My Summer Studies in Serbia

by Rachel Richardson

Rachel is in her second year of our MA program, working on a thesis in Eastern European history

This summer I participated in a 3-week intensive Serbian culture and language program, staying with a Serbian family with a woman from the Czech Republic as my roommate; there were people from all over Europe in the course. We had language classes in the morning, lectures on art history, linguistics, and politics in the afternoon, and lessons in Serbian cooking, signing, and dancing in the evening. After the course I spent three weeks traveling in Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, and Macedonia. It was really interesting to observe and experience these different cultures and so many of the places mentioned in the research I’m doing for my thesis. This picture was taken of me atop one of the bunkers built by Albania’s communist dictator.