A State of Stone and Mortar

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Well, it's starting to sink in that we've been here for 11 days and our time in Sarajevo is coming to an end. Luckily, we've got some pretty cool things planned for the upcoming days.

Today we had a short lecture on State Building, which allowed us both to sleep in and to have the entire afternoon off. We took advantage by stopping by Vapiano again for a delicious lunch, then heading back and starting to power through what remains of our essays due in 24 hours.



To take a break from writing, though, I got to hit one of the few places in Sarajevo I hadn't yet: the White Fortress. Elise, Dave, and I jog/walked to it (I challenge anyone to actually jog all the way. At least a third of the distance is a solid 35-40° angle). The views were, honestly, something that should be in a movie. We could see to both sides of one of the hills overlooking the city, had an unparalleled view of Sarajevo, and the satisfaction of making it up there. There's also a restaurant at the top that probably has one of the best dinner sights around.



We closed out the night with dinner at Barhana, a restaurant popular among the Dialogue students and the locals: many Muslims will go there around 8, get their food, and wait for the cannon signaling the end of their Ramadan fast.



Besides that, most of the day was filled with essay writing and editing, mixed in with some bonding. However, tomorrow we have the pleasure of meeting with the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church here, then hopefully (and amusingly) following it with a tour of the local brewery. Sunday is a relatively easy day, with a chance of meeting the Bosniak President's advisor. We leave Sarajevo for good first thing Monday morning, to stop by Tito's Bunker, then pull in to Mostar for the next couple of days!

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