Day 3

 In the afternoon, we had a meeting with BE92, a Serbian radio/tv station that has basically been involved with every major current event in former Yugoslavia’s modern history. The news channel was built from scratch and originally was only a radio station. They are heavily involved with Serbia’s major controversial affairs. Unfortunately, not much was discussed in the lecture by the station’s director. He mostly gave us the business end of things, but with out questions at the end we were able to learn a few things about the past political situation in former Yugoslavia. The director also informed us a bit about New Belgrade, where the station is located. It's considered the up and coming part of Belgrade, and much development has taken place there within the past decade. Unfortunately, since the recent economic collapse it's suffering. It has some of the best apartment complexes and housing, and they are all emptying out. He has faith in the economic turnaround though.

Today we had our first day of class, discussing a Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” and the many disputes around it. Our classes are held on the 16th floor of the "Belgrade Lady", a large skyscraper close to our hotel. I have no idea why they call it that but our classroom is provided to us by an independent Serbian University. It's quite amazing that the school is independent from the government. BE92 is actually one of its sponsors. 

Interestingly, after knowing of BE92 and its huge influence in the history of the Balkans we told one of our new local friends, Lazar, a waiter at one of our favorite restaurants, about our trip and he said BE92 is now heavily Americanized and not as respected as it once was. As government funding is cut and fundraising is difficult, that makes sense that BE92 has taken up some of Western ideals or whatever may be "popular" such as MTV, cartoons, political perspectives etc. Lazar is a really interesting guy. He's one of the few people here who talk openly and comfortably with us. His English is not so good, so we struggle at times but he's persistent and curious about America as well. He's very open about not being a fan of Croats, the issues in Kosovo, Albanians, but what he does like is blue eyes. As I'm a waitress back home, we talk about the different wages and living expenses expected of us. I make in two days what he makes in a month. Next time I see him, I want to ask him about rent, healthcare, and other major expenses in Serbia and how they relate to America.