I have backpacked through New Mexico for 11 days and traveled to Europe many times for trips ranging from a week to three months and the biggest tip I can give to new travelers is: pack light. Yes, we will have a hiking pack and an everything else pack (and technically a third 'laptop' bag) but imagine carrying all that. It's heavy, unwieldy, and short of a tacky Hawaiian shirt, you will be immediately identified as a tourist. With that identification, there is a whole host of nasty implications, but I'll get to that later.
First, back to packing light. Layers are the way to go, especially with the warm days and cold nights we'll be experiencing. The ORGT packing list is a good list that covers most of the situations we'll possibly experience and provides a good guide for the 'civilization' portion of the trip. Don't pack an additional jacket for the cities, wear the fleece/long shirt combo you packed for Croatia. Don't be afraid to wear clothing more than once before washing - everyone will smell just as bad and odds are, few people will even notice. This will minimize not only the amount of gear you're carrying but also help you easily adjust to changes in temperature such as transitioning from cool museums to walking around an outdoor market. Also keep in mind that darker shades can help hide dirt and slight stains better than whites and pastels.
The 'business casual' dress code of the city portions will help ensure everyone is appropriately dressed various activities around each city. If possible, avoid clothing with large logos and American flags (it can be a touchy symbol in some areas) and remember that most of the world tends to dress a little more conservatively than Americans in the summer. Religious areas (mosques, temples, and churches) and smaller towns especially merit a more decorous level of dress with shoulders covered and longer shorts - typically near knee length - than other, more modern areas. Keep in mind that we will be walking quite a bit so while flats with little support may look cute, your feet will not thank you.
With that being said, less is more. While we will be backpacking for a good portion, keep in mind that we will eventually re-enter civilization so you don't need to pack a 12 oz. bottle of shampoo/conditioner/lotion. If you run out of travel size anything, we'll be able to stop by a store and resupply. It'll be a fun cultural experience (popular fragrances can differ from country to country) and you'll get to avoid lugging a heavy bottle through three countries. (On the subject of toiletries, it should go without saying to not bring a hair dryer or straightener. While camping, everyone will be looking a tad rough (nothing a hat can't cover up) and while at the hostels, there will likely be hair dryers.)
Packing light can be difficult, especially considering the uncertainties of the trip (What's the weather like? How far will we be walking today?) but don't let uncertainty guide your packing. Pack tightly and well-organized as this will help you re-pack when we move from city to city. Ziploc bags help compress clothing and keep everything clean as well as minimizing wrinkles. Additionally, think in terms of what you can do without, what you can repurpose, and what can you buy there. This last tip refers mainly to toiletries but factor in what you're going to buy. Souvenirs take up space and could even be used while on the trip (I'm looking at you, t-shirts and hats).
So now, you have two well-packed bags and are ready to go. But what about keeping your bags safe? An unfortunate fact of traveling Europe is pickpockets and thieves. No matter what you wear, you will be easily identifiable as a tourist and that makes you a target. By all means, look at all the beautiful sites but keep one eye (and preferably a hand) on your bag. When sitting, loop your feet in the straps. Don't leave small items (cameras, phones, etc.) on tables even if you're sitting right there because they will 'walk' off. Keep money in a front pocket or in a money belt and avoid showing where you're storing money, especially how much money you have on you.
Thieves have various tricks to distract tourists and pickpocket them during the confusion. One common ploy is to have two or three people approach someone and ask for directions or give recommendations while another member of the group pickpockets the unsuspecting tourist. Other times someone will toss a ring or other valuable item in the path of a tourist and the thief will pickpocket the tourist as he or she stoops to pick it up. This isn't to scare you, but awareness can reduce your chances of losing personal (and sometimes expensive) items.
Sea Kayaking Croatia
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Kosovo Refugee
I just had a very eye-opening conversation with one of my
co-workers, “Lily.” Lily grew up in
Kosovo and was deported to Macedonia during the war in 1998 and moved to the
U.S. in 1999 through a U.S. government program. She still lives here but goes
back to visit every year- she gets incredibly homesick for her country.
I must say, it is one thing to read all about the Kosovo War
on PBS.org but quite another to meet and talk to someone who survived such
conflict firsthand.
