I will talk more about my personal experience afterwards, I just wanted to first mention what is currently happening in Bosnia and Serbia.
It's been raining a lot this week and in some areas it hasn't stopped even for a few minutes. Because Bosnia is home to many rivers, all this rain has caused serious flooding throughout the country. Homes have been destroyed, thousands of people have had to be evacuated, and most of them aren't exactly well off to begin with. The country has not experienced flooding this severe in over a hundred years and they certainly can't afford for things to get any worse. Here in GVU there is no flooding, so I have not been impacted it by it, but my thoughts and prayers are with those who have.

On a lighter note, I thought I would share a bit of my personal experience here. As I'm sure you all know by now, I am living with a host family. They have four children, 3 girls and a boy. I have not met the boy, Drago, who is 16 because he is away at school. The oldest daughter is 18, her name is Ivona and she has been really nice and friendly and we've quickly become friends. The second eldest daughter is Stjepana she is 17, she was here the first week that I was, but she had to go back to school which is near Mostar. The youngest is 14, her name is Daria. She has down syndrome, but she is full of life and love and always manages to put a smile on my face. My host parents are also very kind and welcoming. They have really started to become my second family.

We have not yet actually started volunteering in the Omladinski centar. We meet there every day and talk and meet new people, but there is no rush for us to actually start coordinating activities for the children mostly because they are still in school. The work done at the centar is really inspiring. It is a place where youth from different backgrounds can come together despite the divisions in the town. They also have activities for all sorts of social justice events throughout the year.

When I talk about divisions in the town, I literally mean that there is a road in this town that divides the Croatian/Catholic side from the Bosniak/Muslim side. And this road actually does divide people, because I live on the Croatian side of town, and I didn't go on the other side of town for the first week that I was here. It's kind of sad really, but it makes the work done at the centar all the more important.

I look forward to learning more about the centar and the country and being able to share that with all of you!! :)

I left for Bosnia last Monday not knowing what would await me here. I had a bit of an emotional goodbye with my parents at the airport, but was mostly ready for the experience. Or perhaps it is better to say that exactly what I was doing this summer hadn't hit me yet, and I'm still not sure that it has.
At the airport I met two of the girls who are doing this Intercordia experience with me, Magali and Elise. Our plane for Istanbul was delayed about an hour so we had some time to talk and get to know each other.
The plane was large and full, but it was a nighttime 9 hour flight, so I tried to sleep.
We arrived in Istanbul at about 4pm their time on May 6th. It was hard to get much of a sense of what the city looked like from the airport and I can't say I felt like I was in Turkey.
We wandered around the airport a bit trying to figure out where to go and eventually had to ask for help, the airport didn't seem that big, not compared to Toronto anyways.
We had to wait a bit for our flight to Sarajevo which was only about an hour and a half.
We landed in Sarajevo, and entered the country without so much as a word being exchanged between us and the custom officials.
Waiting for us at the airport was Natasha, another Intercordian, and Majda our contact her in Bosnia who speaks English really well and works at the center where we are all going to be volunteering.
She also had a driver with her who was going to take us to Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje, the village where we are staying which is about a 2 hour drive from Sarajevo.
The first thing I noticed about Bosnia was the driving. People just kind of do whatever they want, and they like to go fast even though the roads are all winding.
The second thing I noticed was the country's beauty. It if beautiful here, everything is green, and you are surrounded by hills and mountains.
We made it to the town safe and sound, and one of my host sister's was waiting for me at the center where they dropped us off.
Her family was still awake when I arrived at her house (which is like 2 seconds away from the center) and they all greeted me warmly. Her mother even insisted on feeding me right away.
I feel extremely welcomed here and their home has really started to become mine as well.
I will write more later in more detail.
Just wanted to share a little bit first! :)

Today is the day!!!!

Today is the day that I leave for Bosnia. Later tonight I will board my flight to Istanbul, where I will eventually make a connection and fly to Sarajevo.

I'm not sure how I am feeling at this moment. The last few days have been a bit all over the place. There is certainly some excitement, as well as some nerves.

I said goodbye to my brother this morning, and will do the same with my parents later tonight. I will miss them, and other important events like my brother`s high school graduation and my mom's 50th birthday. But I am ready for this journey to begin.

Intercordia believes in being with people, not doing things for them, and this is what originally drew me to the organization. I am excited to meet new people this summer and hopefully create lasting relationships. I look forward to living with people different than me and learning about a culture different from mine.

And I look forward to being able to share this experience with all of you. I will try and write as often as I can.

I hope you all have a wonderful summer and I will see you in three months!! :)

Four more days!!

Time has gone by incredibly fast this year. It was just over 8 months ago that I first heard about Intercordia, but it many ways it feels as if it were only yesterday.


After my first year of university, the only real hope I had for second year was that it would be better. I did not enjoy first year at all and was looking for something to improve my university experience. That's when I first came across the Intercordia program. I saw a poster for information sessions and decided to attend. Upon learning more about their goals and motivations, I knew that this was something that I had to do. Could it be that this was the thing that would make my second year of university better than my first? I thought so, and I committed fully to Intercordia, not realizing that it would not only improve my university experience, but change me as a person. I am not the same person who started this experience all those months ago. I have learned a lot about myself not only throughout this process but throughout the courses I have taken this year.


In 4 days time I will be leaving for Bosnia-Herzegovina. Part of this does not seem possible, part of it is starting to terrify me. But I have no doubt in my mind that this is something I want to do. And that I am ready for this experience to begin. I also know that often times in life the things that scare us the most are also the things most worth doing.