 3 little nuggets on a big bun with the usual sauces and veggies for here.  Then of course, gelato and wandering on our way home was necessary.  Now it’s chill time and off to Dubrovnik in the morning.  Rumor has it, we get to beach while we’re there which I am way excited for.

First Night in Mostar

All caught up! Now all there is to do is finish my paper, so obviously I’m blogging more. Our arrival in Mostar was largely uneventful.  There was the usual shuffling to get everyone into a room and then everyone runs around looking at what everyone else’s looks like.  Ours is little but on the first floor and with a balcony so no lugging suitcases up and down lots of stairs for me!  After dropping off our stuff we headed down to old town to check it out; old town’s about 10 minutes walking from our hotel/inn.  We have 2 nights here and a mostly free day tomorrow so the majority of the exploring will be done then.  Tonight we got our first glimpses of the famous bridge and began to check out the surrounding areas.  We found the right place for dinner while we were over there – cheap and delicious.  Then, with a post dinner gelato in hand, we headed back to the river to chill before heading home.  And now everything is really caught up and it is unlikely this internet can handle pictures, especially with how many people are crammed in my room working now so back to paper editing.  

Sarajevo Wanderings

The trip keeps flying by and I’ve gotten behind on my blogging once again so welcome to another edition of bus blogging.  I’m writing on our drive from Sarajevo to Mostar.  I’m sad to be leaving Sarajevo already – I definitely would’ve liked to spend more than five days here.  I suppose I should start about two days ago, July 25^th.  Bright and early we piled onto the bus yet again but this time for a much shorter ride.  Less than a half an hour later (much different than most of our bus rides!) we found ourselves at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  It was a chilly and drizzly day so we hustled inside and through security.  There we had our first of what would be several interesting talks over the next couple days.  We spoke with a court official who gave us a great introduction to the work of the court and how it fits in to the broader narrative of the region.  This court deals primarily with War and Organized Crimes and is one of the few that continues to use international judges.  Their work is largely an extension of the work done by the ITCY – which is part of the reason international judges have been mandated.  Later, we also got to speak with two of the international judges, both Americans with NU ties, Judge Weiner and Judge Whalen.  I really liked hearing their viewpoints and found the presentations more free flowing than some we’d heard.  I’m not sure if this is because they were not politicians or representing a specific ethnicity or cause – they don’t really have a horse in this race one could say, or if it was the simple fact that they were native English speakers and Americans (Judge Weiner even had a Boston accent which reminded me and a couple others strongly of home).  The judges helped us grasp some of the intricacies of Bosnia’s hybrid justice system.  In Bosnia, in this particular court since Bosnia has 4 criminal codes, there is a combination of the common law/adversarial system and the civil or inquisitor system that most of Europe uses.  Bosnia has not always had a common law type system and this in itself is presenting several challenges.  In addition to general opposition from some in the legal system to the change, no one knows how to work in this system yet.  Even the basic things we take for granted in the US, like knowing rules of evidence, or writing out an opinion explaining why a ruling was made a certain way and what the findings were, were unheard of in the old system.  Unfortunately we ran out of time to talk to the judges but with a promise to pick up the conversation later, over dinner we headed back out into what had become a very pleasant day and back to towards the hotel for our next meeting.  First though, some of us stopped back at a donor kebab place we’d found a few days before.  Later in the afternoon, we spoke to a Bosniak who shared his story of fighting in the siege for Sarajevo.  It was interesting to hear how the Bosnian army slowly came together after starting out as mostly small groups that were largely disorganized.  After the talk we took advantage of the fact that it was not raining and headed out into old town, which is just a quick walk down a steep cobblestone hill.  There we spent the next couple hours wandering the area and picking up some souvenirs.  Generally the area we were in had a highly visible and large Turkish influence.  It was the first such area I’d been in and I’ve definitely found myself liking it.  During our wanderings a few of us had a great conversation with a man who ran one of the little stalls.  (Old town is full of little stalls and shops; emphasis on the little, usually only 3 people can crowd in at a time)  We’d asked him about the prevalence of Arabic spoken in Sarajevo which led to one of the most interesting conversations of the week, if not the trip.  The man went on to explain that it is spoken but isn’t entirely prevalent.  He had actually gotten into a heated discussion the other day with another local over this.  He greets people at his stall with a friendly Hello.  However, the other offended that he did not use the traditional Muslim greeting & response. Our shopkeeper is a Muslim, but was quick to explain  that he was not super religious and that religious/ethnic identities had been heightened by the war.  The shopkeeper explained that even though he is a Muslim, he recognizes that not everyone is.  He sees no need to greet everyone with a religiously based greeting.  Instead, he prefers hello, something distinctly Bosnian. A few hours later we were off to dinner.  Judge Weiner showed us a great old brewery that still works as a brewery and restaurant today.  During the war it was heavily bombed because water supplies were kept underneath it.  That night however, it was just a source of excellent food and good conversation.  Everyone’s gotten much better at ordering here, reading the menus in both Serbian and English, and generally knowing what good.  Personally I’m a fan of the парадајз салата, tomato salad which here is slices or wedges of tomato with some onions, arranged on a plate, and shopska which is tomatoes, cucumbers with local cheese.  The foods’ definitely grown on me.  Regardless, after dinner, the Judge took ous on a little walk through Sarajevo, showing us the Latin bridge and we stood on the corner where Franz Ferdinand was shot (yes I minorly geeked out).  We wound our way through the pedestrian area and it was great to get a personal tour from someone who lives in the city.  As it started to rain, we wound our way back to the hotel – all together a successful day. 

