There's no place like home

Hello from Ellicott City, MD! While this summer has been an absolutely amazing experience, there is just nothing like driving down Old Annapolis Rd. when the sun is shining, with the windows down listening to Dave Matthews on the radio :-D

I've been home for about a week now and am really enjoying catching up with my family and friends here. We had some relatives in from out of town this weekend and on Saturday I got to show them around DC. After being away so long it was really great getting to see so much of the city in one day. I made sure to include a stop at Georgetown on the tour :)

There are about a million people I want to thank for making my trip this summer possible...I'll be sending out emails later this month but I just wanted you to know that I couldn't have done any of it (the research or all the logistical stuff) without your love and support, so THANK YOU!

And finally, as always, pictures!!


Queen's University


City Hall in Belfast


Stormont (the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly)


One of several political murals in West Belfast


Dunluce Castle

This trip has gone by way too (Bel)fast

Hey there! Can't believe it's actually the last night of my trip...nearly 3 months ago I set out on what has been an absolute whirwind of a summer. While I'm definitely sad that it's over, I'm also extremely excited to finally get home and catch up with my friends and family :)

Despite the everpresent rain (they say there are only 2 types of weather in Northern Ireland: raining and about to rain), the last 2 weeks in Belfast have been just lovely. My hosts, Maria and Fearghal O'Loan, have been unbelievably sweet and I've had a great time getting to know them, their friends, and their crazy dog Daisy.

Research wise, I interviewed several people from both the Nationalist and Unionist communities and found many points of comparison between the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the other countries I've visited this summer. For one, the conflict, which is generally political in nature, is often misrepresented as an ethnic clash between Catholics and Protestants. This phenomenon seemed to affect the Thai and Indian situations as well. Also, while the current political system was created to ensure each group a voice, it often leads to gridlock/stalemate (like in Bosnia-Herzegovina). There's a ton more to say about the research and I'll definitely try and upload my paper somehow when I finish it in December.

While in town, I also managed to fit in some touristy visits to the Giant's Causeway, the parliament building at Stormont, and the famous political murals in West Belfast. I promise more pictures to come once I get home :)

That's all for now so I'm going to finish packing before heading to bed, see you on the other side of the Atlantic!!

A Foggy Day ( in London Town)

Despite the quintessential rainy weather in London, my stay there was actually really enjoyable :) On Sunday my cousin and I visited the Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker (built in 1952). I'm a bit of a Cold War junkie so it was super exciting to see where the British government would have relocated in the event of a nuclear blast. On Monday I took the ultra-touristy "Big Bus Tour" of central London. We hit all the major sites and even took a small cruise on the River Thames!

While I didn't catch Harry Potter 6 (I'll be sure to find a theater in Belfast!), I did manage to visit Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station. They even had a little trolly cart stuck in the wall for photo-ops :)

Speaking of photos, I realized that despite the tragic loss of the USB stick, I can still upload pictures directly from my camera. Here are some snaps from Sarajevo and London:


A view of old Sarajevo from a hill in Vratnik



Some men playing chess on one of the giant chessboards in the city



The beautiful River Bosna


On my way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!



Tower Bridge in London



In front of Westminster Abbey



Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

East to West

I can't believe it's my last full day in Sarajevo already! This past week has been crazy busy with meetings at the UN Refugee Agency, Office of the High Representative/EU Special Representative, and a host of other local and international groups here in BiH all working towards reconciliation.

Even though there are so many NGOs/independent groups trying to move this country forward, a lot of people have told me that in order for there to be ˝real reconciliation˝ the government needs to get involved. That's been a bit tough considering the country has 3 presidents and 13 different constitutions...

Tomorrow I fly to London to hang out with my cousin Sunny for a few days. As most of you know I'm a huge Harry Potter nut so I'm really looking forward to seeing the 6th film while in town :) From London I'll head to Northern Ireland for the final leg of my research. This trip is going so fast I might need to invest in a time-turner so I can slow things down :-P

Ciao Sarajevo!

I <3 Sarajevo!

Day 7 here in Bosnia-Herzegovina and I think it's safe to say that Sarajevo is now my favorite city of this trip so far :-D My words really can't do justice to its beauty/charm and unfortunately I won't be able to load pictures for a while because I lost my USB stick (actually it wasn't even mine...sorry dad!!) In addition to indulging in the delicious pastries and ice cream (which can be found on practically every corner!), I've also been practicing my Bosnian with the local taxi drivers. Granted I only know about 4-5 words/phrases, but they are usually very encouraging/happy to hear me try. In fact, one of my drivers today was so thrilled he offered me one of his cigarettes in congratulations...I politely declined :)

Interviews are going really well, so far I've met with representatives from the UN Development Program, the Trauma Center, and the British Council, all of which are involved in the reconciliation process in some way or another. One thing everyone is talking about is the persistence of the ¨2 schools under 1 roof¨ model in which there is technically integration but children of different ethnicities still learn in separate classrooms. It has been interesting to compare this phenomenon with what I heard in South Africa about the impact that integrated schools can have on helping a younger generation move past old tensions.

