First Post!

So the last time I kept any kind of journal was in the 6th grade and I'm not really sure where to start...how about the title? Where in the world is Sabalabas?

Like any kid who grew up without cable, I probably watched more PBS in a week than most people do in a lifetime. Back in the early 90s, PBS ran a geography game show called "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?" Part trivial pursuit, part crime drama, this show was one of my favorites. Each episode ended with the final contestant frantically running around a map trying to get to various locations - an experience somewhat similar to what I'll be doing this summer :-P

As for Sabalabas...this is a nickname given to me by one of my best friends/roommate of the past two years. In a moment of pure genius, she realized that if you combine my first name (sabala), with the first 3 letters of my last name, (baskar), you get a palindrome: sabalabas! I've been given quite a few nicknames over the years (i.e. sabs, sabby, saballer, babala etc.), but I have to say, as a sucker for symmetry, sabalabas takes the cake - thanks Kathleen!

Now that the title is out of the way, why don't I tell you a little bit about the research I will be doing while traveling? After taking a seminar on ethnic conflict last fall, I realized that I wanted to learn more about this field, especially the human side of it. Specifically, I wondered if young people around the world were less likely to hold on to old grudges than their parents and grandparents and, if so, why? By interviewing university students in various countries, as well as their parents and grandparents, I hope to learn how perceptions of ethnic conflict are formed by education and/or family upbringing.

My current itinerary is as follows:

May 18-May 29: Bangkok/Hat Yai/Pattani, Thailand
May 29-June 19: Delhi/Amritsar/Hyderabad, India
June 19-July 1: Johannesburg, South Africa
July 1-July 12: Kigali, Rwanda
July 12-July 25: Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
July 25-July 28: London, England
July 28-August 10: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Well that's about all I've got right now, but I'll keep you posted! (literally, haha...)