Before I talk about yesterday I just want to pause for a second.  I’m looking out the window while I type because it’ll keep me from possibly getting carsick but more importantly because it’s beautiful out.  Sarajevo is especially so.  The city is nestled between several mountains.  These mountains today provide a beautiful landscape but not so long ago, the city was shelled from positions in those hills.  We’re outside the city now but the huge mountains covered in uninterrupted green continue to impress me.  The city itself was beautiful.  SA reasonably large amount of the old architecture had survived so the influences of the Austrian Hungarian architecture can be seen. There are beautiful mosques all over the place and the air is dotted with the call to prayer several times a day.  It’s beautiful in an old way that I haven’t seen much of here.  It’s odd to think that at this point the trip is nearly over and that soon, I won’t see places like this every day and I’ll be left with my memories and pictures that don’t nearly begin to capture the beauty here.  I’m not sure how I’ll describe it to people back home but I’ll miss it for sure.

Alright, back to the schedule.  Yesterday we visited Parliament!!!! Some on the trip are less of a fan of these type of trips because we talk to politicians and politicians are somewhat similar in every country, including our own, in that they don’t really like to give straight answer to anything.  That is so not the case for me and I loved this trip.  Be started out with an intro into the institution.  Going over the basics of what each house was (House of Representatives and House of the Peoples), how many members they had (42 &15), how they functioned, etc was helpful because it highlights some of the issues the government has and gives a better understating of how the country functions in general.  An example of problems the government runs into can be seen with the Presidency of Each chamber and the House of the Peoples as a whole.  There are constitutionally mandated quotas for representations amongst the ethnic groups, Croats, Bosniaks, and Serbs, to theoretically force a more multiethnic government and society.  However, mandating this in the constitution presents a problem.  There is no provisions for ‘others’ which is a huge issue in my personal opinion.  Therefore, in addition to dealing with the issue that most political parties are based along ethnic lines, you also have to deal with the issue that if one identifies as a Bosnian they cannot become president of either Chamber.  This is a problem that is recognized by the Parliament but they have not yet been able to change the constitution to rectify it.  To me, this a huge problem because I view the shaping of a Bosnian identity, rather than one base along ethnic lines, as a key part in Bsonia becoming a well functioning, multi-ethnic society and country.  As part of our visit, we got to see each of the chambers used by Parliament.  I’m not sure I can pick a best part of this (continued to geek out for most of the visit) but definitely up there was that we got to go into one of the chambers while it was IN USE!   It wasn’t being used by the House of Representatives that it was intended for but instead by the ministry of justice for a meeting.  Even though I couldn’t understand a word of what was said, it was still exciting to see how the government functioned.  You can pick up a lot by just watching interactions of the people in the room.  After a few minutes we went to the smaller room used by the House of Peoples.  As it turns out this is where we would speak with several of the MPs.  We actually sat in their sets for the talk.  Unfortunately we’d left our bags with notebooks in another room prior to the tour and hadn’t had a chance to retrieve them prior to the talk.  The MPs spoke about the need to change the constitution and for ethnic groups to work together.  However they acknowledged that their optimistic view is not shared by all.  There are some in the government who do not believe a united Bosnia can exist.  I enjoy talking with politicians even though I know that not all of what they say is necessarily on the mark.  I think that once you acknowledge that some to a lot of what they say will be political rhetoric and you’re going to have to read between the lines, there’s a lot being said.  We had the afternoon off after paper writing after yet another kebab and trecking up the hill.  That’s how the afternoon and early evening was spent, typing away with little but the click clack of keyboards disturbing the quiet.  Oh wait, and the band practicing.  We had a youth band staying out our hotel and they like to practice in the common areas at full volume. After a brief break to inhale some Indian delivery on our lovely balcony – apparel writing is tiring and at this point we go for whatever food is good, easy and reasonably cheap, local food isn’t a necessity every night – we went back to writing.  Finally, we were done enough for the night and headed out into the cooling night to celebrate our last night in Sarajevo. 

Today we had off and got to sleep in a bit.  Checkout was at 10:30 and there was packing to be done but it was nice to have a lazy morning.  With the rooms small size it seemed like our stuff was everywhere; even fully packed the room seemed crowded and full of stuff.  Then, leaving the Hotel Hayat for the last time (despite is small size, lack of elevators, and funky design, Hotel Hayat had been good to us) we threw our stuff on the bus and headed off for one last Sarajevo wandering.  After hitting up the museum where WW1 started and realizing it was really just one room on tangentially related things besides the gun it was back to old town.  I spent the time wandering the pathways over and over in every which way; I kept going farther and father, getting myself half lost on purpose.  This is my favorite way to get to know a city or any place at all, just wandering its streets and mixing with the people.  After one last relaxing desert in a bakery, we piled back on the bus and here we are!  I’m going to leave off for now and go back to strictly enjoying the scenery, I’ll post this with possibly some pictures when we get to Mostar for the night.  

Procrastination at its finest, version 2.0

Paper procrastination has once again led to blogging, but since both activities are technically required for the Dialogue I feel significantly less bad.  After Srebrenica I, amongst others, was wiped and feeling a bit down.  The solution to this?  Indian food, delivered to the hotel, and turning into bed super early.  I have no idea where we found this Indian food and only slightly more of an idea what I was eating but regardless it was deliciously different than our usual fair here.  We also ate it on the 2^nd floor porch type thing of our hotel, enjoying the chilly night air and the sound of the rain.  

Note: Sorry for the late post, I actually wrote this a couple of days ago and forgot to put it up

Srebrenica

Today we piled back on the bus for a trip to Srebrenica.  Originally, this was a stop we would’ve made on our way to Sarajevo but our Montenegro detour means we’d missed it.  So despite no one really wanted to get back on the bus, we all felt it was an important enough site to visit that it warranted the trip.  So four hours there and four hours back we went.  I’m going to leave my reaction out of this post, suffice to say I’m glad I saw it and it’s been an emotional day.  For those who don’t know, wiki it, but the basics are that it was a UN designated Safe Area during the Bosnian War.  During the war, the Serbs seized the city and systematically killed its male inhabitants although women and children were not exempt.  

