A Little Trip over the Border

Last week for the May 1st holiday (it Labor Day in most of Europe) my host family packed up the car and headed for Serbia! We were driving to my host mother's cousin's house in rural Serbia outside of Belgrade, it took us a few hours, but on the way we had some good ole road trip fun.

Crossing the border into Serbia was a breeze. At the time, we were the only car going into Serbia, but at least a hundred cars were headed out, all they did was glance at our passports and send us on our way.

The town where my host mother's cousin lives was a tiny little village with only one long street. On the side of the road there were natural thermal springs that locals and tourists alike could swim in. Her cousin gave us a quick tour of the town and then we spent the rest of the day chatting and getting acquainted.

The next day we drove into Belgrade to see all the sights. Belgrade was the former capital of Yugoslavia and is the current capital of Serbia. It is much larger than Sarajevo. It reminded me of Washington D.C. mixed with New York and my family and I acted like total tourists, but we had a great time. We saw the Kalemegdan fortress, the Victor Statue, some Orthodox Christian churches and a zoo! It was quite a busy day, but the last thing on our list was to find this shopping center called Delta City that was rumored to have an H&M. That may not seem like a big deal, but when you take in account the fact that Bosnia doesn't have any H&M stores the stakes are higher. The problem with Delta City though was that it was way far away from downtown Belgrade and buried behind apartment complexes. We tirelessly search though and after an hour of aimlessly driving around we spotted it. Huzzah!

Before we knew it we were back in Bosnia. Our Serbian hosts took us to an Ethno selo for coffee and quick bite to eat. Then we had to thank them and depart. We piled back into the car and headed to Tuzla to spend the night at my host grandmother's house.

The next morning we made the trip home to Sarajevo. Going on vacation with my host family was such a fun experience, but my favorite part of the weekend was when we got back home and had a family dinner in the living room overlooking a Sarajevo sunset. Sarajevo may be a little rough around the edges, and it may the city not be for everyone, but it is sure as heck the city for me. I can't even bring myself to think about my departure in a little over a month, its just too depressing.