Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik again, Sarajevo, then Belgrade and back to Sarajevo!

So, it has been a little over a month since I arrived here in the Balkans. It has been an interesting stay so far. After spending the weekend with a friend in Dubrovnik, my boyfriend, Arno, came to visit and we spent a weekend in Dubrovnik with a side trip to a nearby nature reserve island called Lokrum. A very nice time!! :o) Click here to see some photos from that trip!

>Photo above is from the balcony of our room.

We journeyed back to Sarajevo by bus, a 7 hour ride (the form of transportation I use most)...the next weekend, June 23rd-25th, we went to Belgrade which is the capital in the neighboring country of Serbia. (You might recall Serbia from the news stories for once being home to the tyrant & war criminal, Milosevic, and the subsequent NATO bombings in 1999, as well as to its recent separation from Montenegro because Montenegro voted for independence from Serbia). The bus ride was a grueling 8 hours each way with little to no air coming from the air vents--the ride back was ten times worse and like a sauna, literally. Anyhow, after some fun stops by the border police going to and from Belgrade, we did enjoy ourselves in the city.

>Photo above is from the walls surrounding Dubrovnik

Upon entering the outskirts of Belgrade, you notice there is a Roma (aka gypsy) community living among trash heaps--there is a large Roma population in the Balkan region...Well, despite that, the city is a very modern European city which really surprised us. It felt more modern and city-like than Berlin. The food, shopping, and cafes are great there, not to mention still cheap...they even have a McDonalds which doesn't exist in the entire country of Bosnia. There are only about two buildings which NATO bombed which have not yet been rebuilt...the city has been rebuilt throughout history like 60 times or something, so they are used to it and quite good at it. Damage from the war is otherwise not visible. This city has great potential and I think it will again become one of the top European tourist destinations in the next ten years.

Click here for a lot of Dubrovnik photos from my first visit!

>Photo above is an example of mountainous Bosnia

I have been living in Sarajevo now and going to my internship for a month now. The city is nice, as I have already mentioned before. The nightlife (and daylife for that matter) is a cafe culture, going to the cafes in the morning, afternoon, and evening for coffee! Nobody eats at these places because they can't really afford to and you will literally find groups of people sitting there throughout the day just drinking coffee and sometimes juice. The nightlife is rather mild, not much dancing. Since the World Cup, large tv screens have been placed at all the cafes outside, which is where I've been watching several of the games. It's nice to sit there in the cool shade, sip on a beer, watch the games and the people go by. Walking around is a major affair in this city, and in other Balkan cities too. People dress to the nines, especially the women. Low cut, tight shirts and pants, and high heels, and usually lots of makeup. On average the women are pretty, but sometimes they overdo it.

>Photo left is overlooking city of Sarajevo

Work has been good. I have done a few projects for NDI normally consisting of doing some research on a problem the Bosnian government is encountering, write a report explaining the research and providing recommendations for legislation and policies to implement. I am also doing an independent research project for the Office of the High Representative, which is the organization managing the country. It's on local self governance...I know, so interesting for you, isn't it?

Well, Arno has come and we will hopefully see each other again in a month--he ended his stay here in style singing Born to be Wild in karaoke at one of the EUFOR military base bars; the bar is an interesting place to say the least. ;) Also, one of my classmates is arriving tonight and she is interning somewhere else, so we get to hang out now. Next weekend, I am driving with Parish and his girlfriend to another city in Serbia, Novi Sad. There is a huge music festival going on and we'll be dancing in the hot sun all weekend.

> Photos: Me and Arno en route to Belgrade and one of the NATO bombed buildings, near some government buildings.

For more Belgrade photos (and more of Arno and I, of course) click here!

Photos are coming...

Soon I will have photos from Dubrovnik (Croatia), Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina where I am), and Belgrade (Serbia) posted. Stay tuned, they are great!!! :o)

Arrival in the Balkans, and Sarajevo...

