This will be a quick post and I don't have any fun pictures to update just yet. I've been doing really well since I've been back in Bologna. I've met some awesome people in the last week and got to eat dinner out with them last night-- students from Australia, the UK, and more. Fun people! I've been soaking up my time here and realizing that it will fly by quickly!
Today we board a ferry for Croatia. We will tour Croatia and Bosnia and talk to refugees, community leaders, and religious leaders to learn more about the war in Bosnia that happened in 1993 (the year I was born!) I'm really excited to see the beautiful landscape and experience the culture there. I think it will be a great trip. A good time to reflect and learn more about something so important.
I hope to have some wifi to give updates but I may not have access to the internet. But when I return I will have tons of pictures and reflections on what I learn there!
Sending all my love!
Ciao!
Jenna
Here is my itinerary so you can have an idea:
Wednesday, June 4, 2014 Tour to the Balkans Begins
The tour will be a review of the peace and
reconciliation initiatives in the region. The tour brings students to the homes
of local Croatian and Bosnian families who share stories of their lives during
the 1990’s war and their visions for the future. This is a unique opportunity to meet face to
face with local activists and religious leaders working in a region that is
rich in history, exploding with a vibrant arts scene and is abundant in natural
beauty comparable to America’s Rocky Mountain region or the Caribbean’s
pristine waters.
1:45 PM Departure
to the Balkans - Sleep on Ferry Boat / Please
bring a sleeping bag
- Meet at
the Bologna Train Station Lobby at 1:45 for a 2:22 Train Departure to
Ancona
Train
departure for Ancona where the group will board an over-night boat for Croatia.
Thursday June 5 (Imotski, Croatia – family home stay)
- Early afternoon arrival in the town of Imotski.
- Afternoon hike in the Imotski region – tour of
Illyrian tombs.
- Evening Discussion: Introduction to Croatia led by Domagoj Nikolic. Mr. Nikolic is a
resident of Imotski and owns a vineyard. He worked for many years as the
director of the American Refugee Committee in Belgrade and later for a US
owned security operations company in Iraq.
He has degrees from the London School of Economics and the
University of Rochester. Mr. Nikolic teaches at the University of
Rochester in Dubrovnik.
Friday June 6 (Imotski, Croatia – family home stay)
- Agenda to be determined
Saturday June 7, 2013 Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina
Perspectives on the past, present and future of
Mostar.
- 11:00 – 1:00 PM: Community tour and discussion
led by Aida Omanovic. Ms. Omanovic has worked for various
international relief agencies since 1994.
She has organized a meeting with Muslim leaders in the divided City
of Mostar.
- Lunch on your own
- Evening: A traditional Bosnian meal will be
served at the Omanovic home in Mostar.
Ms. Omanovic will provide a lecture on her divided City and prepare
the group for the next day’s meetings.
Why Mostar? Mostar was
the most heavily shelled city, in all of Southeastern Europe, during the wars
that followed the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. The suffering in Mostar
was horrific from 1992 to 1995. Initially a Serbian force shelled the city from
the eastern hills killing thousands and forcing even more from their homes.
Croats and Muslims combined to expel the Serbs but shortly afterwards became
adversaries. The Croat forces took over the western bank expelling Muslims and
the city became divided along the river. To this day the City remains primarily
ethnically divided between Catholics and Muslims.
Sunday, June 8, 2013 (Morning in Mostar – late afternoon
arrival in Sarajevo)
- Morning (45 minutes from Mostar) Visit to the Serbian
Orthodox Monastery
- Mid afternoon – departure for Sarajevo
- (TENTATIVE) 6:00 PM: Peace and
Reconciliation lecture led by activists and scholar Friar Ivo Markovic.
Friar Markovic placed himself in harms ways throughout the war in
efforts to model forms of non-violent intervention in efforts to stop the
fighting between Catholic, Muslims an Orthodox Serbs.
Monday, June 9, 2013 (Sarajevo)
- 10:30 AM: Meeting with Chief Political Officer
Edward Bestic at the US Embassy Sarajevo
- 3:00 – 4:00 PM: Meeting with Muhammad
Durakovic. Mr. Durakovic survived the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 and
now works for the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP).
Tourist Site: In Sarajevo,
Muslim minarets are now predominant in a town where Muslims, Jews, Orthodox
Christians and Catholics once lived in harmony. Alluring Baščaršija (Old Town)
is a mix in with cafés, artisan shops, and trendy bars. The New York
Times recently listed Sarajevo as one of the 20 most up and coming cities in
the world for music and art. Tourists are astonished that a nation that has
suffered so much killing has produced a city with such vitality? In the 1990s
this was a city and people on the edge of annihilation, but today it has become
a favorite traveler destination.
Tuesday, June 10, 2013 (Sarajevo Hotel)
Day trip to the village of Srebrenica and the United
Nations site at Potacari.
In June of 1995, Serbian military forces executed
8300+ Bosnian Muslim boys and men. The
town of Srebrenica had allegedly been set up as a “safe zone” by United Nations
forces. UN Soldiers stepped aside
watching as Muslims were led to their mass graves. We will meet with survivors of the massacre.
- 8:00 AM departure
– 5:00 PM return to Sarajevo
Wednesday June 11 and Thursday June 12, 2014 Split, Croatian Coast
- Wednesday - Long Bus Day
- Late morning – visit to the religious site of Medjugorjie.
- Wednesday early evening arrival in Split, Croatia.
· Why
Medjugorje?
In 1981, a year after the death of ex-Yugoslavia's communist dictator,
Josip Broz Tito, events in Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia-Hercegovina,
began to stir the Christian world. Six Croatian Catholic children-four girls
and two boys, then aged from ten to sixteen-claimed to have experienced visions
of the Virgin Mary. Thirty-three years
later, each year fourteen million religious pilgrims from all parts of the
globe come to the small village to pray on the site of the apparitions of
Mary.
Friday, June 13, Split, Croatia (Evening Ferry Boat Departure back to Italy)
- Friday – day at the beach
- 7:00 PM- we
will board the SNAV ferry boat for our return to Italy
Tourist Site: Croatia, specifically the Dalmatian
Coast, is consistently rated as one of the world’s most scenic destinations
(Lonely Planet Guide, National Geographic, & Nature Magazine). The coast
consists of 1185 islands with pristine waters.
The final two days of the tour are set aside for exploring the Adriatic
seaside on the dramatic coast. Croatia is relatively unknown among Americans
but is widely viewed by Europeans as the continent’s number one beach
destination.
Saturday, June 14, Arrival
in Bologna
- Mid-afternoon arrival in Bologna
No comments:
Post a Comment