She's Leaving on a Jet Plane...for SERBIA: Anna's Adventures III

Part III: Question and Answer

1. Why did you pick this May Term? 

I actually wasn’t going to go on a May Term trip this past year.  I went on the London trip last year and the plan was to take this year off and work back at home to make some money for a May Term maybe next year!  However, Dennis Barnett, our professor talked to me and basically said, “you should do this trip.  I think you’d like it and you’d be a good fit for it.”  He made sure I could come to the informational meeting and then kept talking to me about the application process and his plans for the trip.  Dennis kept sharing bits and pieces to keep me curious and interested.  That ended up getting the better of me, I was so interested that I couldn’t say no!  I applied, was accepted, and put down my deposit.  So really, I think the reason I picked the trip was because Dennis kept after me about it.

2. Could you give us a brief timeline of how you found out about the trip, how you registered, any preparation, and then your departure from Coe? 

Like I said, Dennis told me about the trip, plus I’d had friends who had gone on the last trip to Serbia and talked it up.  So I’d technically known about the trip since my freshman year, but the informational meeting happened in late October.  Those who were interested in the trip had to apply, since only twelve students are taken on the trip.  We needed to apply by the end of November, with the understanding that we’d know if we had been accepted before reading day and finals week.  Then we needed to turn in our deposit by the end of January and have paid in full by finals week of the spring semester.  Once May Term began (May 9), we had five days of class at Coe, where we studied plays, the history and culture, and language.  We then left for Serbia the next weekend (May 15), driving from Coe to the O’Hare airport in Chicago.  From Chicago we flew to Warsaw, Poland, and caught a connecting flight to Belgrade, Serbia.

3. What was the hardest adjustment you had to make in Serbia? 

I think for me, the hardest adjustment was dealing with a language barrier and a different system of currency.  Many people on the street in Serbia speak English, but they won’t automatically make the switch from Serbian to English for you.  A lot of the time you have to talk to them in Serbian and then ask (also in Serbian) if they happen to speak any English.  Money was also an issue.  They use the dinar in Serbia and it takes approximately 67 dinars to make one dollar.  It took a little while to get used to converting dollars to dinars and dinars to dollars in my head, but after a couple of days, I could do it pretty easily.

4. In your opinion, why should people visit Serbia? 

Serbia is such a completely different cultural experience!  A lot of people visit Europe and talk about a distinctly European experience, but Serbia didn’t ever really European.  There was definitely a mix of cultural elements.  I saw shops that I had seen in London and came across architecture that looked similar to what I’d seen in pictures from a friend’s trip to Turkey.  Serbia was a very unique experience and if you’re looking for something off the beaten tourist path, you should definitely go.  But, as always when you’re traveling abroad, be open minded when you reach your destination.  That’s the only way you can truly appreciate the country and enjoy yourself.

5. Since this was your second May Term, why should students participate in them?

May Terms are such a great opportunity! I think everyone should do at least one.  If you’re into study abroad, May Terms are a great way to get a taste of a different country or culture.  The longest you’ll be somewhere is a month, so you don’t need to worry about getting really homesick or anything.  Think of it as bite-size study abroad!  I’m so glad I decided to go on a second May Term trip; it was a completely different experience from my first trip and I enjoyed them both.  College offers the opportunity to travel in a way you’ll pretty much never be able to travel again.  Take advantage of that opportunity.  Traveling (especially abroad) helps you grow as a person.  The May Term experience at Coe lets you learn and experience things in a unique setting and if you want to make the most of your college years, you should totally take a May Term.

She's Leaving on a Jet Plane...for SERBIA: Anna's Adventures II

Part II: A Favorite Memory

One of my favorite memories from the entire Serbia trip (and certainly one that will stay in my memory for quite a while) was our first group dinner at a restaurant down the street from our hotel, called Znak Pitanje.  It was our second night in Belgrade, so most everyone was mostly adjusted to the time difference.  Znak Pitanje (which literally translates to “question mark”) is located across the street from the Belgrade Cathedral and is made up of an indoor bar and restaurant area, an outdoor seating section, and then a series of private rooms in the back for larger parties.  Since there were sixteen of us, we were shown to one of the private rooms as soon as we walked in the door.

They served us a traditional Serbian meal — vegetables like cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes, mountain cheeses, bread, salted and smoked meats, sausages, more peppers, a bean dish, and a roasted meat of some sort — complete with rakija (the Serbian alcoholic beverage of choice, a fruit flavored homemade brandy).  You have to remember, the Serbs consume a lot of alcohol — its just part of their culture — and they can hold it well.  For them, it’s normal to have a small glass of rakija (or even two) with dinner, especially with a traditional dinner.  They served us all rakija but we were welcome to drink or not drink as we wished.  About halfway through the meal (which was delicious!) our Professor asked the waiter if there was any way we could have some music, even from a boombox.  The waiter said, no, he didn’t think there was a way to get us music, and he was terribly sorry.  We said, that’s fine, and went back to our meal.

About an hour later (time doesn’t seem to matter in Serbia, especially at meals), the waiter walked in, leading fourteen other Serbs into our private room.  He smiled at us and said, I’ve brought you music!  Turns out, these people happened to be singers and the waiter saw them sitting at the bar and asked if they could come sing some traditional music for the group of American tourists he was serving.  They agreed and in they came, singing about ten minutes of traditional folk music for us.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Completely different from any other music I’ve ever heard, but still beautiful.  I’m pretty sure the only word for it would be “magical.”

After the group had finished singing, they told us, we sang for you, now you must sing for us.  So we tried to come up with something uniquely American for them, something they wouldn’t have heard before.  Well, we ended up bumbling through two verses of “You Are My Sunshine.”  They laughed and applauded for us and said we were good sports.