Yesterday Dzenana and I drove out to Vrelo Bosne which is this gorgeous park about 20 minutes from downtown Sarajevo. The shade from the trees and the cool water from the river were a welcome change from the insane heat :)

This week is pretty busy with interviews but I'm really looking forward to my day trip to Zenica tomorrow. I'm meeting with some people from Sezam, an organization that does reconciliation training with teachers. That's all for now but hopefully I'll get a chance to post again before leaving for the UK!

¨The Fields around the Palace¨

Zdravo (hello) from Bosnia-Herzegovina!! I just arrived in Sarajevo yesterday and took a walk around the city with my friend here, Dzenana Pasic. Dzenana and her family run a local grocery store and have also recently opened a motel. Dzenana also works as a camp counselor at PACT (Peace Action Children's Team), a non-profit organization which focuses on educating Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian children about tolerance, peace-building, and reconciliation in the Balkans.

Sarajevo, which takes its name from saray‐ovasi (translation: the fields around the palace), has been the capital of BiH since 1850. The history of this city is amazing, in fact, yesterday I actually walked across the Latin Bridge where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in 1914 by Gavrilo Princip (the event that sparked World War I).

Today and tomorrow I will be trying to set up meetings with local UN/EU officials who are involved in the reconciliation process here. I'm also looking forward to talking to a woman named Zeeba who is the Director for PACT in Sarajevo.

And finally, drumroll please.....pictures!!

The first two are from Rwanda (shots from the July 4th ¨moto-polo¨ match and the hills surrounding Kigali) and the last three are from South Africa (a sleepy lion at the animal observatory, the amazing landscape at Maropang, and a shot of downtown Jo'burg from the Nelson Mandela Bridge)







Ciao for now :)

Last night in Kigali?!

I can't believe that it's my last night in Rwanda and that this trip is 2/3 done...that means I'll be home in less than a month! This past week and a half has been really busy. While I didn't get to do as much site seeing here in Rwanda as in previous countries, the interviews were extremely informative. Some of my interviewees included the Director of the Kigali Memorial Center, a representative from the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, an officer from the Gacaca courts (traditional courts that were reinstated in the late 1990s to help prosecute crimes of genocide), as well as a couple professors from Kigali Independent University. They all had interesting opinions regarding how far Rwanda has come in the past 15 years and while none of them thought that the reconciliation process is complete, they did seem very hopeful for the future.

Today I visited the Kigali Memorial Center as a kind of capstone to my research here in Rwanda. The visit was extremely educational but also very tough emotionally given the history of violence and suffering commemorated in the memorial. For example, the museum building itself is located within a few yards of several mass graves where over 250,000 victims of the genocide are buried. One part of the exhibit that was especially relevant to my project depicted examples of genocide in other countries. It was really useful to refresh my memory of the Balkan conflict as I am flying out to Bosnia-Herzegovina tomorrow (actually my flight to Sarajevo doesn't leave until early Monday morning and I'm really dreading my 10 hour layover in Nairobi...)

BACKTRACK - I realize that I never posted about my time in South Africa so let me give you a quick summary here:

My dad actually joined me for this leg of my trip and we stayed in the Plum Pudding Guesthouse in Westdene (a neighborhood about 15 min. from downtown Jo'burg). The first few days were a little rough because I fell sick in the transit from India (the cold winter weather in South Africa certainly didn't help matters...) I got better within a few days (thanks to all the hot chai from dad!) and got to work. In order to build on my background knowledge of apartheid, I visited the Apartheid Museum as well Constitution Hill (the site of a historical prison where many blacks were jailed/tortured during the apartheid era). This old prison has since been converted into the Constitutional Court - the highest court in South Africa which places a special emphasis on human rights.

Regarding interviews, I spoke mainly with local university students and professors about their perceptions of South African society 15 years after the end of apartheid. I was actually quite surprised to hear how similar the points/issues they raised were to the challenges the US faces regarding race relations in the post-segregation era.

In addition to my research, I also had the chance to visit Maropang, the "Cradle of Humankind". The museum documented evolution with a special emphasis on early life in Africa. The exhibit was fantastic and the museum grounds were absolutely gorgeous. In fact the landscape was like something out of Disney's Lion King :) After visiting the museum, we (me, my dad, and our lovely local hosts - Arvinda and Jay) headed over to the Lion and Rhino game reserve. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were closing for the day, but we were able to get tickets to a smaller animal observatory across the street.

Another highlight of the trip was watching team USA make it to the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup. South Africans are absolutely obsessed with soccer and I've been told that Johannesburg's countdown to next summer's World Cup actually began a year ago...Although I'm not normally a huge soccer fan, the game is definitely growing on me :) Sadly the US ended up losing to Brazil 3-2, but it was really special to watch the game in a local sports bar/restaurant with several foreign service officers from the local US Consulate. I've been thinking about applying for the Foreign Service after graduation so it was so great to have the chance to talk to these people about what their jobs were like on a practical/day-to-day level.

Well that's about it for now and I'll definitely try and post some pictures when I get to Sarajevo!