Rainy days in Sarajevo

Yesterday was a rainy day in Sarajevo.  In the morning we set off to one of the oldest Serbian Orthodox churches in Sarajevo.  The church itself was beautiful in its simplicity.  Many of the churches we’ve seen have been ornately decorate, overwhelming large, or both.  With its simple iconography and ceiling a basic blue with stars, it was the buildings understatedness that struck me the most.  The most incredible part of our stop was still to come though. While visiting the church, we had the opportunity to hear a Sarajevo Serb tell his story.  The next paragraph is Dragan’s story reconstructed by my notes as best I can – it deserves more than a summary.

Before the war all three ethnic nations (Muslim, Catholic/Croat, Serb/Orthodox) lived together with little to no problems.  They were actually living together too, not just side by side, with intertwined lives.  Dragan’s best friend all through childhood and into adulthood was a Muslim; no one cared about the ethnic backgrounds of their neighbors.  Even though he and his friend were of separate religions, each was always invited to the feast days of the other’s family.  However, this all began to change in 1990 when the invites from Dragan’s friend stopped coming.  Apparently, the friend’s father had come out and said that all Serbs were the enemy of Muslims.  Yet there was an inherent contradiction in this, Dragan had not been his enemy for the last 20 years.  The war begins in April of 1992.  In May of 1992, the lines fall so that both Dragan and his friend live on the Serb side of the line.  Even though they are technically at war, Dragan refuses to hate or abandon his friend.  Instead, he takes out all his money and gets his friend to Muslim territory.  The two would not meet again until 1997.  During the war, both families lost members to the war yet still there is no hate between the two.  Following the 1997 Dayton peace accord, many of the Sarajevo municipalities with large Serb populations were given to the Muslims so Serbs left.  Dragan’s family was one of these and this is when he next sees his friend.  However, his friend was less than pleased to see him, he called Dragan the aggressor and said he should not even be allowed to sit on his territory.  Given this reception, Dragan’s family leaves immediately and their apartment is taken over by a Muslim family.  Three days later Dragan returned for more of his family’s belongings that had been left behind during their hasty exit.  He was attacked by several men and beaten so badly he was in the hospital for a week; his friend was among those beating him.  Even after all this Dragan refuses to hate his friend and attributes the change in attitude to his friend’s father and the media.  Several years later a law is passed that allows Serbs to reclaim their property and Dragan returns to Sarajevo.  During the reclamation process, he runs into his friend’s mother who immediately hugged him.  Puzzled, Dragan inquired about his friend.  Apparently he and his father had been heavily influenced by the Wahhabi Islam movement and had radicalized.  His friend ended up going to Afghanistan and dying there.  The first call his father made was to Dragan because his son had mentioned that he was the best friend he’d ever had; Dragan was able to attend the funeral and not be bothered due to the father’s interference.  His father passed away not long after but Dragan remains extremely close to his friend’s mother to this day.  He had also helped several other families escape during the war but most deny he ever helped them.  It was interesting to note that although schools are not separated, his son is the only Serb in his school.  Also, although intermarriages were commonplace before the war, they are extremely rare today and those couples typically have a hard time living there.  It was amazing to note how despite all that had happened, Dragan was still incredibly hopeful and positive.  It gives me hope that the issues that plague this region may actually be solved, that there is a way it can work even if we haven’t found it yet.

After we left the church, we exchanged some currency, giving some of us 4 in our wallets, and then it began to rain.  Scattering for shelter and food, some of us found a place that had both.  A leisurely lunch later, we stopped at a bookstore for new reading material and postcards.  Then it was time for what these sorts of rainy days are made for, curling up writing and reading.  Now I only need to find some stamps…. During a break in the rain we went for food, finding a donor kabob place that was amazing, especially when you add in delicious bakery for desert. On the way back to our hotel (Hotel Hayat and no that is not a typo), the sky opened up from just a steady rain to a downpour.  We ran the rest of the way up the hill, getting more an d more soaked but laughing all the while – it was the kind of night that was just what the doctor ordered for our little gang.  In a completely unrelated note, it’s cooler up here in the mountains, somewhere between 70 and 80 these days, I love being able to wear jeans and not be hot all the time.

The story of 4 countries in 24 hours and an amazing adventure, pt 2

Alright back after some R&R, rest and more rest that was not on a bus, so here we go again with another poorly written entry.  There’s just too much to talk about to worry about grammar!

First things I got wrong or forgot to mention in my extremely tired state last night:

- The little town in Montenegro we stayed in was called Rozaje and the hotel was 5 stars not 4.  Regardless, it was a warm comfy bed, a wonderful bathrobe, and delicious breakfast the next day

- Driving up to the Serb/Kosovo border (quotes around it depending on if you recognize the border or not, the Serb guard definitely didn’t) there was this amazingly beautiful man-made lake that went on forever.

- On the way into Prishtina we saw the Clinton statue, that was pretty cool.

- You should really not let IAF majors spend that much time together on a bus, we go a bit loopy in an incredibly fun kind of way

- Did you know “you can’t get there (Serbia) from here (Serbian soil at Kosovo/Serbian border)?” when you’re standing on the border of Kosovo and Serbia, technically on the Serbian side?  Apparently I missed something in physics class

- We had 3 options at that crossing: 1) whine at the US embassy to get them to force us through which would’ve likely taken a few days 2) try for the cooperative committee 3) Montenegro

- The Yugoslav team came in 3^rd or 4^th in that first world cup.  A third place game may or may not have been played and records are shaky.  FIFA recognizes it as 4^th.

