Hi all. I feel just a little bad for neglecting this blog (or to some, the imported Facebook notes) but I’ve been managing to stay so busy that I pretty much forgot the blog even existed. My apologies, and I’m here now! Besides, I have a whole trip to Serbia to talk about and I better do it now before too much time goes by.

When we arrived in Belgrade, Darjana and I had to wait for her sister Zvezdana to meet us and drive two hours to their town of (hold on, let me look it up…) Gornji Milanovac, where the wedding was to be held that weekend. Unfortunately on the way to Belgrade Zvezdana’s car was not prepared for the unexpected snowy journey and she slid into the ditch, unable to continue all the way to Belgrade. Fortunately she was okay, although a little shaken, and there was only minimal damage to the car. So, we had to take a bus to the town instead, and while we waited for it Peter (he’s been mentioned in previous blog entries) gave me a mini tour of Belgrade in his car. At first we all walked around trying to locate coffee, and I got to see a little bit of the University of Belgrade. I hate to admit, I was not impressed with the way the Faculty of Philosophy appeared on the outside. I thought the windows were boarded up and that we were actually looking at a condemned building, but it turns out I was very wrong. I have no idea what the wood-looking things on the windows were, maybe storm protection? The little bit that I saw of the inside of the building looked much better, and normal, and I’m sure in better conditions outside the building would look different. But, the conditions were not the greatest, for even this lifetime Alaskan was freezing because of the wet and slightly breezy cold that was penetrating her bones all the way to the marrow.
After coffee Peter took us on the car tour in the short time that was left before having to get on the bus. I liked the city, and it felt like a very good place to be. I loved some of the graffiti on the walls- not so much the “I’m a cool gang wannabe” tags but the ones that looked like they were commissioned as murals. I hope to return to Belgrade in the future, maybe even this spring, because there is so much about it that I’m curious about and the quick little taste definitely wetted my appetite for more.

Since I’ve been back in Budapest time hasn’t taken it upon itself to stand still very long. This upcoming week marks the halfway point of the semester, so there won’t be much time left before I’m back in Alaska. I look forward to going home, but in the meantime I am finding ways to really enjoy myself here. Having four day weekends and meeting random new people and making unsuccessful attempts to go inside museums stuffed with other visitors helps that out a lot. It’s all about the experience. In a couple weeks once I get a presentation for Philosophy of Mind out of the way, I plan on taking another weekend trip somewhere. Stay tuned!