Correction July 16: in my flawless map reading abilities (or maybe it's the definitely-not-flawless internet), I misread Google Maps. Baščaršija does not mean old town, but is rather the name of the square in the center of Sarajevo's old town. That being said, we were near the old towns in both Sarajevo and Mostar. **** Today was certainly a busy day. It was actually the busiest day we have scheduled this trip; most days in Belgrade have 2 meetings at most. Apparently several have nothing planned since we're kicking the work into full gear then. We started with a trip to the Parliament of Republika Srpska, where we had the chance to take a tour of their conference rooms, press rooms, and rooftop deck. One thing I noticed was their defensiveness; they knew we just came ... read more

Note: Late post because, as predicted, internet was not so great at the Mostar hotel. Well, today was somewhat different. Probably because we were in a new town, but that's just a thought. We started at 9:30 with a tour of the city for about two hours. And by "of the city," I mean "of the major religious buildings." Namely, the Franciscan Monastery, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Temple, and the original Serbian Orthodox Church and School. There are a lot of mosques, but they apparently didn't warrant mention. A lunch and a nap later, we headed out to Nansen Dialogue, an NGO that operates throughout the Balkan Region to promote dialogues to solve problems between the ethnicities. Much of our conversation was about education in Bosnia: namely that every ethnic group has its ... read more

With a free day, what better thing to do than nothing? I slept in this morning, ate a late breakfast, and read. I played at least 10 games of freecell and just did nothing for a bit. Around 1:00, Dave and Tom and I went out for lunch, then Dave and I split off and went souvenir shopping. On our way through Baščaršija, the local Turkish shopping area, we stopped to feed the pigeons, which was actually amazing. Nearby in Copper Alley we visited one of our professor's friend's shops, where we saw some really cool copper implements (coffee mugs and pots, plates, spoons, and everything in between). Around 5, a group of us hiked to the Yellow Fortress one last time for a cup of coffee and a last view at the city from above. ... read more

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 ... read more

Note: I finally realized I can title and caption photos...if there were any that seemed unclear, please look back through my posts! Hopefully you'll better understand what they are now. Srebrenica, if you're wondering, is still not over. Today the bodies of the 175 identified victims were brought in a procession through the streets of Sarajevo on their way to the Srebrenica Memorial. The wounds are still fresh, the people still mourn, and the victims are not all known. On a happier note, we visited the US Embassy in Sarajevo today. I felt like I was going through TSA for their security. On the flip side, if any civil unrest starts, I know where I'm going. For one thing, their guards are Marines. We talked to Ken Zurcher, who's the Deputy Political Chief. He talked to ... read more