Mexican Girl Falls for Serbia…..

I had a wonderful young lady contact me over Facebook. She was from the middle of Mexico , the exact state (Michoacan)  that I lived in for 1.5 years . She was nice enough to answer a few of my questions about her experience. I copied and pasted the responses so forgive any spelling or grammatical errors. If you would like to send her a nice little message, here is her Facebook profile.

Q) Tell me a little bit about yourself and your hometown

About me, well, theres not much to say Im a student, soon I will get Mayor in Psychology, next May actually, im 22 years old already, and I still live with my mom and my older sister, I have another younger brother, and he lives with my father and his wife. I loooove food, dance and sleep very well right now, im training crossfit, I really love it, its very complex and beautiful sport . My hometown… Morelia is a very historic place, it could take a looooooong while for me to tell smth about it, but, what can I say… Morelia is the city with most populated city in Michoacán (its state), and is the most extense, with an area of 78 km² and 597,511 habitants. It used to be a very strategic place for wars (when it was founded) and right now, the most important activities are culture and economy, you know, it’s a touristic place, for example, we have one touristic event called “Mariposa monarca”, and is a reserve of nature, where you watch all butterflies migrate to Canada (I think), and of course its an opportunity to sell food and services, tratidional food, like enchiladas, corundas, uchepos, tamales, elotes, atole de grano, atole of different flavors, churipo, carnitas, buñuelos, tequila, charanda, mezcal and other funny drinks , by the way, mescal burns almost like rakija, and taste is very similar, and of course don’t forget the effect jajajaj

Q) How did you first hear about Serbia?

Serbia was a country I never heard before in my life before, I even thought it was some sort of Asian country xD (sorry people, but we only learned about Yugoslavia) I first heard about it on the internet, I won’t say more , but when i heard about it I started to investigate it. I looked up its location on the map, the music, culture, food, and started to like it.

Q) What gave you the idea to visit Serbia? 

With time, I wanted to travel, thanks to a special b-day present from my mom so I started to look for different scholarship or volunteer programs that would allow me to travel and have some experiences. I found a program called “Vive Mexico” it is an organization here in Mexico that allows kids to travel, experience new cultures and volunteer. I applied for many countries including Serbia. I was accepted into the Serbian program called ” Drustvo Istrazivaca- Vladamir Mandic- Manda.”

Q) What did you like the most about Serbia?

this is a hard question for me, cuz, basically, I can say im in love with this country. I cant say I like everything, but…when I got there I really felt like I was at home. Serbia is very similar to Mexico starting with the people. They were very generous and kind. The food, OMG, the food was so interesting because it’s not the same food we have in Mexico but had some things that were similar like style, flavors and ways of cooking. They had spicy foods, cheeses, homemade dishes, yogurt, milk, meats and bread and so on. My favorite of them all was  sarma and burek. I could eat them both forever and never get tired of them. and even if it’s not a dish or anything special, yogurt (moja kravica) and cookies was great. Landscaping is amazing in Serbia too. Mexico has some green places, but I never knew green until I came to Serbia, PERIOD. Another thing was the water. In my country you cant take water from the tap or public places and drink it. But in Serbia you can drink it which is so practical. I loved the music, dance and drinks too! Rakija is similar to our drink, tequila. but when i tried it the first time it made me think of “Metzcal” because it burns and tastes so delicious. I almost forgot, the old buildings, they are beautiful!!  The Serbian guys are also very good looking so girls GO TO SERBIA. 😉

Q) What were your favorite cities that you visited and why?

I cant tell you like my favorite, i mean i enjoyed staying at all those cities, but, instead i rather say like an order, and the number one would be Jagodina, its a small one, and because of that I think the most calm one, and i loved that, whole city is amazingand beautiful, very nice and great people, and one of my favorite parts besides downtown, is Potok park, that place is so simple and so misterious at same time, I couldnt be at the top of it, but where i was, I could see a place where you can just close your eyes and feel how the whole city embrace you, I cant explain the exact feeling, but is a great place to be chill . Number two, is Kragujevac, and again, city is great!, bigger, but still not crowded, I also loved the park, Veliki park, and I actually got lost there, it was very funny , anyway, that place is beautiful!!, green is all over the place, and there is a place where you can sit and watch people passing by, and still is quiet and relaxing, that place brings me lots of special memories, there, I felt some strong energy of love, peace, and fullfillness, its a magic place , third Valjevo, its a great city, great ice creams at plaza, but what I really loved from that place is Gradac, I actually stayed there, and we went to rock climbing, we were inside a cave, and the craziest and most amazing experience there was at this mountains, is near a border of town, but I cant remember the name of those mountains, we went there with Russian cars, and it was very fun!! Again, greeeen all over the place, there were like 3 mountains in a roe, all together, the smallest, middle and biggest, I wish i can remember the names, but, that was amazing. And last but not least, Belgrade, that city reminded me of Mexico city, crowded and big, people all around, transports, plazas, huge malls, even I rather more peaceful places, I still find Belgrade interesting, is because its huge, and full of history, buildings, that makes it so interesting, it still isnt that crowded as Mexico city, and gosh thats great, but, that city wellcome me and said goodbye to me of an amazing experience

Q) What was the strangest thing you encountered?

I cant say strange, but I wasn’t familiar with the carpets, you know, you get in a place, and take off your shoes. We don’t do that in Mexico. The toilets were also very strange. They are a different style and I didn’t know how to work it. One time in a restaurant I had to go out and ask a waiter to show me how to flush it. 🙂 The door handles are also a different style and the electrical outlets are so different from the rectangle ones we use in Mexico.

Q) What was the biggest problem that you ran into? 

Not problem actually, the only thing I can complain is that I couldn’t stay longer xD 😛

Q) Did you learn any Serbian ? 

