“When he worked, he really worked. But when he played, he really PLAYED."- Dr. Suess

OHHHHH Bosnia you never give me a boring day! Honestly, if I was to say that I have had 1 boring day since I got here two months ago (and YES I have been here for TWO WHOLE MONTHS) I would be lying to you. Every day brings a new adventure, whether it is exploring a fortress that is older than my home country, trying a new food that I am scared to ask what it is ( though that doesn't happen too much unless I eat some strange body part like KIDNEYS), or trying to communicate with a taxi driver who doesn't understand that I don't want to marry his son who I haven't even met!!!!! hahaha  I really never have a boring day!! My life is quite interesting!!!

These last few weeks have been busy, but I have noticed that I have never, not had a busy week, so I guess it is just the normal pace for me now! But I think these last few weeks have been abnormally busy! Last week was crazy!! My host family and I celebrated Bajram or also known as Eid! And let's just say it was crazy! I had a three day school break for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Monday we spent at home and spent some time with Sanida's sister who had flown in from Germany for the other sister's, Lejla, wedding. Tuesday we had a huge meal prepared and spent the entire day with all the extended family, and then came home to watch the soccer match.... The match that was kinda of a do or die match for the Bosnia team to get into the World Cup. Let me start off by saying that 90 min. game was the most stressful 90 min. of my life!!!!!! We were playing Lithuania who , rumor has it, was told by a certain team that if they beat us, they would be paid 50,000,000 Euros each.... well, who knows if the rumor is true, but they sure played like it!!!!! Lithuania played their hearts out with the Bosnia team, holding us 0-0 after half time. Let me just remind you last time we played them, we beat them 4-0 or something like that! Bosnia FINALLY scored, but it was called off sides and we were back to the beginning, but only a few min. after this invalid goal Bosnia scored! The city went WILD! I was watching this game from my house, but down at the BBI center, which is a well known shopping center downtown, thousands of people had gathered to watch the game on big screen! BBI is pretty far from my house, but I heard the screams of the people from my house! All I could see from my window was a red glow from all the flares and the smoke that that was now covering the center! The game continued and Bosnia finally won with the score of 1-0!!! They finally qualified for the World Cup for the first time since becoming an independent nation! Let’s just say that the honking and fireworks could be heard through the night! :)

Wednesday I stayed at home and started feeling not so good, which was the start of my problems! Let’s just say I spent the next few days sick to stomach with fever and missed the wedding I had been planning for since I got here, I EVEN HAD A DRESS MADE FOR IT!!!!! UGGHHHH It was so annoying! But life happens and we just have to get over it, but I heard it was an AMAZING wedding! So my three day school break turned into an entire week because of this dumb virus. But I won’t complain!

The weekend before Bajram I went on a class trip to jajce! OHHHHH It was gorgeous!! Fall is already my favorite season, but fall in Bosnia is even better! The trees are such vibrant colors right now! On our trip we went a visited some catacombs, a fort that is OLDER than America, the place where the old Yugoslavia was put together, and then to this lovely park, where some old mills are!! AHH it was so nice and beautiful!  The trip was great! After the trip I went to a concert of a famous Croatian singer named Severina… It was interesting! But we had so much fun!! All the Americans made up words to the songs, because none of us had a clue what she was singing about!  

So I have definitely had a busy couple of weeks! These last two weeks at school have been filled with tests, SO MANY TESTS!!! I have never studied so much in my life!!! But I guess that is junior year for you! Ohhh the joys of high school ;) Well I am going to have to end this post! But I hope everyone is doing well from where ever you are reading this from!! Thanks for the emails that I get! They mean alot to me! Sorry I haven't replied to some, but I promise to get to it in this next week or so! 

Until the next adventure,

Sarah Edgar

P.s. Here is a great post on the Soccer Match and its significance in Bosnia http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/europe/crazy-celebrations-bosnia-and-herzegovina

Jajce

The typical group picture...

90% of the time that we spend together consists of us laughing!!!

The Catacombs

Bosnia game

Sevarina concert

“Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life”- Michael Palin

With YES Abroad I have already gained a new insight on culture, American Culture. As most of you know, over Spring Break I attended IPSE (In Person Selection Event) in Washington D.C. Let me just say that those 3 days changed my life! We are so blessed to have such a culturally diverse country! I will start from the beginning of my trip!

