Beograd is my new favorite

Today was amazing. We had a full day of meetings and it was really interesting to finally hear the Serb perspective on the wars. It is incredible to me the importance of victimization in the Balkans. Each culture, no matter where the conversation starts, will be quick to point out why they are discriminated against, how they have been victimized for the past 500 years, and immediately list the aggressive acts of the other countries in the region. Sarajevo's scar was the siege, and in Belgrade they celebrate the victimization of the NATO bombings. The defense department building was bombed here and half of it is still in shambles and the offices haven't moved, they just use the half of the building that is still intact for their offices and leave the other half in a disintegrating mess. Each country wants to prove how much they were attacked which is a shocking change from U.S. rhetoric which does the complete opposite of victimizing our country.

After a full day of meetings we all rushed out of the conference room to go to a pub down the street and watch the soccer match between the two teams of Belgrade. We asked to get to go to the game and our contact here in Belgrade said that it would be way to dangerous, especially because we are American (apparently in a State Department survey Serbia is tied with Pakistan for the lowest opinion of the U.S.). We were able to find a bar near the hotel to get some local beers and snacks and watch the game far away from the police officers lining the streets and the political hooligans at the game. And yes the Serbs refer to them as hooligans (which in my head is like the Fonz from Happy Days). But what is so dangerous about the soccer matches here, and sporting events in general is that they quickly become politically charged. At this match last year and French teen was beaten to death outside of the stadium.

After the soccer game I was able to go back to the fortress and see it in the daylight. Last night when we kind of pointed into the distance and assumed the Danube was there I tried to picture in my head what the view would be like and in reality it is so much prettier. We sat on the fortress walls overlooking the grounds and the rivers. It was rainy and grey the whole time we were in Sarajevo and it has been sunny and beautiful in Belgrade!

[oof, photos are still not uploading but get ready for a monster upload when internet improves]