ADVENTURES AT FRANKLIN

HIGHLIGHTS: - visiting Josip Broz Tito's grave. Yugoslavian leader from 1945 -- 1980 - staying at a fancy hotel with famous guests!  - exploring the many areas of the city which still are scarred by the most recent wars in the 1990s  - meeting with staff at the OSCE's (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission to Serbia and discussing their goals. - standing on the very hill where clashes between Western and Eastern Empires occurred Serbia's aggression towards Kosovo lead to a NATO bombing campaign of 1999 which left the Serbian Foreign Ministry building (and many others) in shambles. That was more than a decade ago yet it stands today in more or less the same state it was in 1999, minus the trees.  Finally getting some use out of my passport pages! In the European Union and Schengen visa areas they rarely stamp your passport. But Serbia is not EU so I finally got a stamp! Although nothing will beat the border agent in Croatia who gav...

Hello again! Today I am really in Bosnia, yesterday I was in Serbia and tomorrow I am heading back to Croatia. Is my Academic Travel trip crazy busy? Yes. Do I love it? Absolutely! I feel so blessed to have the chance to not only explore such a unique region of the world, but do so in a very unique way! Thus far we have met with economics professors, war veterans and former politicians. Like I said, it has been busy! So today I am going to talk about our first stop in Croatia...{drum roll} ZAGREB!  Fun Facts:  - While on our walking tour we passed by "The Museum of Broken Relationships"  We didn't get the chance to go in, but the tour guide explained to us that it accepts donations from around the world of leftover artifacts + letters from ex-relationships then tells their story. It is a  "unique" (noticing a theme here?) idea for a museum, to say the least. In fact it won "most innovative museum" in 2011.  - Zagreb develope...

I am so pleased with this academic travel so far! It is only day three and I feel as though I already have had so many adventures! I don't have too much time to write now, as I have been busy exploring Slovenia and Croatia, but I thought I would share some photos from Ljubljana, Slovenia, our first stop on the trip!  Fun facts about Ljubljana:  - Capitol of Slovenia and largest city  - The dragon is the emblem of the city because, as legend goes, Jason (as in mythology's Jason + the golden fleece) killed a dragon in Ljubljana.  - home to the first philharmonics school in Europe  - entered into the European union in 2004  day+night with the dragon of slovenia  snapshots from our walking tour around town the group picture was taken in a former templar knights monastery while we listened to the guide explain some regional history autumn leaves kavalir = a FREE service you can call that takes you around the pedestrian only ...

I can't tell you what a relief it was to make it through this week! Midterm exams + papers + work = one rough week! But none of that matters now, because it is the best time of year here at Franklin! Academic Travel time!!! For this semester's academic travel I am enrolled in a course  which focuses on the recent history of the former Yugoslavia. Our travel group will be immersed in learning about the dramatic events of the 20 th   century that led to the formation of the Yugoslav state, to its tribulations during World War II, its relative stability during the period of the Cold War and its violent collapse in the 1990's.  The Civil War in Yugoslavia and its effects will be a main theme in meetings and discussions about the successor states and their problems today.  Economic problems, political problems and questions of law and order (such as the prosecution of those accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Civil War). Beyond visiting the class...