On April 22 I left for the Nashville Airport! My anxiety levels were the
highest they have ever been starting the night before until I safely landed on the ground at Reagan Airport Friday afternoon! For those who don't know, I have a FEAR of heights; planes tend to fly very high in the sky at
fast speeds, so as you can guess, since this was my 1st time flying in nearly 10 years AND I was flying ALONE, I was stressing over every single detail! Many of you have yet to figure out that I have NO, may I repeat, NO sense of direction, so other than my fear of heights I have my fear of getting lost! Fortunately airports are made for people like me, and there were plenty of signs as well as people who I could ask for guidance of where to go! After saying a quick good bye, I went through security and finally arrived at my terminal! Upon arrival at my gate, I was given the "delightful" news that my plane had been delayed... for MECHANICAL reasons (just my luck)!! So what does a teenage girl who is scared of flying in the 1st place do when they announce that they have
MECHANICAL PROBLEMS, well, you have the choice to stay calm or freak out! The reasonable, mature, and responsible girl that I am, chooses the logical way of reacting, allowing myself to freak out and give myself every possible bad situation that could take place when I board that plane! Thank God I have friends who are smarter than me; they at least TRIED to talk sense in me! Well, it ended up being something wrong with the air conditioner. After a "lovely" flight filled with a screaming child, who wanted a chocolate chip cookie, and air turbulence, I finally landed in D.C. safe and only a little over an hour late! :)

The experience did turn positive though, soon as I arrived at
National 4-H center; I was surrounded by people who actually understand my love for culture! I was introduced to 120 teenagers who loved to travel and try new things (I was in social girl heaven). Nobody knew anyone, so we all just went up to some one who looked interesting and said, “Hi, my name is Sarah, I am from Kentucky. Do you want to be friends?" Let me just say, I was finally in kindergarten again! So after acquainting ourselves with each other, we were given the chance to meet our room mates!! Let me just say I had to have the best room mates EVER!!! Syahira, Iris, and Kaley, these were the girls that I grew to absolutely love over the weekend! They were all so fun and energetic!

After we arrived we were told our interview times and
group work times! My interview wasn't until Saturday evening, but I had group work in the morning and afternoon! Group Work was sooooooooo much fun, I was in Group H, and let me tell you, we have some mad acting skills!! We called ourselves "Abroad on Broadway"! During this group work we made a 6 slide human slide show about Egypt and a movie commercial about a Viking girl (Best movie ever in my opinion)! (I made some amazing friends in that group; I have only been able to stay in contact with one of them, Sarah, who will hopefully be going to Indonesia!) After our group work was done I had a 45 min. interview with 2 of our leaders! The interview went so smoothly, I literally came out of the room knowing that God was in there since it had went so well! I spent the rest of my time building friendships with some of the people there. Sunday morning, after saying good bye to some of the most amazing people I have ever met, I boarded a plane once again :( (at least this time I just had air turbulence no screaming child during my flight)! I came home absolutely amazed at what America had to offer! It was
definitely an eye opening experience!

When I came home the wait began! (Let me tell you about stressful) We weren't given an exact date of when we would find out about our finalist status, so as you can expect refreshing my email every ten minutes went on for 3 weeks! I was an absolute nervous wreck! But on April 12th the waiting ended, (we had all predicted that finalist status would be announced some time that weekend) but at 2:50 pm I was texting my friend Sarah, she sent me a text saying Morocco had been announced.... I am pretty sure I became pale in the face when I saw this text! I immediately went to refresh my email, and there it was, the email that would change my life! I stared at it for 3 min. debating on whether or not to open it! I knew if I opened it and I didn't get accepted I would have burst into tears and started sobbing in front of every one! After thinking about it I decided that I have embarrassed myself plenty of time in front of my peers, I might as well just open it and get it over with! As soon as I read those first two sentences I started jumping up and down squealing hugging my best friend! I am pretty sure Alyssa was seriously confused of why I was acting so crazy!! Finally when I told her, we shared a bitter
sweet hug, We both knew I had accomplished my dream, but we also new at the same time this was a year apart ( and if you know Alyssa and I that is unheard of!!) As soon as the bell rang I RAN through the hall
way to find Courtney McReynolds, I will just say that I flat out tackled her, soon as she found out we both jumped and squealed for joy!!! A Happy day it was, I am pretty sure my happiness could be heard through the school!

So that brings us here! As I start to prepare and go through this journey I hope to give you insight on what is going on! I am pretty sure that it has not fully sunk in yet, but I am still extremely excited about this amazing opportunity! I cannot wait to see what God's plan is for me! I will try to keep you updated!

Until the next adventure,
Sarah
Edgar

                                      Group H or otherwise known as "Abroad on Broadway"

                                                                 My Roomies!!!!