Alright back to the epic

Yesterday morning we took a few minutes after breakfast to explore the town quickly before getting on the road again.  We’d been given a later call time of 10am (thank you!) so everyone could catch up on some rest that was not in a bus, especially since it was about 10:30, 11pm if memory serves me right, by the time we arrived.  It is quite a little town but quaint.  Today the scenery has been just as beautiful, although it’ was different in Montenegro.  In Montenegro, it’s all mountains that are extraordinarily sheer.  The trees seem to hang on for dear life to prevent sliding down into the gorges below.  Also, they’re mostly untouched.  Every now and then you’ll see where some farmer has decided to fight the odds and carved a home out of the mountainside but generally, it is untouched by man except for the road.  One can understand why people, especially the Turks had trouble conquering here – it’s just flat out hard to maneuver.  We were a much more subdued group at the border crossing between Montenegro and Serbia.  Usually the call to prepare our passports gets everyone out of their drowsy dozing, book reading, movie watching, and general window gazing and we all jovially hang out for a bit before going back to our little worlds aka naps.  This time however, everyone was quiet on their own volition, everyone was a bit tense to see if we’d get through.  After passing out of Montenegro with ease, it was time for the Serbian side. This too went relatively smoothly, and our passports came back with a big stamp over our Kosovo one.  The only hang-up was that they’d missed some of the fainter ones so we had to take those passports back to be annulled.  Thus began our driving day, stopping only for snack and bathroom breaks for the rest of the day.  The only point of excitement was when our bus began to make funny noises, and memories of being stuck on the side of a Serbian highway flooded back for all.  After a quick stop it turned out the bus was fine, but we did have to stop for gas (only time I’ve seen us stop for gas the whole time – our bus is apparently MAGIC and runs on adventure!). 

For dinner we stopped in Mokra Gora.  For those of you who knew my itinerary before I left this should sound vaguely familiar.  It’s where we were originally supposed to sleep last night; we were just a day late.  We dined at Drvengrad, a theoretically and mostly wooden city built by director Emir Kusturica for his film Life is a Miracle.  It was a cute little townish thing but definitely a tourist trap.  Regardless, it was delicious and home style, most things came in a personalize crock pot type thing.  After the wood town we headed for Bosnia.  This crossing was blissfully uneventful, so much so that there’s nothing to mention.  On the way to our hotel we stopped to see the bridge over the Drina in Visegrad.  I’m currently reading The Bridge over the Drina about a version of this bridge (I haven’t finished yet, savoring it since its my only ‘for fun’ book on the trip, but rumor has it the bridge doesn’t make it).  It was dark but still really cool to see what I’d been reading about.  I somehow pictured the Drina being bigger and the mountains being taller, more like those in Montenegro.  Even though it seemed less epic in real life than in my imagination, it was still interesting to see the town where my book is taking place.  We all knew it wasn’t far at this point and we we’re anxiously waiting to get off the bus.  After taking bets on when we’d actually arrive, since we’ve all learned to add several hours to whatever Dragan estimate we get, we could practically feel how close we were.  Then, Prof. Sullivan started laughing as we stopped for our last gas/snack/what now break – and not in a good haha funny way, in a this-is-so-unbelievable-all-we-can-do-is-laugh sort of way.  There is a rockslide.  We were about 20 km away from our hotel in Sarajevo (so a 20-30 minute ride likely) and could not get there because the road is now closed.  Instead, we detour yet again.  This time it’s much less extensive and we still arrive at the hotel about an hr later, around 12:15 in the morning.  For this last part of the bus ride we just let loose.  After over 12 hours on a bus in one day, let alone the day before there was nothing else to do.  It was one of our classmates birthdays and we had to at least send him off in style.  So for that last hour, almost on one was in their seat, either crammed together at the front of the bus or random dance partying in the aisle – again thank you to our driver being amazing for putting up with us, let alone for driving this long!  After getting checked into the hotel (there are no elevators L at this one either) and grabbing the internet password we retreated to our rooms for much needed rest.  

Note: I'm going to upload a bunch of pictures from the last few days all at once later today but now I need to get ready to start our Sarajevo adventure

See! here they are

The story of 4 countries in 24 hours and an amazing adventure, part 1

Its been a mere 48 hours or so since I last wrote but so much has happened since! Enough that I’m currently writing on the bus, at high risk of motion sickness but counting on the Dramamine and the fact that I can touch type (ie look at the window and not what I’m writing) to keep breakfast in my stomach on  these mountain road, just so I can write before I forget most things.  We left Nis on our way to Kosovo no problem and a few minutes outside the city (possibly even within the city limits) we stopped to visit a WW2 concentration camp.  This particular camp was what was known as a collection camp, people were gathered up and held here on their way to more dangerous camps in other parts of Europe.  More dangerous is a highly relative term though, because even though this wasn’t a ‘death camp’ there were mass killings, especially following outbreak attempts, and many perished from disease as well.  IN a cruel/cold ironic sense, the name of the camp translates to Red Cross – an organization known for humanitarianism and essentially the opposite of this camp.  Approximately 30,000 people passed through this camp throughout the war years.  The pictures of some of them have been put on the wall, and the messages they scribbled to loved ones who might come later or to whomever, just to prove they were there, have been left up.  Walking through I felt this need to look at everything quietly and alone.  As if even though I couldn’t read the names or messages, I had to see their faces and try to remember them – seemed like the least I could do and yet everything.  The world needs to not move forward through history looking back and letting the fights of the past dictate all future actions and attitudes but that does not mean that the fights should be forgotten and that they, and the people who fought and died because of them, don’t have lessons to teach us.  World War Two history has always interested me and now it just makes me miss my grandfather more.  He didn’t share his war stories much but I would’ve like to talk to him about it as I got older and knew more. 

