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Published: July 23rd 2014
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Still no pictures from my day for you...sorry! However, allow me to provide you with pictures of the food. Partial photo credits to Jasmine and Jackie. More on that in a minute!
First, an overview of the day, as always: breakfast, a lecture on Post-Conflict State Building and Counterinsurgency Theory, then a free afternoon. We used it to work on our team assignment, in which we'll be discussing the Sejdic-Finci decision, which I believe I mentioned in an earlier post. Simply put, it was a decision by the European Commission on Human Rights that the Bosnian Constitution does not allow equal rights, as only Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats can be presidents. Sejdic and Finci, representing the Romas and Jews, won, and the ECHR told Bosnia to change their constitution. 5 years ago. Shocker: Bosnia hasn't done anything.
I then took some time to write a few emails, read a bit, and then go for a run with Mara. We explored the fortress (which I tried to do yesterday and failed), which turned out to be HUGE AND WAY BIGGER THAN WE THOUGHT. It just kept going. Of course, we managed to get stuck on one path by
Shopska salad
Cucumbers, tomatoes, and cheese the water for a bit because there was nowhere to turn off it, but once we did get away from the water and on our way home, we discovered the zoo and amusement park! Unfortunately, I left my phone at the hotel, so pictures of that are yet to come (don't worry, they'll be here eventually!).
The run was followed, very importantly, by dinner, which was then followed by gelato. I mention gelato specifically because we went to that fancy place I mentioned yesterday...today's fanciest flavor: Fig Macadamia White Chocolate, if I remember correctly. Dinner was followed by drinks and celebration, since we had yet another birthday today! I believe there are 7 or 8 on this trip total, so there are plenty of celebrations during our time here.
Now, as promised, on to food. This is a very meat-centric region of the world. Vegetables are few and far between unless you order something specifically vegetarian. Unlike in the US, most dishes don't come with a side or two...it's generally what you order, and that's it. Now, granted, I can't speak universally, because I have yet to order, for example, a steak, but my
burger came simply, as did chicken kebabs. A few dishes have had vegetable sides, but those are in the minority.
They also enjoy their bread here, and, in fact, the two most popular dishes I've noticed combine the two. Burek: mixed meat wrapped in phyllo dough and baked in a cast iron skillet, and cevap: meat fingers with pita, onions, and (occasionally) lettuce and/or cheese. Sadly, I have no pictures of burek right now, but I'll add one when I find it. I've also witnessed that they have a love for Italian food. The breakfasts seem pretty universal between the hotels: bread, sliced meat, eggs of a sort, fruit, some kind of super-sweet juice and/or coffee, some kind of sweet bread or croissant, cheese, and jogurt (very thing yogurt) are available. They also all have cereal, but that's used to mix in the jogurt; milk seems to be either not a thing or UHT at each place we go.
They do have some American - or Americanized - foods. I've seen pepperoni pizza and simple pastas. Steak does exist, although I haven't ordered it (although I did order a steak salad, which was delicious).
Lamb on a spit
Trust me, you don't want to see the plates. They just butchered the whole thing, head and all. One of the girls at my table got teeth. Chicken noodle soup is surprisingly popular, as are burgers. So all in all, if I wanted to, I could eat like it was Boston. But really, I'm in Europe, and not in an area where the foods are commonly copied back in the US. As such, the way I see it: go all out. Eat all the Balkan foods. Who knows when I'll get the chance again.
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