Off the the Balkans

So I have embarked on my last exploration before I head back to school to get my MBA in international business at Thunderbird ( www.thunderbird.edu). I've decided to go to Eastern Europe. It is a part of the world I have never seen before and a place I can learn a lot. Traveling is my biggest passion and I love to travel for many reasons. I have always been fascinated by history (my college major) and by traveling you can get a feel for history first hand. I think it is very important to learn about different cultures. The more we learn about the world and the people living in it the better understanding we can have with each other. This understanding is vital for the world to avoid war upon war that accomplishes nothing except to create more hatred and animosity.

From my summers working in Nantucket I have made close friends scattered throughout the Balkans. I arrived in Serbia in the end of September and my friends Edin, Vladi, and Ivan picked me up in Belgrade. We drove to their hometown of Novi Sad, the 2nd largest city in Serbia, about 2 hours north. In Serbia, much like many places throughout the world, people live with their parents until they get married. In many catholic countries people do this out of custom. Here in Serbia people do it because they have no other option. The average salary is 400 USD per month. To rent an apartment it would cost more than half of that. You add in food and other necessities and it becomes impossible.
My friends found an apartment for me to rent in downtown Novi Sad. It is on the main Boulevard on the 17th floor and overlooks the whole city. Behind the city the mighty Danube roars by. All of the bridges over the river are less than 7 years old. They were built to replace the older bridges that were bombed by the US military in 1999.
Serbia has gone through a rough time in the last 20 years since the break up of the former Yugoslavia. They have had wars in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo. They have had despotic rulers, Foreign super powers bombing them, and their country has been fragmented. Their economy has collapsed and shows no signs of improvement.

In spite of all of this the people are resilient. My friends grew up playing basketball while bombs were dropping all around them. Now everyone seems to just want to forget the past, forget the fighting, and move forward. Everywhere I go everyone is friendly to me. People go out of their way to show me around and to answer my many questions about their country and their history. Serbia is indeed a gorgeous country.

My goal of this trip is to learn as much about this region as I possibly can... and of course to have some fun while I'm doing it.