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200 Days in Bosnia and Herzegovina

200 Days Story

By Georgie B., YES Abroad 2015-2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina

I have spent a numbered amount of time here in this indescribable country. So let me use my newly learned amazing math skills to break it into some probably-not-completely-accurate-but-I’m-trying-here numbers. 

Approximately
288,000 minutes,
4,800 hours,
2,000 Serbian language mistakes,
600 bus rides,
450 times falling on public transportation,
400 Bosnian meals,
300 bone crushing hugs from my host mom,
275 coffees,
150 days of looking foreign,
26 weeks,
7 months…

In total, that’s 200 days of indescribable happiness and awkwardness and laughing and crying and yelling and fan-girling over food and cheering over a simple correctly said Serbian sentence and tripping down stairs and making mistakes every time I step out the door and realizing the world is bigger than a cellphone and that social media doesn't really matter when you’re on top of a hill that you just almost died hiking to and just being in this incredible state of bliss and overwhelming emotions that makes writing this experience down and translating it into words so difficult. 

It’s 200 days of being overwhelmed with every possible emotion there is and still feeling kind of sane.
It’s 200 days of being away from my tiny town of gossip of 200 years and living in a city full of life and buzz of 3000 years.
It’s 200 days of realizing that sometimes, it’s okay to take my health and happiness as my only consideration.
It’s 200 days of having the opportunity to volunteer and make people and kids smile simply because I’m an American.
It’s 200 days of talking in a language I didn't know 201 days ago.
It’s TWO HUNDRED DAYS of being completely and utterly happy even when I’m at the lowest point I’ve ever been.

I’ve made new friends by speaking new words. I’ve eaten foods I didn’t know existed, though now I don't  know how I ever lived without them. 

It’s been 200 days of going from a country full of strangers to a place full of friends I now call home.

I’ve felt feelings I didn't know I could feel and met people I didn't know I couldn’t live without. 

So here’s to these 92 days of 3 months of exploring even more new things and savoring every amazing moment have left here.

200 Days Story 2