NOVI SAD IS A PLACE TO BE
»Why
did you choose Serbia, particularly Novi Sad, as a place for your student
exchange?« was the first and most common question at the beginning of my
10-month student exchange. Well, as I'm a student of Heritage tourism on MA level,
the options were scarce to begin with. I really wanted to go to an exchange
since I like to meet new international friends, travel and challenge myself
with unknown experiences, and luckily I had found the Erasmus Mundus Sunbeam
project where I could mostly choose among the Balkan countries. Novi Sad seemed
like a perfect option because it's »cozier« than Belgrade, very multicultural
and the programme on University of Novi Sad, particularly Tourism programme on
Faculty of Sciences, was the most compatible with the programme on Turistica. I
didn't hesitate and prepared all the documents (there were quite a lot!) and
applied for a 2-semester study exchange.
Me and my friend were luckily accepted and flew to
Serbia at the end of September (2015). We stayed in a hostel for a few days
while we were itensively looking for an apartment (foreign students are
unfortunately unable to live in student dormitories) and found a great and
relatively cheap one close to the faculty as well as city centre. We had a lot
of time to explore the city's treasures since our classes (in Serbian language)
didn't start until the second half of October. However, the professors and
students alike were thrilled to have students/classmates from Slovenia and
accepted us as one of their owns. The classes and activities at the faculty
were interesting and at the beginning quite difficult (because of the language)
but professors (treating students like colleagues) were understanding and we
quickly learned Serbian quite well.
Food-wise probably all of us are
familiar with Serbian cuisine – ćevapčići, pljeskavice, burek, riblja čorba
etc. I did eat some of them from time to time but generally I was cooking meals
for myself ... I was especially thrilled about the big vegetable and fruit markets
which were quite cheap and always fresh. The lifestyle is quite similar to
Slovenian's (we are close after all) so I didn't experience too much of a
cultural shock.
Transport
– I mostly used trains and buses – is very cheap compared to Slovenia (e. g.
city bus ride is app. 0,40 €) and easy to master. However, the prices in shops
and stores (convenient stores, clothes) surprised me because they are very
similar to ours, even though the standard is significantly lower – I admire
Serbian capability to make it through the month with their salaries (to shock
you – a friend from the faculty said she would get 180 euros/month of initial
paycheck with a master's degree!).
Considering
the number of exchange students in the first (winter) semester, it was quite dull
because there weren't many and some just weren't up to hanging out at a few but
great ESN events and activities. Nonetheless we made quite a lot of good
Serbian friends and managed to make our days interesting with iceskating,
hiking, movie nights and dinner parties. I especially took advantage of very afordable
cultural events (plays, musicals, concerts) and attended them quite frequently.
Since Serbia is in majority an orthodox country we had a double celebration of
Christmas and New Years Eve, which were quite unforgettable despite being cold.
In second semester more students arrived to Novi Sad
– and as they say, the more the merrier J. It was getting warmer and we were hanging out more
and made some true international friends that will hopefully last a lifetime.
Our big happy family was making pizza evenings, movi nights, cards-playing
gatherings, just-because parties etc. We also had a great opportunity to visit
mountains in Zlatibor with ESN and even Szeged in Hungary with a non-expensive
student tourist agency.
Patricija Draksler