When Lily talks about Kosovo, I witness such pride in her
Albanian roots and nationality. She wishes that Kosovo were a part of Albania
but is glad they are not a part of Serbia (even if Serbia does not recognize
this fact). She says now it is safe and there is no visible conflict, but
day-to-day interactions can still be awkward. Albanians very much stick to
their areas; as a result she has never really traveled anywhere else in the
Balkans besides Kosovo and Albania. Just the other day on vacation in the Smoky
Mountains, Lily met a young Serbian woman who was renting her cabins. When she
found out that Lily was Albanian, she immediately grew red and looked
embarrassed. The brutality inflicted upon Kosovo was only 15 years ago- people
still remember.
Having lived through experiences like Lily did made her
stronger, she says. She is a lot more focused on the big picture and
understanding tough decisions need to be made.
Whether or not it was good that the UN stuck to purely aerial conflict
is up for debate. Because the Serbians were aware they were going to get bombed
out of Kosovo in a short amount of time, they took advantage of that time to
make a sort of last-ditch effort that included even worse brutality and mass
killings than they had been doing up to that point. Since they knew they were
going to lose it all anyway, they killed with reckless abandon. This really
bothers Lily, but she also recognizes that if we had sent in ground troops, the
battle would have probably been a lot longer and might have ultimately ended up
in more deaths. She is glad the conflict was resolved quickly but saddened at
the price Kosovo had to pay.
One thing that bothers Lily is how all of the rich ancient
history associated with the Balkans gets completely lost in light of the last
100 years with conflict and socialism. She feels that all of the recent history
overshadows the deep cultural significance of her home country. Her name, for
instance, was the name of the Illyerian queen in 280 B.C.!! ! If you ever
travel to Albania, she recommends spending time on their beautiful beaches
(mountains in the background) and exploring Durres, a modern city with a huge
ancient structure in the center.
Advice from Lily includes: Given our intervention in the
Kosovo War, people in Serbia may not be so thrilled about Americans, so don’t necessarily
broadcast that you are proud to be an American in Belgrade. In general,
however, the Balkans are quickly Westernizing and are embracing tourism- it is
still such a novelty that they are not sick of tourists just yet, as people in
Italy or Paris probably are. Also when in Sarajevo be sure to try the Burek
(meat/cheese/spinach pie) with plain yogurt. She says that there is such great
variety in food in the Balkans and there are a lot of foods that we have here
but taste so much different (better!) over there because of where the
ingredients are sourced. Will I be sampling Balkan pizza? You bet.
I am so glad I was able to hear such a unique perspective
firsthand before our trip to Lily’s side of the world. Her testament is
beautiful, and she left me with some simple but wise words: “Not all Serbians
are bad.” After experiencing such tragedy in her life, she courageously
developed this mindset that yes, what happened 15 years ago was awful, but she
shouldn’t hate an entire people as a result.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Who are the Slavs, anyway?
As we explore the "old" history of the Balkan region, I think it'd be an interesting exploration to look at where the people who live there now, the Slavs, originally came from.
Interestingly, the Slavs are not the first people group who occupied the Balkan region. This region actually belonged to many different indigenous people groups, including the Greeks, Illyrians (later Albanians), Thracians, and Dacians. These people had all been conquered by the Romans, and were under heavy Roman influence, though they were disorganized following the fall of the Roman Empire. In the northern and western parts of the region, many of the people were heavily Romanized, speaking Latin, and usually conforming to Roman patterns of life and belief. To the east, still holding out in the mountains, were the indigenous Thracians and Illyrians, who held to indigenous beliefs, and lived in a tribal system. To the south, the Tracians and Greeks still conformed to Greek cultural influence.
All of these cultures were soon terrorized by various invaders, such as the Huns, and the Germanic tribes, who depopulated the region and tried to create unstable empires for much of the fourth and fifth centuries. By the end of these conquests, the peninsula was largely a power vacuum, which created the space for the Slavs to move into the region.
The origins of the Slavic people are largely unclear, and the search for a Slavic "homeland" has proved so far not to be fruitful. Though there are evidences of a proto-Slavic language that originated somewhere between present-day Germany and Russia, no archaeologists have found any settlements or burial sites that allow them to locate the Slavs before the fifth century.
The first writings describing the Slavs are those of the Byzantines/late Roman historians, who described a group of tribes, living north of the Carpathian mountains. They were described as a spartan, hardy, and largely leaderless people.
