Weekend Update

Wow, I've been in Belgrade for 8, 9 days, I guess. I love this city. I'm coming back to do my ISP here in April. If you haven't noticed by my last few posts about the Roma, I really want to come back and work with the community here. It's a pretty radical switch from my previously proposal of working with refugees in Bosnia, but it's something that I decided the minute I saw the Roma settlement coming into Belgrade via the Gazela bridge.

Ok. So. My week. Belgrade is awesome. Two weeks is not enough. A blog post can't describe. Come visit.

We spent a TON of time in class and everyone is getting burned out and sick. I have a sore throat, but I've been loading up on my fizzy vitamins and fruit juice (they have the best juices here!!). We're presenting some constructive criticism about our schedule to our coordinators... we need a student's Bill of Rights!! Some days are just awful - we'll have class schedule from 10-6 with 2 hours of lunch, but class runs late and then we have announcements, so then we have an hour for lunch, which means booking it up to the square to get some carry-out and then running back for afternoon seminars. Those seminars inevitably run over (and I mean, run over as in, one hour over).

I'm thinking about walking out the next time classes run that late (which is what would happen in the States!). In a program where the philosophy is "just as much learning goes on outside of the classroom as inside," we sure spend enough time within four walls. That, plus balancing a commute, completing homework and assignments, integrating with a host family, experiencing Belgrade and taking a few minutes for yourself is A LOT.

We had American faculty visit our program this week. They were professors and study abroad coordinators who are interested in sending students on SIT programs. The SIT admissions director, an SIT recruiter, and the SIT European region director came with them. It was great to see new American faces! They sat in on our classes and had lunch with us today. They wanted to pick our brains about the program - so we ran with it. I'm not sure if it was the best week for them to visit, because by this afternoon, we'd all sort of had it with SIT, which might have been reflected in our comments. I definitely emphasized our need to be flexible! It's so easy to get caught up in all kinds of negativity towards the program, get stressed out, and lose sight of the big picture and all the opportunities here.


What have I done this week???
- city tour of Belgrade with a very dramatic tour guide named Srđan.
- tried to go a kafana (traditional cafe) with Rachel and Stef but left after realizing we were the only females in a very masculine space. Oops.
- found what has to be the only non-smoking cafe on this side of the Atlantic!
- lost a few pounds after not having to eat greasy Croatian food all the time.
- got "controlled" by the secret [transit] police - luckily I had validated by ticket!!!!
- went to the main post offce next to the Parliament (watch your mail)
- learned to read Serbian Cyrillic efficiently. Whether or not I know what it means in English is up for debate...
- saw the American diplomatic residence and the American embassy (Ahhh, Motherland!) as well as Tito's old crib.
- ate a palaćinku (crepe) with Nutella that broke all records.
- mangaged NOT to get lost even once. But when I eventually do, I'm sure it will be epic.

... it's not an exhaustive list, but most definitely not the end of my experiences either. Tonight, we're taking on the Belgrade nightlife by storm.

Срећан петак!!
Srećan petak!!
Happy Friday!!