Blogs from Sarajevo, East, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Europe - page 4

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

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because, honestly, it's 1:15 am and I need to sleep. Also, not much happened today. We had two visits this afternoon, after a free morning. One was to the Bosnian War Crimes Tribunal, where we had the chance to talk with a legal advisor. He mentioned the difficulties present in prosecuting War Criminals, including building a case and avoiding corruption. After the Balkan war, international judges came in to help sit on cases; however, they have been phased out, allowing for more corruption in the system. Cases are not decided by jurors, but rather by a single judge or a panel, depending on the severity of the possible sentence, allowing for yet more. We also had the chance to meet with a member of the International Commission on ... read more

Today was another somewhat slow day. We started with a lecture from our Serbian TA on Balkan relations and why differentiating between the different nationalities can be so different, what with the dozens of invasions and migrations over the years. We then had the chance to meet with the Bishop of the Sarajevo Diocese, who was one of the few religious leaders that stuck around during the war. When we asked why, he gave several reasons, including "this is home," "the New Testament says a shepherd stays with his flock," and "love is stronger than fear." He was also quite a character. For example, during Communist Yugoslavia, religious was, of course, oppressed. In one interrogation, when he refused to budge, the interrogator took out a gun and put it on the table, saying "you see I ... read more

If you've never studied The Balkan Wars, don't. I've studied my fair share of wars, and the stuff that these people went through is some of the worst. Tomorrow we visit Srebrenica, the site of a massacre/genocide. Today we visited The Tunnel of Life, which was an 800 meter tunnel dug under the airport. It served as the only lifeline for the entire city of Sarajevo for the more than 3 years it was under siege. It was 1.6 meters high and about 1 wide...see the picture of me squatting in it for better reference. And remember, this is how they got all their supplies: military, food, etc. All through this little tunnel. After that light and easy morning, we paid a visit to the Bosnian Springs. These actually were really cool. It's a system of ... read more

There's nothing quite like your first morning waking up in a new place. Particularly when you only got 8 hours of sleep after 2 almost-sleepless days, and, according to your body, it's approximately 4:00 am. Although the realization that breakfast is almost over does wake you up quite quickly when your stomach is grumbling. We went from breakfast on a walking tour of Sarajevo. While we certainly didn't hit all the city - I went further on my own the day before - it was interesting to get a local's perspective. Mo, our guide, was quite knowledgeable and enjoyed telling his jokes...which were that much better with his broken English. There are so many things about this city, like any, that you simply wouldn't know (or at least understand the gravity of) without a guide. For ... read more