After the concentration camp, our subdued group piled back onto the bus for our drive to Kosovo.  This is when we start to realize how amazing our bus driver is – it’s no easy feat to maneuver this giant tour bus especially though city streets and winding back roads.  Along the way we stopped to see a  monument to the Battle of Kosovo (1389).  This battle is huge in Balkans history and it was really cool to be able to see the battlefield and look out on the entire countryside.  The monument is a big stone tower which looks impressive enough from the outside but it had stairs!! At one point almost our entire group was up the top enjoying the view and breeze, looking out over the battlefield and surrounding towns.  The site is currently protected by peacekeepers (KFOR ones I believe) to prevent vandalism of the site.  Given it’s important role in Serbian and Balkan history it’s a frequent potential target.  A while later, we stopped at a little, little place by a river for lunch.  At this point we were what seemed like high up in the rural mountains, winding our way along.  The place we had lunch was down the side of one of these hills at a little place that was delicious.  The food was cooked over a fire we could see from our table, in true local style.  The bread was cooked with flour ground up at a mini mill, run by water from the river and proved to be delicious.  We’ve gotten to the point on our trip where even though dishes are still ordered for each individual, splitting sharing, and everyone trying and eating everyone else’s food is commonplace.  It’s great because it lets everyone try a bit of everything and means no one’s left hungry if their meal turns out to not be what they expected it to be.  After lunch we continued southward on our journey and had our first border crossing.  Although it seemed to take a while, it turned out to be the quickest we’ve yet encountered.  First, we have to have our passports examined by the Serbian authorities.  This means a security guard comes on to the bus to collect the passports, checking to make sure everyone matches their pictures, takes them off the bus, does their thing and brings it back – this took about an hour.  At this point there is no stamp because we are leaving Serbia for Kosovo, and since Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo, its just a security checkpoint for them and not and international border.  After a short drive through ‘no man’s land’ we arrive at the next checkpoint, this is the Kosovo one.  Here the same process ensues except when we get them back, there is a stamp on it for Kosovo – remember this, it’s important.  In our excitement over new passport stamps (yes, we’re IAF geeks) and some people including myself scrambling to find theirs since it was pretty faint in some, none of the student’s realized that they’d stamped our passports when they shouldn’t have (apparently, we asked them not to, which according to a treaty they have to listen to).  After the crossing we were officially in the rolling hills of Kosovo.  Differences between Serbia were immediately apparent.  The signs were in Albanian, and the countryside was dotted with Albanian flags and mosques.   Generally Kosovo was/is very pretty but largely unfinished.  Most of the places we say on the drive in and Prishtina itself seemed to be in a state of construction and it was hard to tell what was being rebuilt, what people had run out of money to finish or had just let fall into disrepair, and what was new construction and a sign of economic growth and development.  Arriving in Prishtina we checked into our hotel.  At this point, after a long bus ride and several less than impressive lodging locations we were easily impressed.  Regardless, this hotel was nice – internet in our rooms, clean, and overall a nice small place.  I think the fact that it was smaller and seemed family run definitely added to its charm.  There was a small yard you could sit in and our floor had a common room style table as well.  It was interesting to note that despite how nonviolent the city seemed on the drive in, we had to take all our things off the bus and couldn’t take it into the center of the city that night because it has Serb plates. 

At this point, taking a moment to settle is first priority but a very close second is satisfying the hunger we were all feeling.  It’s finally gotten cooler here so after we excitedly changed into jeans (oh how I’d missed them and it’s nice to not be hot) and grabbing sweaters, we left in search of food.  A group of us ended up at a nearby grocery store for diner.  Realistically, this place can’t be rightly called a grocery store – it was some kind of a cross between a Wal-Mart, Wegmans, and normal grocery store. After filling up on food, a few of us grabbed a couple bottles of wine and headed back to the hotel.  Since it was a nice hotel and we were too tired to get a taxi into the center, we sat around playing easy old school card games.  I don’t remember the last time I played Go Fish, Old Maid, and BS, let alone had that much fun playing them.  Exhaustion dictated an early bedtime for all but soon it was time for breakfast.  One of the best breakfasts of the trip in my opinion – fresh bread, watermelon, tomatoes, TEA! (much harder to find than coffee here), and good old tang.  It was time to hit the road again though, and leave this great little place behind.  We headed into the city center to meet with a representative Nansen Dialogue Center.  This group works in most of former Yugoslavia, with 3 centers in Kosovo, especially on reconciliation issues.  There are two programs they do a lot with.  First, they help facilitation the return process for Serbs displaced by the war.  These people inhabit an interesting place in international law.  They are IDPs (internally displaced persons) or refugees depending on if the country recognizes Kosovo or not, and how you classify them interferes with their right of return which is guaranteed by international law.  Their other major program is working with youth of both ethnicities (Albanian and Serb) and teaching them English and Computer Science with a little bit of Conflict Resolution thrown in.  This is something I really loved since I think the future of the region lies with thise kids and if they learn to grow up understanding and at least tolerating each other or if they grown up separately and hating.  With each education program, the Center will work in a community for 3 years before moving on to a new set of ~40 kids.  It was nice to hear about the Kosovo issue from a Kosovar since we had heard a lot about it from the Serb side.  When asked about how things were before the war, the speaker explained that people, although living in the same places and mixed neighborhoods, they were living next to each other and not together.  After our meeting we had a little bit of time to wander the pedestrian area and grab food before piling back onto the bus. 

