Explorations in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.

apparation hill, medjugorje
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I am back in Florence from yet another fabulous trip! We departed Thursday afternoon by bus to a port in Ancona, Italy. From there we boarded an overnight, 9 hour to be specific, boat ride to Split, Croatia. The bus and boat rides provided lots of bonding time with everyone! Each week I am getting to know more and more people and enjoying my time spent with everyone that much more!

After our 9 hour boat ride we arrived in Split, Croatia at about 7:00 am, I got a stamp in my passport (yey!!! this was exciting because its only my second stamp since Ive been here and Ive been to 3 different countries, 5 now with Croatia and Bosnia actually!) Anyways, we boarded the buses yet again for the drive to Medjugorje. I was completely stunned by the diversity of the Croatian landscape. The drive took us high above the cliffs of the coastline, where it looked as if we were flyingwe were literally above the clouds, and the tiny red roof tops looked a million miles away. From there we drove along and inland, through a widely diverse landscape with lots of hills and shrubbery colors of everything from apples to chestnutsit was quite beautiful!

mostar, bosnia... a bombed building
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We arrived in Medjugorje in the early afternoon; I took a quick shower and headed to meet the group in front of the main church at the end of town. We met with our tour guides who gave us a little background information on Medjugorje at the apparitions. From there we headed through fields and up the hill to finally meet at the bottom of Apparition Hill. In silence we headed to the spot where a white marble statue of Mary stands. It was a beautiful day and very peaceful sitting in prayer and reflection amidst people praying in at least 3 other languages. It was a much more spiritual experience than I had prepared myself for. We say the sight of the blue cross where Ivan, one of the original 6 children (now in his 30s) who sees the Virgin Mary, sees her. We prayed for the mother of a girl on our program who had to go home early because her mother was diagnosed with a brain tour, so everyone please keep her and her family in your prayers. It was a very nice way for us all to come together and reflect.

picture with a couple of the students we met with at the university of mostar
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On day 2 we headed from Medjugorje to Mostar. Mostar is still very devastated by the war that occurred there in the early 90s. We had the opportunity to meet with students at the University of Mostar and hear their stories about living through the war and what it is like to be a student there. They told heartbreaking stories of loss and hopeful stories of faith for their futures. It was interesting getting to hear their stories and I could only imagine how terrible it must have been for them to live amidst the fighting and warfare for 3 years. Many of the buildings in town still stand blown to pieces by bombs and devastated by HUGE bullet holes. It is too expensive for them to tear down, and I can only imagine what a reminder this is for them on a daily basis. We visited the Old Bridge in Mostar, it was blown away in the war but re-built to look exactly as it did before the war, and using all the same materials and methods. It was a high bridge over a clear blue river. It stood between the two sides of town, now the area is lined with shops and restaurants for tourists. We spent the afternoon there walking around town, relaxing by the river, and some people even tried the delicacy. It was some sort of minced meat in a pita, I am not that brave!