Well, this is my first real time with access to the internet since arriving in the Balkans on 26 May. I flew into the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia (pictured left) which borders Bosnia-Herzegovina and is located on the beautiful Adriatic Sea. My friend, Matthew Parish (a friend I met in DC, as many of you know), and I had a beautiful room atop a mountain overlooking the old town of Dubrovnik and the sea. Breathtaking view, to say the least. I have taken tons of photos but because I lost my camera usb cord and haven't replaced it yet, I cannot upload any here....anyhow, we spent most of our time walking around the walled city, swimming in the clear water, having some beer, and relaxing. We drove back to Bosnia on Sunday the 28th and, let me tell you, it was one hell of a scary drive along the small roads curving in and out of the mountains--not to mention, the road signs were few and far between and when they did appear, were in cyrillic. I knew this region was mountainous, but nothing like this! It was also strange to see all of the destruction from the shelling and fighting from the war, which is visble everywhere.

Sarajevo has a really neat old town, which I live very near to. It's clearly a mixture of Eastern and Western worlds with churches, mosques, and synagogues all around. The setup of the market area is several hundreds of years old, not changing much since. The buildings in the city are generally drab and evidence of war is overwhelmingly present here. I found myself quite distracted by it when I first arrived trying to imagine what it must have been like to be here during that time...you can see the effects of the experience on the faces of the older people here and the younger people seem to be resilient even though they too were subject to the conflict--I am sure they are more hopeful for a stable political future, but they also don't hold onto the prejudices to the extent of those in the older generations. Some of the nationalist political parties encouraging prejudices and seperatism does not help either.

If you didn't know, the majority of the population here in Sarajevo is Muslim but having said that erase the stereotypes from your mind because that isn't the case here. Muslims, Christians, and the Orthodox people here in Sarajevo are generally not practicing. Only a small minority of the Muslim women wear head scarves and most everyone drinks alcohol, which if you were a strict practicing Muslim, would not do. Intermixing, at least here in the city, is quite normal. As in the rural parts of the U.S. where you tend to find many more of the hardcore religious people who do not have as much exposure, if any, to other cultures as you get in say NYC or DC, the same holds true for the rural people here--they are generally more close-minded and prejudiced. It is unfortunate, though, that these groups acted upon their prejudices more so here which led to the war (upon strong encouragement from people like Milosevic). Furthermore, without proper functioning institutions, one of the main things I am working on improving during my internship, corruption is very present. You do everything through family and friend connections because you will either have to wait forever to get anything done through official channels or have to pay some kind of bribe. The 'rule of law' is something which most of the internationals here are working on developing...

Well, that was just a blurb of what's been going on in general. Arno is visiting me in two weeks so I will get to spend some time with him in Dubrovnik, hopefully taking a boat to one of the many nearby islands, before returning together to Sarajevo. Looking forward to it!! Take care everyone.

For some more info and photos of Sarajevo check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo

Better shot of me and Arno

Since I failed to put an up-close shot of me and Arno before, here it is now...also from Berlin, in front of the largest section of the wall which is still standing.

Jared Allen Ruggles

I know I have already sent photos of my baby brother to nearly everyone I know, but I wanted to post a few here as well :o)

Berlin! 05-07 May 2006

Arno and I began our drive to Berlin Friday morning. Ironically, 05 may is Liberation Day in the Netherlands.

After a long drive, we arrived at our hostel in East Berlin near the Karl Marx street and Communist-styled buildings. The East side is still very delapidated and strikingly different from the West. The city overall, particularly in the East, is alternative and hippy. Among other things, Berlin is reknown for its numerous art museums and diverse architecture.

We spent most of our time walking around, visiting the largest section of the Berlin Wall (pictured above), the Berlin Jewish museum, the outdoor Holocaust memorial, the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, the oldest beer garden, etc.
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The infamous sign at Checkpoint Charlie












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Me and Arno at the Brandenburg Gate - at one point, it was also part of the Berlin Wall














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Part of the Berlin Jewish museum








The Holocaust memorial - the cement blocks are of different heights and the walkways in between are not level. Intended to give you a disoriented, uneasy feeling (among others).

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The Reichstag






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A cool club we went to--you can see us sitting there on the couch in the distance

Queen's Day

So, Queen's Day has come and gone--it was fun with dancing in the streets and fighting with the crowds to walk along the street, but walking around Amsterdam for the entire day was just too tiring..especially after a long night of dancing the night before. I went with some friends to see Armin van Buuren. I only have photos from that evening.

Arno and I are driving to Berlin this upcoming weekend (5-7 May) so stay tuned for some great photos ;o)

With Jack and Joost (Jack's brother)












Below: Joost with Kanako (she will be in Sarajevo interning for part of the summer as well!)

