I arrived in Belgrade early. Before the expedition officially begins I began my own.

While living in Amsterdam these past five years, I became close with a few wonderful people coming from various areas of the Balkans. I often got mixed up, much to the faux(?)-frustration of these friends,
as to who comes from Serbia or from Bosnia or from Croatia. They always corrected me, then chalked it up to me being American.

Now that I am here I begin to understand. The images that I've constructed of these cities- based on their stories and habits (and much less so by what I saw on TV) are quickly being eclipsed by what i physically observe before me. These friends-and now their friends, continue to act as my lenses. I view the city they show me- visiting their bar boats ("splav") on the river, drinking wild pear rakije, holding up the florescent tubes of tesla's museum as the little lightnings jump off the copper display, or sleeping in my friend's childhood bedroom in the hills of sarajevo.