Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Back in the air… again. I am not going to sugar coat this… After
just arriving back from Costa Rica only a couple of weeks ago I am incredibly
sick of packing, moving, going through airport security, and most of all living
out of a suitcase. However, when an
opportunity as great as this little adventure comes along, it is hard to turn
down. For the next month I will be
traveling around Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo with 26 other Americans (I always
want to say gringos but that no longer applies here). Along the way we will be meeting with government
leaders, NGO's, religious organizations, diplomatic core, educational institutions,
and ordinary citizens and learning about the past, present, and future for the
Balkans. We will use the information that we learn from the individuals
and organizations along with a few lectures from the two professors on the trip
to form two makeshift classes that will come back as credit at Northeastern.
Off the plane. We were assigned a few readings and documentaries to watch
prior to the trip so all of us have a general, basic idea of the recent
history in the Balkans, i.e. the violent fall of Yugoslavia from 1991-1995. While I was reading and watching the
assignments it is pretty striking to learn about the brutal violence and war,
however, it is another one to see and hear about the effects of the war,
personally. On the plane ride from
our lay over in German to our destination in Sarajevo, Bosnia I sat next to a
late 20 to early 30 year old Bosnia.
He inquired about the huge group of young Americans on the plane and
asked if we were all traveling together and what for. After finding out that he was Bosnian that then led to me
politely drilling him with questions about growing up in Bosnia during the war,
about Sarajevo, and anything that could come to mind! He grew up in Bosnia until he was 13-14 and then his parents
sought refuge in the United States after the war. He has since lived in the United States but returns to the
Balkans to visit his extended family once every 5 or so years. He was extremely prideful to be Bosnian
and was extremely open to answering any questions that I had. He was telling me how when he had
returned to Bosnia in 2003 it was incredible to see the amount of buildings
that were still left damaged and in ruin.
He noted that the city is now finally decently recovered but you could
still see bullet or grenade holes on the walls of buildings all over the
city. I had also heard this from
other sources before coming but it is another thing to see it. Walls on so many buildings were covered
with bullet holes. I couldn’t help
thinking about how much of a harsh reminder that must be for the citizens in
Sarajevo.
On to a lighter subject... At the airport in Boston we were all
waiting in line to board the plane and talking about what we were arriving to
and what the hotel would be like etc.
One of the professors, Professor Lovely, was with us and when the
debate/concern of whether or not we would be sharing beds (for example, if
there were two queen size beds in a hotel room would there be four people in
the room or just 2) came up I decided to ask him. I addressed Professor Lovely and said “Will we be sleeping
in the bed together at the hotel?” … for someone who had not been part of the
conversation prior to this question this question came across as being a little
aggressive! Haha Of course I didn’t
get why he had such a stark reaction when I asked but soon after figured out
how wrong my question must have sounded and we all had a good laugh at my
accidental inappropriateness.
Language. The predominate language in Bosnia and many other Balkan
countries is, Croatian-Serbian-Bosnia which is the same language with different
dialects. After spending 6 months
in Costa Rica and getting in the habit of speaking Spanish in return to a
foreign language it is so hard to remember that me replying in Spanish will not
help if anything they probably understand more English than Spanish here, yet I
still instinctively reply in Spanish when I do not understand what they are
saying (which is always). I think
this instinct is also reinforced by my non-existent knowledge of the language
here. I have rarely been in
situations while traveling where I have to ask “Do you speak English?” without
even trying to speak in their native tongue and it just feels rude. I have finally learned how to say Thank
you, “Hvala” but I have to work on some simple phrases so that I do not come
across as an ignorant American. I
hope to have a primitive vocabulary by the time I leave so that I can at least
be polite.
After fending for myself for the last 6 months in Costa Rica
I am a excited to have someone directing me where to go and figure out how
things work, how to get where, etc. However, I am a little apprehensive about
being surrounded by a group of 26 Americans after spending 6 months in Spanish exile. Although, I am extremely happy to have company this time around so
I think it will all go well! I
will be updating this at least once a week for the next month to keep you on
my adventures! Thanks for reading!
Below my itinerary for the next month!
July 1st to July 13th Sarajevo, Bosnia
July
14th and 15th MostarJuly 16th to August 3rd Belgrade, Serbia
Novi, Pazar, or Nis and if permits Kosovo
Lots of pictures to come!
Ciao!
