Rastpust

I hate to brag, but while you were all stressing about midterms and lapsing on your New Year’s Resolutions this month I was enjoying this glorious Bosnian phenomenon called Rastpust, a nice and relaxing break from school that lasts the entirety of January. As any exchange student though, I could not sit still and relax, so instead I ventured out to find the parts of Sarajevo I had not yet seen.

I don’t think it would be very interesting for you if I gave a day by day account of my break, so I’ll just jot down a few of my favorite adventures.

I walked the length of Vrelo Bosne, a famous park just outside of Sarajevo, with Sarah. It was a chilly, foggy day so not many people were out and about which made the walk that much more enjoyable.

I ran into George Clooney at the Importanne Center; he was promoting coffee.

I visited Ecofutura, a environmentally friendly restaurant and sustainable farm just a small ways outside of Sarajevo.

I learned how to make pita, a traditional Bosnian dish, from my host mom and my host grandmother.

I visited the UN offices here in Sarajevo and we met up with a UN Programs officer who invited us back to help her on a new youth initiative she's starting!

I went to the Tunnel Museum, which is a museum devoted to highlighting the war and the history of a tunnel that acted as the one of the only ways for Bosnian to get out of the city during the siege and one of the only ways to get food and supplies in. It was really incredible, there is a section of the tunnel they left open so tourists can put themselves in the shoes of those who used it during the war, and let me tell you, it was not for the faint of heart. We even met a man who helped to build the tunnel and drove a U.N. truck through to crossfire to deliver supplies to those who needed it. The whole experience was kind of incredible.

This is the bridge that the man's team had to build in order to get supplies into the city. It was directly between two front lines of the war.

The break may have seemed long at times but it was really fantastic! I learned a lot, and despite how hard it was to wake up when school started back up again I'm confident that my second, (and final :( ) semester of my exchange year will be even better than the first.