On our way to the Kosovo Serb border we stopped to briefly see a Serb enclave in Kosovo.  The enclave is separated from the rest of the city by a bridge over a small steam, we could’ve waded across it.  The bridge and the road leading up to it is dominated by a large international and local security presence.  We spot NATO KFOR, EU, and other international forces.  On the Serb side, we spoke with a local community leader who could tell us about what life in the enclave was like.  The police in Serb enclave reflect the population percentages of each group, which is to say mostly Serb with some minorities.  According to him, the reasons for not wanting to be a part of Kosovo are not just ethnic but economic – Serbia is much better off economically.  The bridge serves as a historic and symbolic location for divisions and clashes.  In fact, there have been clashes on the bridge as recently as 2004 when many South Serbs fled to the North side of the city when Kosovo declared independence.  The most noticeable difference between the sides is that as soon as you cross, there are Serbian flags everywhere, and you pay in Dinar.  After the enclave we pile back in the bus for a long drive with an interesting border check.  We reached the Serbian/Kosovo border around 4 or 5 pm in the evening and began the regular border check process.  Getting though the Kosovo side was a fairly easy, unsurprising process and we get an exit stamp.  Then, after driving through no man’s land we begin the check on the Serbian stop.  However it soon became clear that something was up.  More and more time passes as Mladen, Denis, and Yanis go on and off the bus, talking with the officials.  The main guard comes back but with no everyone’s passport.  As it turns out, this is another security checkpoint, like when we had entered.  However, when you enter Serbia after being in Kosovo, Serbia will annul the stamp in your passport.  But this is not a recognized international border, so if the guard was to annul our stamps he would defacto recognize the border – aka start an incident.  So we are stuck for the time being.  The guard will only let us through if someone above him orders him to but not unless that happens.  So after several phone calls, to embassies I believe, two possible solutions are reached.  Have a cooperative committee of Serbs and Kosovans agree to let us through and then THEY can order the guard to let us through.  To start this process we go back to the Kosovo part of the checkpoint, which is actually run with or by international forces.  When we get there, Denis gets out to talk with them, and lucky for us, it’s a US member of international forces.  We were all excited to have Marshall, with his American flag patch on his arm, helping us out.  He informs us that it is unlikely the cooperation committee will reach a favorable decision quickly and we’d likely be stuck for at minimum hours.  So the second option (The Marshall Plan one could say J) is chosen: we’ll drive through Montenegro then back into Serbia.  Since Montenegro recognizes Kosovo and Serbia recognizes Montenegro, this would negate the stamp issue and our Kosovo stamps would just be annulled later when we re-entered Serbia.  At this point, lunch and dinnertime have come and gone so we stopped for a quick bite to eat on the road (Thank you Prof. Sullivan and NU!!) and everyone refreshes their famished stomachs.  In much better cheer and ready for our Montenegrin adventure it’s back on the bus.  During dinner, it was decided that instead of pushing on to Mokra Gora we would stop in Montenegro for the night.  After watching a Serbian movie called Montevideo about the Yugoslav/Serb team in the first World Cup, we nervously rolled into the Montenegro border.  Thankfully everything went smoothly and 40 minutes after the check we pulled up into our hotel.  Everyone was exhausted after a day of winding through mountain roads in the dark.  They’re quite beautiful but the tight corners are a bit stressful to drive on at night.  This was by far our nicest hotel of the trip, a 4 star and it deserved it.  It was late by the time we got to our rooms so a looooong hot, relaxing shower later in a real shower with a curtain and a mounted showerhead I fell into bed and promptly passed out. 

I started writing about today as well but the computer battery died and I am quite tired and therefore would really like to sleep instead of finishing the entry.  I’m going to give away the ending and say goodnight from Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.  Time for some sleep and Sox and I’ll pick up again in the morning and there will be pictures, I promise. 

writing on the wall

interrogation cells

Clinton Love in Kosovo

Memorial to Battle of Kosovo

Turk position during the battle

battlefield

the loooong way down the tower

bridge to Serb enclave

Kosovo entry and exit stamps, pre annulment

Kosovo Bound

Turns out what I was off to was a night of a little bit of Nis wandering paired with some low key chilling in Costa and watching Death at a Funeral.  Generally a relaxing night with some good laughs but not much to report.  In other news, it appears I left some things in Belgrade including my phone which is unfortunate to say the least.  Today we’re off to Kosovo and stopping at a concentration camp along the way – should be interesting.  

A Night in Nis

Greetings from Nis!  We’ve officially left Belgrade and are on our way to Kosovo.  We’ve stopped here for the night before moving on tomorrow morning.  In a technical sense we didn’t do much today it still feels like it’s been forever since Belgrade. This may or may not be due largely to the fact that our bus broke down on the side of the Serbian highway for over an hour while we waited for a new bus to come get us.  The good news is a few of us tossed a Frisbee around while we waited so I’ve officially played in Serbia!  Most of the drive was pleasant though, the countryside here is intriguing to watch.  Its either hills/mountains, or flatlands ringed by mountains in the distance.  Regardless, it’s always covered in crops and dotted with little red roofed towns and houses.  Along the way, we also stopped to see some Roman ruins used by the emperors.  According to our guide, it’s an important find because it not only shows the presence of the Romans but the existence of churches from the same period makes it possible to trace Christianity in the region further back.  We also got to see the Skull Tower.  Following a big battle in 1809 which the Serbs lost, the Ottoman commander ordered all the heads of the killed Serbs mounted in and on this wall to serve as a warning.  Most of the skills are gone at this point, worn away or secretly reclaimed by their families but it was still a haunting site.  After a long check in process (dragon the tour guide always insists on the guys going first and then there was only one elevator – we’re on the 11^th floor) off we went in search of food.  Managed to find something yummy in Nis’ pedestrian area and then headed to this town’s local Costa Coffee branch for some internet.  Time for…. Actually I don’t know what but I’m off to find out!

A broken bus :(

Roman Ruins

Skulls!