That night ranks up in my top 5 experiences for the entire trip.  Yes, I saw tons of  amazing things and had tons of amazing experiences in Serbia, but none of them can quite compare to the kindness of those people who walked into the bar and ended up coming in to sing to us.  The Serbs have this very strong desire to show off the best of their country and a lot of the time, they’re willing to do pretty much whatever it takes to help tourists and visitors experience that. 

She's Leaving on a Jet Plane...for SERBIA: Anna's Adventures I

All right, first up is Anna (see picture above).  She works in the Writing Center with me and is a junior this fall.  Hailing from Kenosha, Wisconsin, Anna is majoring in English with minors in History and Classical Studies.  Anna wrote the following three posts.  I'm just posting them! :)  Enjoy!

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Part I: Overview

So I just got back from my second May Term trip (the first being my trip to London last year through the Theatre department).  This second trip was also through Coe’s Theatre department, but it was a completely different experience.  They’re on the same continent, but Belgrade, Serbia, feels like worlds away from London, England.  But I can talk about that later — now I should be getting on to my overview of the trip.

This trip started out with five days of class (with six hours of class time a day) at Coe.  Now before anyone freaks out, it wasn’t that bad and it never felt like we were spending six hours of time on class work.  Each day of class was divided into four sections: history and culture, plays, language, and movies.  The first hour was always dedicated to learning about Serbian culture and what we might expect to see in Belgrade.  The second hour was our time to discuss the reading for the day — usually a play, followed by a chapter or two of a “documentary” book called With Their Backs to the World: Portraits from Serbia by Asne Seierstad.  The third hour was our crash course in Serbian, meaning our attempts to learn enough to pretend to be able to communicate with the native speakers. (As frustrating as it sometimes was to realize that you can’t learn a language in five days, I’m so glad we spent the time on it.  I feel that knowing even the little Serbian that I did made life so much easier once we were actually there.)  The other three hours of class were devoted to a movie, again, usually a play, though we did watch one documentary.  So class wasn’t that bad.  Six hours a day, but divided into bite-size chunks.  Our class met from 1pm-4pm and then again from 7pm-10pm.  We actually had a lot of fun with the movies; we made popcorn, had candy, and ended up using another student’s apartment rather than the real classroom!

At the end of the week, we had a final rather than watching a fifth movie.  Most of the group freaked out a little bit at the prospect of a final exam, but it was really nothing to sweat.  We were only being tested on four and a half days worth of material and there was nothing to worry about if you had paid any sort of attention during class.  We were tested on basic information, like general history and big cultural events, a little language (meaning, phrases you should be able to recognize), and then some theatre terms and concepts that we needed to have an understanding of.  All in all, nothing to really be stressing about.

Once we got to Belgrade, we weren’t really tightly scheduled.  The Serbs are a fairly laid-back people, so stuff happens when it happens there.  There were plenty of things that we did together as a group, but we were also free to go out and explore on our own in smaller groups (say, three or four of us rather than all fourteen of us!).  We ended up sticking together a lot of the time, simply because we all had similar interests (hey, that’s what happens when you stick a bunch of theatre kids together), but after the first few days, there were quite a few of us who were willing to go out and find a meal or souvenirs in smaller groups.

Our days were mostly spent sight-seeing, visiting museums, fortresses, monuments, and theatres (with a lot of walking and bus-riding mixed in), while our nights were either devoted to the theatre or free for us to do what we pleased.  We took a bike tour, a river “cruise,” day trips to the cities of Kragujevac, Zemun, and Novi Sad, visited an archaeological dig outside Belgrade, took an unofficial tour of Belgrade University, saw Tito’s mausoleum and a cathedral under construction.  We saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in Belgrade with Serbian subtitles, ate too much good food, and got slightly sunburned.  I think it’s safe to say I had a really good time.

Check It Out! New Summer Feature Starts Monday! :)

In Rapid City, SD standing next to Ronald Reagan!

I just got back in time for hot and humid weather in Wisconsin!  My family took a road trip to the Great West and we are now home!  Our destination was Mt. Rushmore and along the way we saw the Corn Palace, the Badlands, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse, and statues of all the presidents in Rapid City, SD.  It was a great trip and now I'm back, just in time to introduce a new feature running through July and a little bit of August.  I'm featuring five students who did or are doing fun stuff through Coe.  Here's the starting lineup (titles subject to change).



The Week of...

• Monday, July 4th - She's Leaving on a Jet Plane...for SERBIA: Anna's Adventures 
• Monday, July 11th - Home Away From Home: Millie's Summer Work Experience
• Monday, July 18th - Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Kyle's Baseball Road Trip
• Monday, July 25th - Let's Discover Physics!: Alison's Summer of Research
• Monday, August 1st - Greece, Smile for the Camera!: Max's Basketball Escapade

These are five AMAZING Coe students and friends of mine so I hope you enjoy their posts!  

Summer Hiatus is Over! New Posts Coming Soon!

I've had a good (and busy) start to my summer.  Between catching up with family and friends and working part time at the public library in Mt. Horeb, I haven't had much time to do all the things I've been planning on doing.  Although I will say I have caught up on sleep(!) and have read a few books FOR FUN.  I've also got some books to read before the school year starts again and you'll hear all about them in later posts!  This is a little teaser to let you know posts are coming back, especially in July and August.  For the month of July I'll be featuring students who did something exciting through Coe either over our May Term or right now, over the summer.  Scatter in a few book reviews, some tips for incoming freshman, and a history of Coe overview and we're at the end of August when I'll be moving in for YEAR TWO.  Crazy.  I'll be posting again to give you a lineup of the students I'm featuring but I'm waiting for a few answers so the lineup isn't set quite yet.

Hope my readers are enjoying the sun but wearing an appropriate amount of sunscreen so they don't burn themselves!