A Trip to the North

This past Friday, Arno and I drove to the north of the Netherlands and caught a ferry to one of the nearby islands called Texel (pronounced like tessel). We drove around the island for most of the afternoon checking out the views of the expansive green fields, sea, and beaches. It was the first time in eight years that I have driven a manual shift too--scary for me, but Arno was so patient!! :0) I have only a few photos from the trip...
In other news, I have just been very busy with schoolwork...I can't believe it's just a month until I leave for Bosnia!!! Next weekend is a huge party weekend because it's Queen's day. Everyone in the country puts on their orange (FYI, Orange is the Royal family's name) from head to toe and drinks ridiculous amounts of beer.

The biggest news is the birth of my baby brother which is planned (c-section) for Wednesday, 26 April. His name will be Jared Allen--a good name if you ask me. Will have photos of him at some point soon.

Check back in the next couple of weeks for photos of the baby and from Queen's day!

A nice article on Sarajevo

Click on the link below to read a nice story on Sarajevo, my soon-to-be home for 3 months. Enjoy!

Link to NY Times Sarajevo article, "Emerging from the Shadow of War, Sarajevo Slowly Reclaims Its Lost Innocence

Carnaval in Maastricht

Last weekend while people were celebrating Carnaval around the world, me and some friends traveled to the very south of Holland where Catholicism is the practiced religion (as opposed to Protestantism in most of the country) to have some fun. I only bought a wig, funny sunglasses and multi-colored boa. The Dutch carnaval music was the folky kind of music that makes you move up and down...almost like at Disney World or Busch Gardens, lol. Everyone at carnaval, young to old, are dressed in something.

The group (L-R): Brian, Mos, Daniel, Kanako, Jack, and me!






Below: Me and Jack posing in one of many bars we stopped in

Two men dressed up as prostitutes who went to the extreme and had this fake store front to sit in for the duration of carnaval. They moved locations from time to time. Lots of people had similar things--I saw a CSI crime scene as well; creative!

Cute little boy forced to wear a costume, hehe..
Mos with some people in extravagant costumes. It was really neat to see what people came up with--a lot of traditional carnaval costumes with ornate masks and dresses, royalty, etc.

Summer Internship will be in....

...Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (borders Serbia, Croatia and Hungary) with the National Democratic Institute! Check out the organization at www.ndi.org. It's based in DC and has offices around the world. Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State under Clinton, is the Chair of the Board for the organization. It's quite a prominent organization in the post-conflict democratization, reconstruction, and stabilization field. It receives most of its funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

I will be working on some of the following issues:
constitutional arrangements and points of contention, modernizing public administration, policy development and coherence, reform of specific sectors like the police, military and broadcasting, challenges to health care and education, social cohesion, identity and ethnicity, values, urban-rural dimensions, the role of women, migrations and refugees, minorities and human rights, youth attitudes and aspirations, local and world views, etc.

As many of you know, the Balkan region experienced several years of conflict in the 90's, but of all the countries in that region, Bosnia & Herzegovina is one of the safest. One of the biggest dangers are landmines, but these are clearly marked--you just can't go hiking wherever you'd like! I have a friend living and working for an international organization not too far from Sarajevo as well, which will be helpful. For more information on Sarajevo and the country in general, go to:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2868.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo

I am looking forward to the post-conflict issues I will be working on and the invaluable experience I will have as a result of this internship.

A graceful fall...

Shortly after awaking this morning, I went downstairs to make some coffee--a normal daily routine. Once the brewing started I headed back upstairs to check my email, another morning ritual. After reading my messages and hearing that the brewing was complete, I did the expected thing and headed back downstairs...only I headed down in a slightly different style. With what I faintly recall as being a slip of the foot, I plummeted down the steep, twisting stairs all the while trying to grasp onto the railing with my right arm. Try and try as I may, my arm only twisted with the rest of my body. Somehow I was alert enough to concentrate on not letting my head, back, or butt hit the stairs, which made for an extremely awkward fall. I let out a girly yell (what else can you expect!) and my two roommates came dashing down to check on me. I was completely faint for a few minutes, drank some orange juice to increase my blood sugar so I would not actually pass out, and then layed on the couch for a few minutes while my sight came back and my arm throbbed. Fortunately, after what was actually quite traumatizing, I am fairly well. I undoubtedly pulled my tricep muscle trying to hold on for dear life, and have scrapes beginning on the front of my arm twisting over to the back side of my arm and up my tricep. My toes on my left foot are bruised and stiff, but fine otherwise. My arm is bruising beautifully and is stiff, but not harmed further. I don't know if any of you have fallen down stairs, but it is one hell of a scary thing. It happens so quickly. On top of this, my roommate fell down them just last week. That tells you something about our stairs; check out the photo I posted recently of the stairs looking down from the top...would make for a better slide. Anyhow, I needed to vent and I hope you were somewhat entertained by my description of what was, at the time, frightening.

