Grace in Bosnia & Herzegovina 2019

After hours of me talking about how much I miss Mexican food at work, my boss said, "Why don't you teach us how to make Mexican food some time?" Initially I thought, wow that would be fun; s econdly, I thought, do I know how to make Mexican food really ? Lastly, I thought - I wonder if Bosnia & Herzegovina has tortillas? Tonight, I had my five coworkers over for Mexican food, and they wanted to come and make the meal with me so that they could learn. Truly I did not think it would be as amazing as the evening was - I was stressed and nervous that the food would not turn out well. Before the meal itself, I went grocery shopping, which was quite a process. Thank God most things have pictures on them, but for items I needed to buy that did not have pictures and just their name in Bosnian, I was stuck. I found out that avocados are extremely expensive compared to other produce here, and of course I chose to make guacamole! While I say that I am good at asking for help...

What a beautiful apartment to wake up to! If you're ever staying in Sarajevo for at least a month, definitely check out this website ! We have two living rooms, two bedrooms, wifi, a kitchen and dining room, and a bathroom. Everything and more that we need! Also the real estate coordinator, Timur, is absolutely fantastic and he even picked me and my travel partner, Joy, up from the airport. He also gave Joy a tour of the Old Town since she arrived yesterday the morning. This morning we met our coworker from Zene za Zene (Women for Women) named Nermana and she walked us to work. Not only is she an extremely sweet woman, but she is also very funny and kind. I was so excited to meet everyone at the office, and especially Seida, because I've interviewed with her twice before for the fellowship application process, and she seemed amazing. Today we met all four staff members, Nermana, Seida, Amela, and Belma - the stars of Zene za Zene in Bosnia. They treated us to some te...

Hello and welcome to my blog summarizing the experiences that I have and the things that I learn throughout this summer 2019. This summer I will be working for Women for Women International as a storytelling intern in addition to supporting the organization with fundraising and marketing. I am grateful to the  Beeck Center  for choosing me as one of their GU Impact Fellows this year. The GU Impacts program through the Beeck Center for Social Impact allows a cohort of around 20 students annually to take part in a sustainable internship domestically or abroad that focuses on social impact. The aspect about this fellowship that I appreciate the most is their emphasis on sustainability and also their intentional recruitment of partners who are looking for non-locals (i.e. Americans) for their associated skills not due to gaining a reputation. The GU Impacts Coordinator who set up most of these partnerships asked the organizations if this was a job that a local could take and if ...