Bosnia...a bonding experience

That's just what Bosnia has been to say the least! Our group has all gotten soo much closer these last few days...We flew into Crotia on the 17th and went to the town of Dubrovnic. First of all the weather was perfect! about 70. the town is a coastal town and absolutely beautiful. It reminded me a lot to the Italian coast and Sorrento. We all loved it...we had a little walking tour and then got to explore on our own. some of the boys decided to go swimming in the adriatic sea...the water was surprisingly not very cold. we all left croatia wishing we could have stayed longer and suggesting that westmont should have a whole semester abroad program there.

That night we drove to into bosnia. The next day we made our way through bosnia and visited a monastery and a few other things. We went the to town of Mostar. It was one of the towns mostly effected by the war in 1992. It was crazy...you can still see the bullet holes in the walls of buildings. It is a sobering reminder that the war was not too long ago. we spent the night up in the mountains in a ski resort. it was beautiful but we still aren't really sure why we had to make the 30 minute drive up the mountain to stay there. On our next day we went white water rafting in the Neretva river. It was sooo beautiful. We rafted for 5 hours along a river valley. Really breathtaking views. The rapids were only class 2 so we only had a few exciting moments. A few people fell out into the river but not me! The only down side to the day was that it was freezing!!! and we were in our bathing suits...we had wetsuits but they didn't seem to help at all. and the water was freezing. I don't know if i've ever shaken so much for so long from being cold. Besides from the cold factor and being out there for 5 hours it was really fun and i'm sooo glad we got to do it. For lunch we were served a meal of 2 whole fish...head and tail included. Needless to say I didn't eat it and was slightly hungry for the rest of the day.

That night we made our way into Sarajevo and the bonding began. I woke up the next morning to find out that about half of our group was really sick during the night with food poisoning. For the day we were only scheduled lectures so they were all cancled and we had a free day. As the day progressed more people got sick too. By the next day only about 7 people from our group of 47 had not gotten sick...i unfortunately was not one of the lucky ones. It was really incredible to see how everyone in our group really supported one another in their time of sickness...we all kept each other company and watched out for one another. I don't think i've ever been in a group where people have talked so openly about being sick and people have gotten excited once someone finally threw up. It really was a bonding experience...we are all much closer now. It really was a blessing from God that everyone got sick on a lecture day...imagine if we were on the bus or had to catch a flight with everyone sick...that would not have been fun. We are all ready to leave bosnia though and move on to better food. The food is good here but just so rich and greasy...tons of meat and potatoes. We have all been a little scared to eat the food.

Today we had a refreshing day visiting a mountain town. It was such a beautiful drive and the weather was perfect...sunny and warm. The leaves have stared to change and you can see fall beginning. It was so pictureque and not at all what i had imagined bosnia to be like. We hiked a little and was made a meal by the village and was given a preformance of what a traditional village marriage ceromony would be like. It was a wonderful way to end our time in Bosnia. I think everyone was thankful to have a relaxing day in the fresh mountain air. Tomorrow morning we leave to Vienna, Austria. It will be about a 12 hour drive. It will be long but i'm so excited to see what vienna has to offer...anything will be better than food posioning!