Following the end of the invasions by the Germans and the Huns, the Croatian tribes, followed by other Slavs, started to move into the area. This was called the Great Slavic Migration, during which many of the Southern Slavs moved into the Balkans region, eventually becoming the dominant political and cultural force in the region. Though some of the smaller states, such as Albania and Dalmatia, are occupied by some of the original peoples, many of the states, including those to which we will be traveling, are predominantly Slavic.
------
My thoughts:
I honestly don't really take a lot of interest in the "older" history of a region. Maybe it's because I'm an engineer/scientist, and I like to deal in absolutes. But determining when and how a people group originated seems to be much more difficult than designing a suspension.
There are so few certainties that exist before the modern era -- while the Greek and Roman cultures are rigorously documented, the movement of migratory tribes across Europe is not only hard to track, but also hard to discuss. With only fleeting, enigmatic scraps of information from well-respected historians discussing these cultures, we really can't know anything about these societies without turning to the vaguer disciplines such as archaeology.
But I think that's the one of the main reasons we're going on this trip -- to be more comfortable with ambiguity. Tech has a culture where (almost) every problem has an answer that can be looked up in the back of the textbook. But real life doesn't have an answer key. Many of the issues we will deal with in our personal lives, in our society, and as human beings have no elegant solutions, and honestly don't even have clear facts surrounding them. Life is complicated and messy, and sometimes the best way to embrace that fact is to go outside your comfort zone, explore a little, and just appreciate the subtleties that surround us.
Interestingly, the Slavs are not the first people group who occupied the Balkan region. This region actually belonged to many different indigenous people groups, including the Greeks, Illyrians (later Albanians), Thracians, and Dacians. These people had all been conquered by the Romans, and were under heavy Roman influence, though they were disorganized following the fall of the Roman Empire. In the northern and western parts of the region, many of the people were heavily Romanized, speaking Latin, and usually conforming to Roman patterns of life and belief. To the east, still holding out in the mountains, were the indigenous Thracians and Illyrians, who held to indigenous beliefs, and lived in a tribal system. To the south, the Tracians and Greeks still conformed to Greek cultural influence.
All of these cultures were soon terrorized by various invaders, such as the Huns, and the Germanic tribes, who depopulated the region and tried to create unstable empires for much of the fourth and fifth centuries. By the end of these conquests, the peninsula was largely a power vacuum, which created the space for the Slavs to move into the region.
The origins of the Slavic people are largely unclear, and the search for a Slavic "homeland" has proved so far not to be fruitful. Though there are evidences of a proto-Slavic language that originated somewhere between present-day Germany and Russia, no archaeologists have found any settlements or burial sites that allow them to locate the Slavs before the fifth century.
The first writings describing the Slavs are those of the Byzantines/late Roman historians, who described a group of tribes, living north of the Carpathian mountains. They were described as a spartan, hardy, and largely leaderless people.
Following the end of the invasions by the Germans and the Huns, the Croatian tribes, followed by other Slavs, started to move into the area. This was called the Great Slavic Migration, during which many of the Southern Slavs moved into the Balkans region, eventually becoming the dominant political and cultural force in the region. Though some of the smaller states, such as Albania and Dalmatia, are occupied by some of the original peoples, many of the states, including those to which we will be traveling, are predominantly Slavic.
------
My thoughts:
I honestly don't really take a lot of interest in the "older" history of a region. Maybe it's because I'm an engineer/scientist, and I like to deal in absolutes. But determining when and how a people group originated seems to be much more difficult than designing a suspension.
There are so few certainties that exist before the modern era -- while the Greek and Roman cultures are rigorously documented, the movement of migratory tribes across Europe is not only hard to track, but also hard to discuss. With only fleeting, enigmatic scraps of information from well-respected historians discussing these cultures, we really can't know anything about these societies without turning to the vaguer disciplines such as archaeology.
But I think that's the one of the main reasons we're going on this trip -- to be more comfortable with ambiguity. Tech has a culture where (almost) every problem has an answer that can be looked up in the back of the textbook. But real life doesn't have an answer key. Many of the issues we will deal with in our personal lives, in our society, and as human beings have no elegant solutions, and honestly don't even have clear facts surrounding them. Life is complicated and messy, and sometimes the best way to embrace that fact is to go outside your comfort zone, explore a little, and just appreciate the subtleties that surround us.
Monday, April 14, 2014
The Balkans from a Geographic Lens
Considering that we will be looking at how physical environment has played a role in defining cultural interactions in the Balkans, I decided to take a more thorough look at the geography of the region. Given that the word "Balkan" means 'a wooded ridge or mountain,' I figured that the geography of the region would have a large impact on the lives of its people.