Another of the Eiffel tower...

I tried to capture the flickering lights, which occurs every first ten minutes on the hour. It's quite beautiful and I really like this photo...

Paris!!

Time goes by(a la Madonna)...in one of the wings of the Musee d'Orsay...

I traveled to Paris for a long weekend to visit a friend, Sravish. Since I visited the city a few years back, I tried to see some new sites. Of course, you cannot visit the beautiful city without passing the Eiffel Tower many times, especially if your friend lives nearby it! I took the elevator to the very, very top!!

Other highlights: walking up to Montmartre at night, drinking wine from glass baby bottles at a neat little fondue restaurant in Montmartre, meeting French men, eating fresh croissants, the Catacombes, shopping on the Ile St. Louis's cute streets, and just walking around with no specific plan. Enjoy the photos.














A view from the top






















Some nice face sculptures in the Musee d'Orsay which gave me a little creepy feeling inside for some reason...not as much as in the catacombes, though! The catacombes were constructed from an old underground quarry which became home to approx. 6 million peoples' bones in the 1700-1800's. You walk down some long, not very well-lighted, dirt and pebble-floored corridors to the consecrated site. What a sight it is too (cue x-files or another scary movie tune)...















A bit blurry, but you get the idea. I took the rest on my mobile but can't get them onto my computer...there were bones in various formations, a cross, a heart, etc. Corridors and corridors full. Before electricity, visitors just used candlelight--can you imagine?

More photos of our place

Since the sun is shining so brightly today, I thought I would update some of the old photos and add some new ones. We just love the place so much! Tonight (Feb. 9th) is our housewarming party and perhaps I will have some good photos from that later.













Our living room--perfect for entertaining, and even a dance party!














The terrace and steep stairs leading up to our bedrooms













And my bedroom...with the new addition of a 19.95 desk from Ikea!!

Budapest, 23-29 January 2006

In short, the trip to Budapest was a complete and utter blast. The city is fascinating and gorgeous, not to mention quite expansive. It was freezing and I had to wear 3 layers of clothes under my coat, as well as tights under my jeans, but it was well worth the trouble. The goulash was delicious and Brian and I became regulars at one of the local pubs for its goulash alone. One of the many highlights included 2 separate trips to the outdoor thermal bath, which is the largest of its kind in Europe. It was absolutely freezing outside and we ran like foreign nuts into the bath where we spent the next few hours relaxing. After leaving the bath and while walking to the metro, my bathing suit began to freeze!

I know that you must be curious as to why I am with 6 guys, but for some reason it never occurred to me I would be traveling with all men when I booked the trip. Kanako, another classmate, did have an overlapping trip so it was fortunate we could meet up too. Even a friend from DC who is now living and working in Bosnia, Matthew, was able to meet us! We were a diverse group of strong personalities, but laughed almost completely non-stop. It was one of the most memorable trips I have ever had. The former Soviet presence can still be felt, but the city is definitely transforming and modernizing with its membership to the European Union.

I have a few photos here, but you can view the rest at this address: http://dell.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=5b6o41r.82wb9wtz&Uy=-ui2xkf&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1



A row of arches at the Fishermen's Bastion





Me at the Bastion







The Chain Bridge - the first connection between Buda and Pest.










Me, Daniel, Bart, Brian, Erwin, and Jack






L-R: Daniel, Brian, Erwin, Matthew a.k.a Parish, Bart and Jack







The House of Terror - a place where Jews were killed in WWII, which also became a Nazi Headquarter and thereafter used by the Soviets. Not a favorable landmark for Hungarians.