Improving My Balance

I have always been a bit of a nerd (a shocking revelation I know) and part of that means I take school very seriously. I may not always enjoy sitting through class, but I will always try to complete an assignment to the best of my ability, even if it doesn't count for much. Thankfully my status as a nerd has come with a lot of benefits, one of which was acceptance into the YES Abroad program. Other times though, it can get in the way.

Take this week for example, this week was the week of giant assignments in school. Everyday after school I had so much school and or college applications related work that I barely had time to go downstairs and chat with my lovely host family! I was so obsessed with my schoolwork that I neglected my host family,an action that goes against the core tenets of being a good exchange student.

Then came today, Saturday; I had planned to spend the day going to morning Bosnian class and then locking myself in my room to finish up a few big assignments, but when I got up this morning my host mother told me that the family was going to the countryside to visit her sister-in-law . She said that they were leaving in half an hour and they would return in the evening and I could come if I wasn't too busy. I hesitated, I was, as always, busy and my upcoming due dates loomed over my head, but I told her I'd be happy to go anyway. I knew that the academic in me wanted to stay home and trudge through the pile of work on my desk, but thankfully my inner exchange student won in the end. I wasn't, after all, sent to Bosnia to practice logarithms and study Bismarck, I was sent here to experience a culture.

Now this is not me giving you an excuse to blow off school. Don't do that, but maybe you should look up from your textbook every once in a while and experience something substantial. I know that tomorrow my pile of work will still be there, and I will have to work double time to get it all done, but I don't regret my decision to travel with my host family today one bit. I've learned so much about the culture during my visit to the countryside; for example, we are currently in Republika Srpska (a different state in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the demographics here are very different than the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Federation has Sarajevo, a densely populated city which is ethnically diverse, but has a large Muslim presence. The Republika Srpska is mostly hills and forests with a few tiny towns and its fairly homogenous with the majority of people being of Serbian descent. My host mother even calls it Republika Šumska, the Republic of Forests, after its immense amount of woodlands. 

So to all of the future exchange students out there (hint hint wink wink the YES Abroad 2014-2015 application is out) remember to balance your school life during your year with your at home life. School is important, it always will be, but don't let it interfere with your education. (Yes I am paraphrasing something Mark Twain once said.) Every once in awhile put down your pencils for a bit and go experience whatever fabulous culture you were lucky enough to get invited to participate in, you never know where you'll end up. 

You could be like me and get to take a photo in front of an awesome pile of hay!