Serbia 02.08.2014 - 14.08.2014

Stefanie Kropf

Stefanie grew up in Bern. After finishing grammar school she moved to Basel to study Philosophy, History and Sociology. The focuses of her studies were ethics, the history of South Eastern Europe and conflict sociology. Due to this combination the Balkans soon became her main topic of interest. After achieving her licentiat she started travelling the Balkans and soon after took the chance to do an internship at a local NGO in Belgrade. Since then she returned to Serbia at least twice a year.

"It's not easy to describe what it is that makes most of us foreigners fall in love with this country. For sure there are its people, who are amazingly generous and hospitable. There is the way they know to celebrate life even when Serbia's economy is still struggling due to the latest wars and corruption. There is also the beautiful and diverse landscape to be discovered. Serbia is a country you must have visited by yourself to understand our admiration."

Marijana Kuzmanović

Marijana is studying Geography at the University of Belgrade, beside her studies she is working as a volunteer. She decided to co-organize this study trip because she likes travelling and meeting new people. Marijana also thinks that it’s important to show the good aspects of her country to other people, because she thinks that in the last few years a lot of people’s image of Serbia was influenced by prejudices about Serbia and it’s political situation which is often strongly influenced by the media. Also in the historical context, which is little known, Serbia isn’t using it’s potential in advertising tourism despite it’s beautiful and specific nature, long history, culture, customs etc. Marijana would like to show you some of the many good aspects of Serbia because she believes that changes start with a little things.