Balkan Bound: Love/ Hate Relationship with Sarajevo

      So far my time in Sarajevo has been extremely busy with our first paper due tomorrow and our briefings starting up. I have not quite had time to go to many of the historical places yet but I should have a chance to hit these places up on Friday and Saturday! I have spent enough time here walking around to notice the packs of stray dogs running the streets, the crazy drivers that make anywhere including the sidewalks their parking places, heard the call to prayer from the mosques, and the over 90 degree temps. I have had the opportunity to walk around the Turkish Quarters and look at all the really neat shops with many beautiful scarves, tea sets, jewelry, and metal works all available. These shop keepers are so friendly although its hard to communicate with them because of the language barrier, but those that do speak English enjoy telling us things helpful to our stay in Sarajevo. Unfortunately, while exploring the Turkish Quarters I got a taste of Sarajevo I'm not fond of: pick-pocketers. Yep I guess I appeared too touristy and they struck getting my wallet without me having any clue. I honestly have to say I am a little impressed because I did not think it was possible for them to get into my bag without me knowing, but I guess these guys are pros. As much as this experience sucked and made me hate Sarajevo for a few hours, I just hope whoever got my money is someone who was in need of it and that it will go to help their family, especially since poverty has been pretty visible here in Sarajevo.
      But on to a brighter note as mentioned earlier our briefings with international organizations started up this week and it has been a whirlwind. So far we have met with the OSCE (Office of Security and Cooperation in Europe, International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), EU Delegation, Office of the High Representative, lunch with the OSCE head of mission, and the Council of Europe all in just three days. These briefings have been very interesting getting to see how each of these international corporations individually view the status of Bosnia and its progress since the Balkan wars. I would have to say the ICTY has been my favorite organization thus far because we were able to learn about the witness protection program which I'm fascinated by. Needless to say I am exhausted from all these meetings and the paper writing. But, on the plus side Sarajevo is known for its coffee and tea so this has been pretty handy in keeping all of us energized throughout our days. In addition to the amazing drinks here the food does not disappoint. I was really nervous about the food here because I am a picky eater like I said in a previous blog post, but I have had to branch out here and the food has been awesome. I've realized that by being picky, I've missed out on some quality food throughout my life but I'm not going to do that while here in the Balkans.
       One of the coolest things we have had the chance to witness was a protest concert held outside the BiH Parliament building. They were protesting the recent issue of identification numbers not being issued to babies. These protests are the first ethnically uniting protests that have been in Bosnia since the war in the 1990s so hopefully this will lead to much needed changes regarding segregation here. Sarajevo despite the unfortunate wallet occurrence has been an awesome and beautiful city that I have grown to love.