Days of Freedom

---

Every now and then, it's nice to have a day off. Like today. With nothing planned, it was perfect for relaxing, researching, preparing, and, of course, running. We woke up at 10:20 to say goodbye, unfortunately, to one of our Dialogue-mates who had to be sent home for health concerns (to the parents that this may worry: my professor has been taking Dialogues, usually 2 each year, for 20 years. This is the second person he's ever sent home for health reasons). After that and breakfast, we took time to relax.

I started my research for our disputations today. The group of teams that I'm in is discussing whether the EU should mandate that Serbia recognize Kosovo's independence as a condition for Serbia's potential EU membership...a fascinating but very polarizing question. I will, of course, be looking into the economics of it, but I already know what that looks like: Serbia should let Kosovo go. The Kosovo region is a simple economic drain: corruption is rampant, output is weak, and the black market is powerful. There are plenty of reasons, of course, for Serbia to keep Kosovo around, but purely economically, they should let go sometime around yesterday. Or last year.



Dave, Mara, and I went for a run along the river this afternoon as well. It's gorgeous down there, but we definitely get some weird looks. Biking and rollerblading are common...running is not. Although I do love going past the animals: dogs are popular here, but generally not the big ones that you see in the US. Mostly you find Pomeranians, Terriers, Yorkies, etc. A lot of tiny adorableness.



The highlight of the night was the dinner that our professors took us out for. It was at a restaurant called Šešir Moj in the Bohemian District (another pedestrian zone). We had some delicious ethnic food (a.k.a. a lot of meat and bread), but more importantly, there was a mariachi band there the whole night. Fantastic entertainment, especially when we brought out a birthday cake for one girl who turns 19 tomorrow. They also had a lady come around who was dressed in classic early-19th-century attire for the region to tell us a bit about it. Basically, it was a social area, where people came to drink and be merry. As she said, "Shakespeare wrote 'to be or not to be: that is the question.' Here, it was 'to drink or not to drink: that isn't a question.'"



Tomorrow we're back on the game, heading to the US Embassy in the morning, then meeting with yet another man who's done it all (I'm not sure what exactly this one has done, to be honest, but I'll let you know after tomorrow!). Until then, my main goal is to stay cool and dry, and to enjoy the thunderstorms that pepper the Serbian nights.

---