It’s funny how the idea of living in a hostel sounds far more romantic before actually living in a hostel…Let me describe to you my new home. We are on the fifth floor of an ancient building a block off the Times Square of Belgrade. In our new cozy residence (and by cozy I mean lacking breathing space) the facets turn the opposite direction, there is one bathroom, and the kitchen consist of a dorm sized fridge, a hot plate and a microwave which manages to nearly set the container on fire before bringing your food to room temperature. Now on the bright side, the hostel keeper, who resembles a Viking lord, met us at the door with shots of Rakija (Serbian liquor) that made my hair stand on end, casually told us to pay whenever we felt like it, and if anyone was too loud, don’t bother to tell them to shut the f*** up. One of my friends is in her element, the other a little concerned about the lack of personal space, and meanwhile I am trying to avoid any potential wrath that might come my way because…this place was my idea. One might suggest that I should not have expected the Ritz at only 9 USD a night, but this is more like a twisted hybrid of motel 6 meets Woodstock and Yugoslavia…Apparently however, this place is some sort of haven for international backpackers, a place for insiders only. We share the Three Black Catz with two girls from Australia, a French Journalist, a British Journalist, a new yet to be identified couple, and a man who doesn’t speak a lick of English and spends all his time reading the paper and grunting in the corner. But for some reason, I am excited, and furthermore extremely optimistic!

Tomorrow, I am heading to seek out Roma activists and a Yoga studio. My two priorities are my sanity and my research. Suddenly 4 weeks seems like a very short period of time to conduct the quality of research I expect of myself. Additionally, I am grappling with what exactly I am hoping to get out of all of this. My formal research topic is “The Politics of Engagement: The motivations, transformations and limitations experienced by activists involved with the Roma community in Serbia.” It sounds so academic and blah. I honestly think that sometimes a formal academic environment like the one which I formulated this proposal in can dull something down. I spend so much time contemplating the ambiguity of terms like “help” and “activism” that it is easy to forget what is at the heart of this project. While yes, I am interested in theorizing and analyzing, I am ultimately committed to helping in some way. My academic instructor told me yesterday that I am not on a mission trip and that I need to be realistic. Well I hate to tell her this, but I am not a realistic person. I would rather shoot for the stars and land on the moon, than shoot for the moon and end up in that awkward orbit where all the space junk gets stuck.