Zdravo!

Welcome to my blog about my dialogue to the Balkans! Our group arrived yesterday (7/3) after a long trip from Boston via Munich.  I was very excited to get to know everybody, and chatting with fellow students at Logan Airport about our expectations really helped to get me pumped for the trip.  We arrived in Belgrade at about 1230 pm (body clocks six hours behind).  I had planned for my first picture of the trip to be us going through customs, but was halted by a stern Serb guard who made me delete the pic with a thick Slavic accent.  After meeting with other students and Mladen and Ioannis at the airport, we also met up with our bus tour guide, Dragan.  From the airport to the city, Dragan pointed out interesting facts about the landscape and history of our route, with Mladen chiming in with personal stories.

One site along the route that caught my eye was a bombed out building in the middle of downtown Belgrade.  It was in the center of the government complex.  Dragan explained that it was the former Defense Department, destroyed during the war with NATO in the 1999.  The location is being competed over by companies and government agencies, and in the meantime the rubble serves as a monument and a reminder to locals and tourists alike about the war.

For the next 15 nights, our group is staying at the Hotel Slavija.  Professor Sullivan described it as "a good location for a hotel, but not the best hotel!"  Certainly when we checked our rooms, it was clear we were not in Kansas anymore. A reminder of Serbia's Communist past, the hotel provides the basics, as it is just being used as a home base.  Discussing our rooms, we swapped tidbits such as weird smells, lack of shower curtains, the lack of feng shui, and the mysterious "Foxy" shampoo.

The surrounding area certainly holds many conveniences, from ATMs and Exchanges, to coffee shops and kabob joints, to markets and bars.  While exploring with Dan, Liz, and Colin yesterday, we walked down one of the main streets all the way to the Belgrade fortress, the Kalemegdan. Along the way, we saw beautiful fountains, street vendors with gelato, and underwear stores.

The day was certainly a great opening experience to the knowledge, culture, and fun that Belgrade and the Balkans have to offer!