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    Time to catch up...

    Greetings from Banja Luca, Bosnia! I keep falling way behind so I'm going to try and sum up the last week and a half in this post. I'll have solid internet starting this weekend so I should be able to keep up from now on (I've said that before). Anyway I ended the last post by saying I was in Pristina, Kosovo. Here we go...

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    While in Pristina we met with various international organizations including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the International Civilian Office (ICO), the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Kosovo Force (KFOR) and several other smaller groups. We received a crash course on the situation in Kosovo today and a little history of how it got there. The region is secure at this time except for the northern region, especially the city of Mitrovica, which we visited for an afternoon.
    (download)
    Click here to download:
    time-to-catch-up-GihiErEcjDjEBGqbHgda.zip (1.2 MB)
    Slideshow of some of the Organizations we visited

    I'm going through pretty quick and vague but I'll revisit the academic stuff at a later time. As for the fun part in Kosovo...first off it was ridiculously cheap. You could buy a beer and a pizza for less than 4 euros (yes they're on the Euro). Needless to say we ate and drank like kings for a week and had a great time with the local nightlife. It helped that myself and my roommate somehow ended up with the VIP suite at the hotel. We became the hangout room by default.

    (download)
    Click here to download:
    time-to-catch-up-wbIbfHcnxGxifgssmxpl.zip (356 KB)

    Culturally the place was like no other I'd ever been. A large part of the Albanians living there are muslim so there are mosques all over the place. Hearing the prayer call throughout the city several times a day was pretty awesome. The people are all really nice, espcially to Americans. That was something I learned quickly upon arriving in Kosovo. Bill Clinton is worshipped in Kosovo for helping to establish them as a state so naturally all Americans receive great treatment. I mean...we may have told people we were his grandchildren...

    (download)
    Click here to download:
    time-to-catch-up-hjkgwECAzlrdDufylsIC.zip (323 KB)

    Alright say goodbye Kosovo...off we go to Macedonia and Montenegro. We went to Macedonia last week to eat dinner with our Teaching Assistant's parents and family. He is from a town called Tetova, Macedonia and honestly I didn't know what to expect. Turns out it was really neat place and we walked around for an hour or so before dinner to explore. This amazing mosque was the highlight:

    (download)
    Click here to download:
    time-to-catch-up-CGsyhtCjrrAGCqvhuniz.zip (1009 KB)

    After Tetova we went back to Pristina to sleep for the night. The next morning we set off for Dubrovnik, Croatia via the country of Montenegro in a charter bus. 13 hours later we arrived at our destination. It was supposed to be 8 hours max. If you haven't spent 13 hours on a bus before, don't. Ever. Cabin fever sets in after about 6 so you can imagine how we felt by the end. At least the scenery was good...

    (download)
    Click here to download:
    time-to-catch-up-nvghudhEurtiCAIczcjs.zip (2.73 MB)

    While driving through the mountains was pretty awesome, nothing could prepare me for the beauty of Dubrovnik. Now don't get me wrong I definitely knew what I was getting into. As a matter of fact Dubrovnik has been the background on my computer since I found out I was going in March. Still, it was amazing. The hotel we stayed in was 4-star resort on the water so my balcony view was incredible. We jumped off rocks and cliffs, went SCUBA diving and explored the old walled city of Dubrovnik (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovnik). We spent two nights there and while we didn't go out to clubs and bars (super expensive) we did manage to get our hands on a key to the indoor pool and spa that normally closes at 9pm. Good times.

    (download)
    Click here to download:
    time-to-catch-up-qCnpofJmHaejsmkpsnig.zip (1.33 MB)

    We left Dubrovnik on Tuesday this week (28th) and arrived in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina. I'm now in Banja Luca, Bosnia & Herzegovina and will be leaving for the capital of Sarajevo tomorrow afternoon, where I will stay until late next week. I'll have a post up about Bosnia in a few days but I wanted to make sure I got caught up with this post. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

    - Taylor

     

     

    • 30 June 2011
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  • Taylor Anderson's Space

    I'm a 21 year old male from wilmington, nc and a student at the university of north carolina. last summer i created this blog to follow my journey studying and traveling across europe as a participant on the burch research seminar in vienna and the balkans.

  • About Taylor Anderson

    I'm a 21 year old male from wilmington, nc and a student at the university of north carolina. last summer i created this blog to follow my journey studying and traveling across europe as a participant on the burch research seminar in vienna and the balkans.

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