For someone who doesn’t travel often, it’s hard to know where to start describing how I feel right now.

After 7 years away, I finally find myself in Belgrade, Serbia – the city I was born in, and the city which will be my home for the next month. It is so different than Vancouver, yet I feel no culture-shock or displacement here. Perhaps it because of the fellow Serbians I met on the plane ride here, who assured me that it’s perfectly alright to be Serbian-Canadian, speak with an accent, and ask lots of questions that clearly every Beogradjan knows the answer to. The way I remember Belgrade was definitely not as welcoming as I found it this time around!

First of all, I don’t often get a chance to practice my Serbian, but spending 14 hours on a plane with a bunch of Serbs really forced me to test-run my language skills before I got here for real. I found myself speaking fluently and with confidence, and the feeling of pride was just huge!!! I was definitely starting to reconnect 🙂

When I landed in Belgrade, hearing Serbian all around me and realizing that I fully understood and could even read everything filled me up with happy tears! Every doubt that I had about my belonging to this heritage melted away in an instant.

So, what is Belgrade like???

Well, so far, its a little grungy. There is graffiti everywhere and the apartments have a distinct communist-era feel to them. But keep in mind that this is just Novi Beograd (New Belgrade), and I have yet to see Stari Grad (Old Town), Zemun, Skadarlija, Sava Mala (Little Sava) or any of the other parts of Belgrade. Novi Beograd definitely has a lived-in appearance, but so far, I really like it!

My dad met me at the Nikola Tesla Airport just North of Belgrade, and from there we headed straight for our apartment in Blok 22, pulling up to what seemed like just about the ugliest and dirtiest neighbourhood I could ever imagine living in. At first I was quite confused and worried, because our apartment is also under renovation, which means that almost none of the appliances work and you need to wear flip flops all the time to avoid stepping on concrete debris and crumbled dry-wall.

I decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood to familiarize myself with my new home and spot-out the local shops and facilities. I must say, I’m not one who easily gets lost, but Blok 22 is a bit of a concrete labyrinth. But honestly, it was on this walk that I fell back in love with Belgrade.

Yes it’s grungy, but Belgrade is so alive! Even in this most standard of residential areas, even in the most sudden downpour of rain that hit, even on a “school night”, Blok 22 was alive and rich with activity. People were sitting and chatting on their balconies, tending to overflowing plants, strolling around the parks, playing sports, gathering over outdoor chess, eating out, and going shopping.

Storefronts were dispersed on this corner and that – everything from a full on grocery store, to a detox smoothie bar, a bakery, a health food store, a yoga studio, and anything I could ever ask for within a two minute walk of my building. Plus, things here stay open a lot later than in Vancouver, and open earlier, contributing to people’s ability to work hard during the day and play hard during the night!

I was also pleasantly surprised at how kind people were to me and to each other in general. I had always had the impression that Serbs are a grumpy people who are constantly complaining about the economic situation and treating each other rashly. But that is the farthest thing from what I experienced that first day.

My accent, my politeness, and my perpetual Canadian smile definetely raised some questions about where I was from, or why I was so happy and excited. But a quick explanation did the trick and people were super eager to show me the ropes and explain things that I probably would have know if I was actually from Belgrade. I really feel like I will make friends easily here!

I look forward to more exploration tomorrow as I see my neighbourhood in daylight and head on over to Stari Grad and the pijaca (open market)! My dad will be busily fixing up the kitchen so that we can at least wash our hands somewhere, and we’ll both be visiting some of his friends for a much needed shower!!!

Best wishes from Belgrade,

Iva