As part of our continuing series on the Sarajevo Study Trip, today we feature Esther Haidacher, a 2^nd year law student at the University of Bologna and one of the 28 participants in this year's trip. Esther hails from Italy's Bolzano region, where the coexistence of speakers of Italian, German, and Ladin provided her much fodder for comparison with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here are some of her reflections from the trip:

Why did you want to attend the Sarajevo Study Trip? 

Esther Haidacher

I had the Comparative Constitutionalism course with Professor Mancini, and during this course the CCSDD gave a small presentation. Afterwards, I found out that there are some parallels from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the province of Bolzano, which is an autonomous province, in the sense that there is a coexistence of three groups that share a living space. I started to read more and more, and that is where my interest began.

For Professor Mancini, we had to write a paper, and during my research I found a lot of documents where the comparison was made between Bolzano and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that's why I decided to apply. It was always a comparative perspective.

Who was your favorite speaker?

I liked the meeting with the general a lot. He gave us very personal stories and his own experiences, which were very, very interesting. I really enjoyed whenever people were giving us their personal experiences during the war and what they experienced during the siege. I also liked the OSCE meeting.

What impressions did you get of the current situation Bosnia and Herzegovina?

I just started to understand a little bit how big and how omnipresent this issue is, this division – it's reflected in every part of the country still today. We were there for four intense days, but we were still on the surface.  And that's what impressed me – I understood more and more how complex the whole thing is.
Did you enjoy meeting SAIS Europe students?

I really enjoyed the meeting of the two schools. That was a very interesting point because you learn also from the peers in terms of the exchange. We have different majors, we had a different view on the things that people told us. This sort of exchange that was very, very good. Professor Frosini said our group managed to mix up very well between the two schools, so it was very nice. The organization was very well done. And we stayed together in the hostel, which made it a bit easier to mix up.

How did the trip relate to your studies and future professional ambitions?

I am very interested in the situation of minorities in Bosnia, since they are the constituent people of the state. They are not minorities exactly – they are three different people, even though there are still minorities aside from the three main groups.

I am very interested in the sharing of living spaces, and the organization of such a society, a multicultural and multiethnic society, how to organize and how to govern, and all the institutions. As I said, the comparative perspective was very interesting for me