Well,I stopped off at the internet cafe with the express purpose of making a post, but nowI am feeling too tired to do so. However, the mimimun time is half an hour and I just signed in, so
I might as well.

As you may have guessed by the lack of posts, my free time here in Novi Sad is not so polific as I had anticipated. Added to that, whenever I sign on to email I seem to get more bad news, which makes me lazy and all I want to do is read other people's blogs, not write my own. I am having trouble with the bank, which demands I call to verify purchases, despite the fact that I just did so less than 3 months ago, and that I told them I was going to be traveling abroad, for how long, and to which countries I was going. When I emailed them to tell them the collect number for overseas was not accepting collect calls they replied with a form email saying please call this number if you are overseas. SO HELPFUL. Even worse was on Friday, just as I was about to leave for a weekend in the middle of nowhere, Serbia, when I got an email from a stupid legal secretary demanding to know why I had not signed the document I have never received and why I have never returned her phone calls or messages. From someone I TOLD I was going abroad less than a week before I left. And she waited until 5 days before she needed a document signed by me for the hearing to ask my brother where I was? Apparantly totally ignorant that he has power of atterney for me so I shouldn't have to sign anything? Of course I freaked out, not able to find anything online about DHL or Fedex in Novi Sad, thinking I would have to go to Beograd to mail this document and it would never get there in time and all our lies were ruined. As it happened it worked out but I am still angry.

Anyway, enough complaining. My mornings are occupied by classes, we have several hours of homework a day, and usually an activity such as history lectures, games or parties in the afternons and evenings. I am really loving Novi Sad, which is a fantastic place to live. I am enjoying my time here in almost every aspect. Today I was paid a very important compliment. One of my profesors told me that they commented on how they can see me improving everyday. This about someone who despaired of every being a sucessful historian for lack of langauge ability! Actually, I am really, really pleased with my progress here and I think I am learning a lot.

So I've suddenly become brillant at learning languages? I think not. Rather, there are a number of factors that make this an opportune opportunity, if you will, for me to be learning Serbia. Firstly, I have a really good base from what I learned last year. I certainly wasn't as sucessful as I am now, but you don't spnd three weeks in Serbia to no avail, and it is all coming back and falling into place for me. Secondly, I have just come back from 2 months of complete mental, if not toherwise, relaxation, and I am really well-rested mentally and up for the challenge. Perhaps I am smarter than I suspected! Thirdly, I have true motivation because I realize the importance for my own future. Fourthly, I am not recently recovering from a traumatic event... Sorry there is no spellcheck installed on this computer.

A lot of other things I'd like to post about, but my time is running out and I have to pee....