Day 39: Goodbye, Balkans

6/14/22

Maybe I'll come again soon...

I can't say enough about this trip and how it broadened my understanding of the region, the world, and even myself.

We said one last goodbye to Hotel Palace, our home for roughly two weeks during the trip. It was a great home base!

Once we made it to the airport, I had to get a photo with our favorite bus driver in the world, Vladan.

We all shouted one last "Opa!!", our group's shared fun Serbian expression.

Turkish Airlines was good to us once more. I even found that the seatback screen had a prayer display that could orient you toward Mecca.

But the flight isn't really what's important here.

I made memories and gained understanding that have grown me in ways otherwise not possible.

People always say study abroad is so life changing, and I'm going to reinforce that belief. I'll even go a step further to say that THIS program gave me more than I ever thought I could gain. I now have a whole tool belt of experiences that were political, international, interdisciplinary, and even spiritual.

I'd recommend that any Clemson student do this program, even if you don't have a focus in Political Science. I'd say also as a horticulture student it was extremely valuable!! I saw new species in the wild and others I knew thriving in their preferred environment, and I documented my findings in my course research paper, which I'm attaching here so you can read.

I wrote this blog so that I would always have the memories in all their depth and complexity chronicled and documented for me to revisit, and on top of that, to share this experience with the people I cherish and potential students of this program.

If you have any questions for me, I have started a Q + A page.

I hope that this has been exciting and memorable for you as it has for me.

Ćao,

Katherine Kaczmarski