9/11 Abroad

All day today I was expecting my ever opinionated classmates in school to come up to me with their thoughts on the events of September 11, 2001. All day I expected someone to remember I’m from the New York metropolitan area and give me that bewildered and all knowing look. All day I waited for the moment of silence and the hush of a bustling crowd, but it never came, and why should it? I’m in Sarajevo after all, not the US. To the Bosnians I saw walk the streets it was just an average Wednesday.

First Day of School!

It's official, my senior year of high school has begun! I did not have to be at school until 11, but I got up around 7 so that I could have breakfast with my host parents. Around 10:45 I arrived at Druga Gimnazija and thankfully I spotted Luke and Sarah among the throngs of Bosnian teenagers reuniting. Around 11:15 all of the students went inside and the IB diploma kids sat down to hear Tomo explain the program. As soon as the 6 of us YES Abroad students walked into the room all eyes were on us, it was a very strange feeling. Then we were split into our indexes, which are sort of like homerooms. Riley and I are in Index I, so we were the first to separate from the group.

Our homeroom teacher was an older lady who seemed super friendly, but when Riley and I sat down in the classroom the teacher started speaking in rapid Bosnian...and continued to do so for the next hour. All aspects of the IB program are supposed to be in English, but I guess she preferred Bosnian. Riley and I just awkwardly counted the ceiling tiles while she spoke. After she was done she took attendance and handed out the schedules. Get this, I don't have class until 4:15 IN THE AFTERNOON on Mondays, and even then I only have class for an hour and a half! Our timetables are a little funky because there are too many students so some days we have hours and hours of class and other days I barely have anything at all. Everyone in my index was really friendly, though sadly I don't think I'll ever get everyone's name straight. Sorry in advance.

This is my Monday schedule, crazy I know.

After homeroom (we only went to school for an hour!) a bunch of the IB student stuck around to introduce themselves to us. About 15 different people invited me for coffee and for some reason I said yes to all of them! Sarah and I went to a cafe called "Bom Bom" with a large group of students and they chatted with us. It was so nice to chat with Bosnians our age and not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. Later the group split up and we all went our separate ways. Sarah and I decided to chill at the BBI center and then pick up our student transportation passes from Selma. We had originally planned to go home after that but somehow Sarah and I did what we do best, we impulsively decided to go to some random place.

Today's destination was a fortress in Vratnik. It was gorgeous! You could see an amazing view of the city from there. Tomorrow I have my first class at 8 so I'm going to go make sure I have everything I need.

On the walk up we saw this strange stage

The view!

AH ITS SO PRETTY

I've Arrived!

After a day and a half of rest and doctor’s visits I started and finished my journey to Sarajevo without incident or injury. I had a long layover in the Munich International Airport so I got to practice my rudimentary German skills. While I sat at my gate I noticed another girl my age who looked distinctly American, I don’t know why, but I could just tell that she and I were different than the other passengers. Anyway after a bit I got up the nerve to ask her if she was American and lo and behold, I was right! She was a Rotary Student from New England who was also going to live in Sarajevo and even attend my school! We talked about how nervous and excited we were to begin our years here. It was nice to have someone to geek out with since I didn’t get to fly over with the rest of my group. I won’t bore you with more flight details, long story short I got into Sarajevo safe and sound.

Since my arrival I have been super busy and I love it! My usual day starts with breakfast at a pekara (bakery) near my school and then Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian language class with the rest of the YES Abroad students from 9 – 1. Afterwards we sometimes have a planned activity with American Councils or we make our plans with friends or our host families. So far I’ve gone sightseeing, gone to the US Embassy, had pita at a tiny restaurant, and worked on a scavenger hunt that American Councils set up for us.

My breakfast! It's like a cheese sandwich. It costs 1KM or $0.69 USD

Baščaršija

I also have an amazing host family that consists of a host mother, host father, two host brothers (both older than I am) and a host sister in-law, they are very laid back and fun to talk with (though my conversational Bosnian is about as limited as it gets). They also live in one of the coolest neighborhoods I’ve ever seen. It’s basically 2.2 km (around 1.4 miles) up a very steep, almost mountainous hill from the city center and today I trekked up the entire way. I even asked for directions in Bosnian on the way up,  and the lady gave them to me, and I understood them…big things are happening people…big things. Once I successfully found my way to my street I bought myself a coke and some weird chocolate to congratulate myself. 