Bye Bye Belgrade

In about an hour and a half we leave the Hotel Slavija and Belgrade for our next adventure.  It just didn't seem right to not say goodbye.  Despite the initial first impressions, I've had a great time here.  Our little group has made Hotel Slavija our home and adapted to its 'charms.'  In some ways, it may have even helped us, bonding over shared experiences and venturing out in little bunches in search of internet.  Belgrade as been good to me and I'll miss it.  Now it's off for a week of traveling, we hit something like 7 cities in 4 days!

Catching up as time in Belgrade flies by

I have been a total slacker when it comes to blogging this past week and I don’t even have a viable excuse, the only potential candidate is that our next paper is due tomorrow morning.  Where did I leave off? Looks like Friday night? Maybe? Generally I skipped over it a lot.  That was a fun night!  We started out with a group boat ride on the Sava/Danube.  To get there took a little be of a hop skip and a jump.  Everyone decided to get dolled up for the night so we were easily the best dressed people on the 83 which we took again over the river to Zemun.  From there we walked across a field and along the river and pressed through a long line onto the boat.  Despite the loud Serbian/other music that we couldn’t understand or adequately hear it was blasting so loud, paired with the less-than-great singing of our captain/guide, we still managed to have a good time.  They even played New York, New York in our honor, a little bit of an odd song for this Boston girl but Sinatra was still much appreciated, now if only we could’ve convinced them to throw on some Dropkicks.  The views of Kalamegdan and Belgrade with a nearly full moon hanging over the city were breathtaking.  After the boat we stopped in a little Italian place on the river before finding one of the clubs on the river to dance forever.  And…. Now I realize I already wrote about this stuff which makes me less of a degenerate blogger and lets me move on to Saturday!

Saturday we visited ‘Tito-land’ as it was dubbed by Professor Sullivan.  There are several exhibits about Tito in addition to his grave at the site.  First we saw an exhibit with the fashions of Tito and his First Lady, it reminded me a bit of the First Ladies exhibit at the Smithsonian.  Only here, it went into much much more detail, with a wider variety of outfits.  The museum did a good job of tying a fashion exhibit back into policy or at least how the different outfits went with different roles Tito and his wife had to play on the world stage.  Next we saw Tito’s actual grave which is actually located in a greenhouse.  Nearby where torches he used to receive from rallies all over on his birthday.  Finally we say a HUGE exhibit full of only gifts people had given Tito throughout his life.  We had the afternoon off since the other museum we were looking at going to was closed.  A bunch of us wandered down to Kalamegdan where there are lots of great souvenir stands with unique and less touristy things. I’m excited about some of the stuff I found; now I just have to get it through the rest of the trip in once piece!  That night a bunch of us went to Tasmaidan where we enjoyed a nice relaxing night sitting on the grass (until we were informed that wasn’t allowed) next to the fountain.  At night they play some classical music in the park and the fountain lights up all different colors. 

Sunday was a lazy day, lazy with a capital L.  Almost no one did anything outside the hotel all day, as people spent the day relaxing and working on papers.  Personally I re-watched one of our documentaries.  I hadn’t seen it since May when I got my teeth out, so not only had it been a while, I was on drugs the first time I watched it – a refresher was needed.  In the evening we went and watched the sunset over new Belgrade at Kalamegdan.  It was beautiful and you could see it get redder as it dropped closer to the horizon.  Afterwards, a small group of us went to dinner in the Bohemian district.  It’s this great little area of Belgrade that’s all cobblestones with little restaurants playing music.  With the delicious food and good company it turned into a very relaxing night.  We realized that not only are we getting better at guessing what a menu item will actually be, that’s a big part of what makes a mean good for us, some measure of predictability.  In what folks back home will likely view as unpredictable, I tried what was described as breaded-fried deer cheese.  Although we’re not sure if it actually came from a deer it was essentially a salty mozzarella stick in wedge form, out of the local cheese.  After dinner it was already pretty late (dinner’s later here than home, none of this 5pm, 6pm stuff) we headed back for paper writing and chilling with classmates

Today a small group of us braved the heat (we’d had a few days respite, Sunday felt downright cool at 90) to go see some local graveyards.  We saw the one for the Jewish community in Belgrade, as well as one dedicated solely to those who died in the Battle for Belgrade, and another more general one.  The graves were all striking in their own ways.  The rest of the day I’ve spent writing my paper more and more, almost done!  Now time for a last dinner at Café Marco.  Sorry again about the lack of pictures on this one, I have them but the internet is mean, shoot me an email if you want them or I'll try to add them later.

Insert Slightly Witty Title for Last 2 Days Here

Not a whole lot to report here about yesterday, it was once again a weee bit warm, only 35 C so not nearly as bad as we’ve seen but still what one might qualify as notcold.  In the morning we awoke in a veritable forest of laundry; one of my roommates and I had left our clothes to dry overnight.  Not too long later we found ourselves once again on our ‘beloved’ 83 bus to Zemun to meet with a priest from the Serbian Orthodox Church.  The meeting got off to an interesting start, with the priest offering and cheersing with shots of the local plum brandy – apparently it’s customary?  At the meeting we discussed the usual topics regarding the intersection of faith and politics, as well as Kosovo and the role of faith in nationality (according to the priest, not a good thing).  He gave us all a copy of his book and I look forward to paging through it!  Given the heat and free afternoon, we all stopped at the mall the 83 passes for lunch at least; just to spend some time in the AC.  While some of the group caught HP, I wandered around the mall just enjoying the AC and tunes, turns out mall music is the same everywhere.  That night there was a boat ride along the rivers and I remembered how much I love being on and just watching the water.  Then, after a quick bite to eat, a group of us headed out.  Belgrade was recently rated as one of the best party cities in the world and we took full advantage out dancing J 

Today it was HOT again.  Apparently, the heat is back, it had cooled off slightly, down to low 90s, for a few days but today it was back in full force.  We had a morning meeting with Veritas – an NGO dealing with war crimes committed against Serbs during the wars.  It was interesting to hear about some of the details of court cases and how they’re proceeded, apparently there’s even a potential case in US court!  It’s REALLY hot out so lunch was small, just a snack and popsicle like thing from one of the ice cream stands.  This afternoon we had a meeting with a representative of the Democrat Party of Serbia (different than the Democratic Party, talk about confusing!) This party is decidedly more right than the Democratic Party and the representative did a good job of explaining the differences between the parties and how those differences in priorities manifest themselves in policy.  Overall, I found his talk more substantive than the one at parliament and found myself disappointed the right-wing party who might have joined us couldn’t make it.  That brings us up to now, time for food! 

