This summer, 11 Students and two faculty members are traveling to Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia to learn about the 20th-century history of the countries formerly known as Yugoslavia and begin to unravel the complex reverberations of Conflict. Please enjoy this first blog post below from Ava ’26 and Eleanor ’26 where they share how the group was met in Zagreb with warm welcomes from locals, made observations about school and national pride, and reflected on cultural differences after a full day of travel and exploration.
After a long day of travel, orientation in a park in Zagreb, and a fabulous family style dinner, we asked people to reflect on what stuck out/interested them the most today. Griffin, Travis, Anaïs, and Eleanor all shared a little bit about how friendly the people were as we walked through the city. Multiple groups of young students walked by us at the park, heading back from school. They all waved and welcomed us into Zagreb. In addition, the group noticed the vast difference in class times during the school year. Strolling through the park at four, Croatian students were just leaving their classes, unlike Deerfield where we get out at 2:50. In addition, Lyla noted that she found the amount of Croatian flags to be very surprising. She acknowledged that she didn’t know what to expect in terms of patriotism in these several countries that were once one. Overall, though a very long and tiring day, it was a great start to the trip and we are all very excited to get some rest and continue on tomorrow!
– Ava ’26 and Eleanor ’26
______________________________________________________________________
Additionally, Trip Leader Julia Rivellino-Lyons shares about how, in preparation for the journey, students explored key themes—such as identity, diplomacy, and the legacy of war—through group presentations and readings, setting the stage for deeper learning during the trip.
Between mid February and early May, trip leaders and students met several times to brainstorm questions and topics of interest. Then students (in pairs or on their own) put together slide presentations for the group about their topics. Having run out of time for meetings in the busy last few weeks of the term, the last three students did some reading on the plane today and reflected on that reading in EMails to the rest of the group, raising questions that we anticipate exploring with experts, residents, and people who lived through the wars of the ‘90s, questions surrounding religious/ethnic/national identities, the role of the UN and diplomats both during and after the war, and the framing of the war by different sides.
– Julia Rivellino-Lyons
