Day 10

So I've been in Serbia 10 days and in the spirit of Letterman I think I'll attempt to put together a top ten list!

Top ten things I've done in Serbia
10. Shopped at a grocery store
9. Dodged a tram
8. Called for a cab
7. Deciphered countless signs in Cyrillic
6. Ordered coffee in Serbian
5. Carried on a broken conversation with a cabbie about my purpose in Serbia
4. Was helped by a totally random stranger today to find the correct building for my 11am interview
3. Visited the Serbian faculty of political science
2. Given countless panicked looks to store clerks when my Serbian runs out
1. Fallen in love with this awesome city!!!

Okay so not ready for Letterman but a great way to break writer's block!

I haven't been writing the past few days because honestly after all of the interviews I've been getting quite overwhelmed.

I've encountered a general feeling of helplessness and hopelessness during my interviews. It's interesting because everyone explains it in a different way.

• A says its to do with freedom of the media
• G says its to do with a stalemate between domestic political elite and the international community
• L says its to do with the lack of conditionality as an incentive working
• D says that eventually the international community will recognize Serbia but until then Serbia just needs to wait.
• Z says that actually the entirety of the issue has to do with economic not political reforms

I'm working on getting some interviews with actual international actors and there's a conference I'm going to on June 22nd on Serbia and the European Union which should be great.

That's it for now.
cao,
Suzi