Alright I had pics but the internet's being mean so I'll upload them later

Red Sox & Laundry Belgrade Style

2 blog entries in one day! How unreal is that? Ok sorry for the sarcasm.  Today was a pretty chill day and I’m thankful for it.  After spending the morning relaxing and taking it easy it was time for our afternoon meeting.  Today we met with the Belgrade Center for Security Policy.  They’re a think tank/NGO working to improve the security sectors of society.  They occupy an interesting place in society since in the US they would be classified as a think tank but this phrase is untranslatable into Serbian, the concept is largely a mystery.  Due to this they are classified as an NGO.  It was interesting to hear about the research they’ve done and how they’ve ‘graded’ different departments and sectors based on how well they’ve reformed since Milosevic and become more transparent.  The discussion was different than I expected just because I thought the center would have a much more active role in reform.  The Center is largely focused research and indirect pressure to change through what seemed essentially like public shaming through its findings but is otherwise quite passive.  After the meeting we were done for the day but took a detour on the way home, walking through an older area of Belgrade all paved with cobblestones.  Turned out to be an area we’d wandered into on our zoo adventure earlier in the trip. 

Tonight is designated ‘chill night’ and I’m blogging with the roommates while we do laundry in the tub and later watch a movie.  It’s nice a have a relaxing night, more so because we’re between assignments so there’s not a pressing school worry.  On a random note, the all star game was yesterday, bummed the Sox lost since now when we’re in the World Series, we’ll have 4 games when Terry has to decide between Gonzo and Papi, and you can hardly stick Adrian in the outfield in the World Series.  As I sit here in my Sox cap, I’m really missing ‘my boys.’ I’ve been reading Extra Bases about once a day but it’s not nearly the same.  As you all know, I’ve been a fan of the team forever, at least as long as I can remember, and been one of the (borderline) obsessive fans who follow every little movement since 2002/2003.  This is the first time, barring 2 weeks in the summer of 2004, that I’ve been unable to follow the team wicked closely and I’m feeling it.  I perpetually feel a couple days behind and it just emphasizes that I’m not home.  Ah well, glad for a night to chill and it’s my turn for the laundry tub.  Talk to you guys soon!

Just some cool graffiti we saw today

The EU, Parliament, and Dancing - Oh what a day!

It’s just after 4am at home making it just after 10 here and with no morning planned activities most people are taking advantage and sleeping in.  I however, have given up on sleep seeing as I’ve been awake since just after 6 and it’s just too hot so I decided to update all you guys.  After I last posted the rest of the night was spent ‘finishing’ my paper.  I got it almost done sitting outside the hotel with some of my classmates.  The sky was all lit up from thunder and lightning and then finally, the rain came so the three of us sat as far back in our little overhang, enjoying the rain on our feet as we typed away.  The next morning did dawn cooler but that is a highly relative term at this point.  Yesterday we had our first lecture on the EU from Yannis and it was really interesting.  Although the EU is something that comes up a lot in IAF, it’s inner workings had never really been laid before and it was fun to look into it.  After lecture we had our first of 2 afternoon meeting (busy day!) so after a quick bakery stop for lunch we headed over to Parliament to meet with two MPs from the Democratic Party in the National Assembly (the ruling party).  It was interesting to note that many of the issues the US is dealing with, unemployment, systematic reform, education, and debt and budget control, Serbia is dealing with too.  Given the hostile political climate in the US, it’s refreshing to hear the issues come at from a totally different perspective and the steps they are taking to fix their country.  Before our meeting we’d gotten to quick look at what was essentially the press room as we walked by but after, we got to look at it up close and personal.  Turns out when you’re with an MP, you can pretty much go wherever you want, reminds me of Capitol Hill a little!  So ‘our’ MPs, Dejan Nikolic and Milan Vuckovic, got us in to see the chamber where Parliament meets.  I pretty much geeked out at this point J and it was really cool to see how their system of speaking works (put your id in a slot on your mic, then press a button, a bit more high tech than ours) and they pointed out where they sit since everyone has assigned seats.  Unfortunately we had to get back to Belgrade Lady for our next meeting, this one with Canvas.  This group works with movements around the world to promote and share techniques for non-violent social change.  It’s an offshoot of the Otpor movement that helped get rid of Milosevic in 2000 and they look to share the success they’ve had with other movements.  They’ve done workshops for groups around the world in both successful and non-successful conflicts. 

Finally done with official business for the day, we hurried back to the hotel to finish our papers.  My room was all done or nearly done so within an hour we were free for the night!  Gathering the fellow non-procrastinators we started our night of fun.  After a yummy dinner in Tasmaidan Park we headed back to the hotel to gather the troops and walk down to Kalamegeda; somehow the walk never seems as long when there’s good people and good drinks.  There, MTV was hosting a ‘concert’ as part of International Student Week in Belgrade.  So with the Fort all lit up under the stars and the tunes blasting, we danced the night away.  Definitely not a bad end to the day.

"Press Room"

Where the National Assembly meets

The MPs we talked to sit right behind these gentlemen