The view from my house

My reward

This Post is Not for the Faint of Heart

If things had gone according to plan today I would be in beautiful Sarajevo right now, but unfortunately, they did not. I woke up with nausea, aches, and a bit of swelling but I thought maybe it was just nerves over my departure date. (Yes, looking back I realize how silly that is, but give a girl a break.)

Anyway I decided to toughen up and not worry about it. The ride to the airport was early so everyone in the car was pretty quiet and I checked my bags at the terminal fairly quickly. Saying goodbye to my wonderful family was really hard but after a few tears I felt totally ready to embark on this awesome journey…well, that is, until my breakfast had a second coming in a trash can between Auntie Anne’s and Au Bon Pain. Things just kept going downhill from there but I won’t give you the gory details. I had a lot of trouble getting a hold of my parents because I had already given up my cell phone and my mom, who was at this point in the car on her way home, had a broken phone that could only receive texts not calls. And despite how technologically advanced the world is, pay phones do not come with a texting function. Luckily a guy in the terminal reluctantly gave me his phone so I could text my mom, then I called American Councils and they were very helpful. They told me to fly if I felt healthy enough, but not to put my well being in jeopardy. I felt really sick, but mostly I felt bad about not getting on the flights that YES Abroad had booked for me and I had no way of consulting with my parents, so I decided to just hope and pray that whatever was making me sick would go away soon, but at the very last second before boarding started my dad came through the terminal. We talked it over and I decided not to get on the plane. I called up American Councils and they were really friendly and understanding and rebooked me to fly to Sarajevo on Saturday. Words cannot express how awesome American Councils is, honestly they’re the best.

Once I got home I went to the doctor’s office and they said I would be safe to fly on Saturday as long as I came in for another check-up today and diligently took some anti-bacterial pills for the next two weeks. At first I was really bummed that I couldn’t fly to Sarajevo on my original flights with everyone else, but now I can understand that I was not in any shape to travel yesterday. So today I’m going to focus on getting better so tomorrow I can be Bosnia bound once again.

The Great Debate

So the time has come to decide what I will bring with me to Bosnia and what I will leave behind. You may be thinking "But Emma! You don't leave until next Thursday! Why on you packing now?!" well friends let me answer that for you; I am such a terrible packer that I have to do begin the  process AT LEAST a week in advance, honestly I should have started sooner. The hardest part of the whole ordeal was just figuring out where to start. How does a person predict what they'll need for the next 10 months in a country they've never been to? Thankfully YES Abroad made us a basic packing list to work off of.

For anyone who thinks they might need some year abroad packing tips, let me lay down what little wisdom I have to offer on the subject.

1. Sort through all of your clothes, separate items into "Not Taking" and "Maybe Taking"
2. Store or donate the "Not Taking" pile somewhere
3. Take your "Maybe Taking" pile and divide it into two piles "Worn in the last year" and "Not worn in the last year"
4. Store things that you haven't worn in the last year, if you haven't worn it before you probably won't wear it while you're abroad
5. Look at your "Worn in the last year" pile and just keep dividing it up until you feel like you have just enough clothes to make it through all the seasons (if your destination has different seasons)

This is how my "Worn in the last year" pile started out

Thankfully it ended up nicely packed in the suitcase on the left

Now that I'm all packed, I'm off to spend some time with my family, on another note, ONLY 8 DAYS UNTIL I'M BOSNIA BOUND!

Happy Packing!

HOST FAMILY

I just received an email about my host family but I'm alone in a lobby of a college admissions office and can't freak out! More info to come later, I have to go have an interview!!! Aaaahh!

Less than a month!

AH! Yesterday (July 15th) was the start of my official "One month left until Bosnia" countdown (its a working title). I only have one month left to complete all of the things on my To-Do list, and it looks like I might just finish it. Anyway, I thought my blog needed an update so there it is. I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! Hopefully I know about my host family soon!

One month until I'm in Sarajevo!