I did learn Serbian, actually, im still learning, with my friends I made there, they help me a lot, plus, I search for pages where I can check grammar and all basic stuffs, but now is harder cuz im not constantly hearing it, when I was there, I realized I could actually learn it 100%, but of course I had to stay there way longer, I love Serbian, and the hardest part for me, probably to remember how to change last part of words, depending on tense and depending on gender, so, its funny for me sometimes to write it xD jajajaja

Q) What advice would you give to someone that is interested in visiting Serbia?

To not be afraid of what news, media or anybody that say things, especially negative things about Serbia, just don’t listen to that and go to Serbia, live your own experience. I can say that it is very safe, of course it isn’t perfectly safe, just like any country there is some crime, but it doesn’t mean there is a terrorist on every street corner, that is ridiculous. I can assure you that it is a place where you can find peace, so i am sure you are going to love the place. Go everywhere you can while you are there, try everything you can, meet all the people that you can meet , there are many things to enjoy. You will find a very close “family” there! 🙂

 

 

Jagodina, Serbia to Small Town Illinois

The only way to save this evil planet is to start with the youth! They are our only hope for a better tomorrow. The old folks have already formed their opinions , but the youth still have a chance at seeking understanding and respect between those that are different from us.

The exchange programs like A-SMYLE are amazing. They are helping students from all over The Balkans see the beauty, culture, and life in the United States of America. It is very rare to find any negative feedback from the kids that have been on these programs.

Many of the students on the A-SMYLE program contact me! They are always thankful for my blog and videos about their country. They say that it makes it easier to explain Serbia to their friends. 🙂 I know so many former and current students. It really puts a smile on my face when I get a message from one of these bright kids. If you are interested in A-SMYLE check out their website http://www.ac-see.org/programs/hs-citiesdates.htm

I was contacted by this young man named Vuk Vasic. He was accepted into the A-AMYLE program after beating out many others in this area. He is from the beautiful town of Jagodina that is located in the heart of Serbia. He was placed into a host family from Edwardsville, Illinois USA. That isn’t far from my hometown of Greenup, IL!! Lets see what he has to say about his time in “The Land of Lincoln”

Dear Charles,
I’m a Serbian exchange student from a town called Jagodina in central Serbia. I went to America through A-Smyle, an exchange program completely financed and supported by the US Department of State. You asked me to share my American experience and I will but first, I must tell you something about my history.
Ever since I was a kid I wanted to go to America, it was mostly because I was influenced by American culture through TV, Internet and video games. All of this pushed me to start learning English at a young age, even before they started teaching it in school. By the time I was in 5th grade (when Serbian students used to start learning English) I already had a basic knowledge. My English teacher helped me perfect it, plus I practiced a lot with my friends outside of school.
I had a group of friends who by 8th grade all shared my dream of going to America and experiencing the culture first hand. The wonderful exchange opportunity came in my Sophomore year of high school and me and my friends jumped at the opportunity. Sadly, out of 4 of us that had the same dream, only I had the opportunity to actually experience it. When the acceptance call came, my whole family was overjoyed but what followed was nerve wracking and terrifying. It took the organization about 4 months to get me a host family, way, way longer than anyone else’s. My waiting was fruitful though, and I got placed with the most wonderful host family any exchange student can ever wish for, The McCrackens. They live in a small town of Edwardsville, near St. Louis in southern Illinois. This is where the rest of my year was spent.

Vuk and his American brother riding snowmobiles

I have done so many things here, it’s hard to recall everything but some of the highlights were:

Vuk meeting with 100 year old WWII vet

– Meeting an American WW2 veteran who’s turning 100 this year, he was my host family’s neighbor, so naturally, I had to meet him. As luck’ll have it, he spent some time in Yugoslavia(Country which Serbia was a part of in the 1900’s) in 1960’s and had only positive things to say about the hospitality of it’s people.
– Going to my school’s football games. That was the first time in my life that I have seen American Football being played, and being a soccer fan, it was hard for me to grasp the concept of it at first but later I started enjoying it immensely.

Vuk at the St Louis Blues hockey game.

– Watching professional hockey games. My host family are huge fans of hockey and the St. Louis Blues, so they took me to a couple of games. I absolutely loved it, it was like watching soccer on ice. Me and my host brother were so into it sometimes, yelling and cheering, that we got weird looks from people

Vuk as a cowboy in Nevada

– My trip to Nevada. My host grandma and my host aunt live in Reno, NV and during the Christmas break, my host mom took me and my host bro’s to their house. Being a huge fan of westerns, I was stoked to go to the actual Wild West and experience it. I wasn’t disappointed. Between going to fancy restaurants, enjoying Casino atmospheres, snowmobiling and just generally strolling around in my Ten Gallon hat and cowboy boots ,(How could I come to America and not get some western wear?) there was no time to rest.

Vuk at 4-H function

– Going to different seminars and workshops with other exchange students from all over the world (Albania, Pakistan, Russia, Egypt, Jordan and many others). We all had opportunities to share our experiences and troubles which proved to be fairly important to the entire exchange year.

Vuk dressed as a hillbilly for Halloween

There were many other experiences but those were the ones that stood out to me. Other than that, American people are wonderful and friendly, people are approachable and easy to talk to and some girls are very pretty  Americans are actually quite fit in general and not fat as other nations stereotype them as. Sometimes I actually think that they overwork themselves. I should wrap it up since I’ve already been typing for an hour. I definitely recommend this program for any high school students because it isn’t just fun, it’s also life changing.
Best wishes,
Vuk”

Thanks a million for this excellent story!! I am very happy that you are enjoying my home state as much as I am enjoying Serbia! Average Americans and average Serbs will always be friends…