Back from Bosnia and Kosova

Having spent three weeks conducting research in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosova, I am now back in Oxford.

I did a bit of a different journey into the Balkans: I flew from Gatwick into Dubrovnik, spent a day there, then took a bus to Sarajevo. I stayed at the nicest hotel next to Bascarsija.

Following the end of my interviews, which were very successful, and I met a number of very interesting, intelligent people, I took a bus to Prishtina via Novi Pazar (Serbia). It was a little nerve-wracking to wait for the Serbian customs officer, who took my Canadian passport and walked off with it, supposedly to verify that I’m not on an Interpol wanted list.

He returned 15 minutes later, and all was well. That said, the trip took 12 hours from Sarajevo to Prishtina.

Prishtina was as giving and generous as ever – its weather warmer than Oxford or Sarajevo, its people ready to celebrate the second anniversary of Kosova’s declaration of independence. Suffice it to say that it was a great place to be in mid-February.