The mountains and rivers of the area have had significant influence on the history of the Balkans. Additionally, the strategic location of the Balkans as a (semi) peninsula serves as an important factor as well.
I have included a geographic map of the Balkans region to serve as a reference as I refer to certain geographic features.
The mountains and rivers of the area have had significant influence on the history of the Balkans. Additionally, the strategic location of the Balkans as a (semi) peninsula serves as an important factor as well.
I have included a geographic map of the Balkans region to serve as a reference as I refer to certain geographic features.
There are three mountain ranges present in the Balkans. The mountain range which stretches on the coastline from north-western Croatia to Greece is the Dinaric Alps range. This range is an extension of the famous Alps mountain range that comes from Switzerland and Austria. The large mountains in the northeast Balkans are the Carpathian mountains. These are located in Romania and Slovakia. The third and smallest mountain range is the Balkan Mountain range located in Bulgaria.
These mountains have created interesting ecological regions from a topological perspective. Lower regions include the valuable nutrient-rich farmland and higher regions include the rocky wastelands. Differing ecological regions have allowed for many different types of people groups to live in close proximity: herders, traders, farmers, and forest dwellers. Lower regions are more valuable and productive than less fertile areas in the higher altitudes. As a result, cultures and ethnicity that have lost over the centuries have been driven from the coasts and valleys up to the mountains.
Though there are many smaller rivers in the Balkans region, the Danube is the largest and most influential. Many of the smaller local rivers arise from the mountains on the coast and quickly deposit into the ocean. They are too small to carry any river traffic and are not long enough to connect cities. The Danube has had a significant impact on the area, however. The Danube River enters the Balkans through the Hungarian Plain in the northwest, continues into Serbia through Belgrade, and then exits into the Black Sea via Romania. However, the river has proven to be difficult for the local people groups to use. In addition to variable seasonal water levels and marshy banks, the Iron Gates have provided difficulty in commercial ship navigation for centuries. Rather than help bring wealth to the area, the Danube has attracted more problems from its co-owners (Germany, Russia, Turkey).
As a peninsula, the Balkans have also served as an important 'stepping stone' in history. Romania is directly opened to the steppes of Ukraine, and the Hungarian plain and Danube river valley have all offered easy routes for invasion. As a crossroads for Asia and Europe, this area has been highly contested. Only by understanding the geography of the region will we be fully able to understand how the various people groups in the region have come to be.
Frederick Grimm
Intro to European Archaeology
The Post Hole--a monthly archaeology journal--describes archaeological theory in the following manner.
"Archaeological theory deals with the way in which material culture is interpreted: interpretation allows the archaeologist to make inferences on past societies from simple objects which otherwise would be nothing else than mute finds. As a consequence, the study of past civilizations depends on archaeologists' methods and approaches to material culture."
Fundamentally, archaeology is the study of our physical environment to gain a great understanding of human history. By investigating the "evidence" left behind by former groups, we as travelers can greater consider the background of the modern areas we visit. However, in this consideration how does our interpretation effect the conclusion we come to?
Politics and archaeology are married in outcome to an extent--nationalism that shades results of findings. There are two eras to Yugoslavia archaeology corresponding to political phases. The following article excerpt explains in greater detail:
"After each republic became independent, archaeology was employed for the identification of ethnic-specific elements in the archaeological landscape; at the same time, however, ethnic group started identifying themselves with non-Slav cultures and symbols, seeking elements which could radically distinguish them from the other Slavs including, for example, the adoption of a different alphabet. To this respect, two cases are particularly relevant. The first one deals again with Slovenia and its development since the mid-1980s of autochthonous theories on the origin of Slovenians, supposedly to be either Etruscan or Venetian (Novakovic and Slapšak 1996, 289). The second example comes from the Republic of Macedonia: both the name and the flag of this new country caused a major dispute with Greece. Macedonia is indeed the name of an ancient civilisation and of three modern Greek regions, and the naming of the Republic after them was seen as an appropriation of present and past Greek cultural elements, or even as a possible claim of land. As for the flag, the sixteen-pointed star of Vergina, identifiable on many archaeological finds, was adopted, stressing the aspiration to identify with Alexander's Macedonia."
These two instances exemplify the interplay between politics and archaeological outcomes. While not ancient, such considerations drastically effect the modern perspective on human history. In Slovenia and Croatia, where conflict has been less drastic, the development of research has been greater fleshed out to reach full concepts unbiased by previous experience. To see the whole article visit: http://www.theposthole.org/read/article/98.
Map found at: http://www.icty.org/x/image/ABOUTimagery/Yugoslavia%20maps/3_%20yugoslavia_map_1991_sml_en.png
Fundamentally, archaeology is the study of our physical environment to gain a great understanding of human history. By investigating the "evidence" left behind by former groups, we as travelers can greater consider the background of the modern areas we visit. However, in this consideration how does our interpretation effect the conclusion we come to?
Politics and archaeology are married in outcome to an extent--nationalism that shades results of findings. There are two eras to Yugoslavia archaeology corresponding to political phases. The following article excerpt explains in greater detail:
"After each republic became independent, archaeology was employed for the identification of ethnic-specific elements in the archaeological landscape; at the same time, however, ethnic group started identifying themselves with non-Slav cultures and symbols, seeking elements which could radically distinguish them from the other Slavs including, for example, the adoption of a different alphabet. To this respect, two cases are particularly relevant. The first one deals again with Slovenia and its development since the mid-1980s of autochthonous theories on the origin of Slovenians, supposedly to be either Etruscan or Venetian (Novakovic and Slapšak 1996, 289). The second example comes from the Republic of Macedonia: both the name and the flag of this new country caused a major dispute with Greece. Macedonia is indeed the name of an ancient civilisation and of three modern Greek regions, and the naming of the Republic after them was seen as an appropriation of present and past Greek cultural elements, or even as a possible claim of land. As for the flag, the sixteen-pointed star of Vergina, identifiable on many archaeological finds, was adopted, stressing the aspiration to identify with Alexander's Macedonia."
These two instances exemplify the interplay between politics and archaeological outcomes. While not ancient, such considerations drastically effect the modern perspective on human history. In Slovenia and Croatia, where conflict has been less drastic, the development of research has been greater fleshed out to reach full concepts unbiased by previous experience. To see the whole article visit: http://www.theposthole.org/read/article/98.
Changing Diversity in Bosnia
For Today’s blog, I looked at some of the more recent
changes in Bosnia due to the war. Basically, I wanted to find out how our trip
would be affected by the current situation in the cities we will be visiting. For
starters, Bosnia actually used to be one of the most ethnically diverse countries
prior to the Yugoslavic wars. Here is a map of the ethnic composition of Bosnia
in 1991 and another in 1998.
With respect to the two cities we will be visiting, the two
cultures will be very different merely due to the differing predominant ethnicities
of the region, since Livno is mostly composed of Croatians and Sarajevo is
right on the between Serbs and Bosnians. Additionally, the apparent cultures of
the two cities will be very strong, but not as diverse as before the wars.
Recently, there have also been a series of protests against
the corruption of the government. Some of the protests have been against
policies such the decision not to join the Erasmus program, which was accepted
by every other country in the EU and the nearby regions. The Erasmus program
was an international student exchange program. Around 230,000 students
participate in this exchange program, with that numb expected to rapidly
increase as the financial support for the program has increased 20 fold. Specifically
the Bosnian Serb Republic (RS) was against participation in the program.
However, the majority of the
protests have been due to recent high unemployment rates, estimated to be as
high as 40%. A large part of this has due to the recent privatization of large
firms, which then quickly outsourced a significant portion of their work and
began laying off local workers. The protestors set fire to several government buildings
in Tulza and Sarajevo, including the National Archive buildings. Thankfully
this seems to be more of an economic unrest than an ethnic one.
Unfortunately for us, many of
Sarajevo’s museums are in disrepair due to ongoing disputes over which
particular government is responsible for funding them. In particular, Bosnia’s
National Museum was closed two years ago, after having previously been open for
124 years, because of these funding disputes. Six other cultural museums were
closed for the same reasons, including the Historical Museum and the National
and University Library. Many others continue to operate only because the worker’s
volunteer their time without compensation. This conflict is, at least
partially, ethnic in nature. The Dayton accords peace treaty that ended Bosnia’s
war in 1995 split the government into two main parts, overseen by a relatively
weak central government. The two main governments are divided geographically,
but also culturally as one is predominantly Serbian and the other Bosnian as shown in the above maps. This is only one of many conflicts between the two governments that have locals upset and protesting. It
should be noted that recently, in fact starting this past week, there have been
moves to reopen the National Museum.
sources:
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