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Croatia
By John Meade
Coffee and Policy Dilemmas
On
the morning of my second to last day in Dubrovnik, Croatia I went to
the campus of Dubrovnik University. I had the intentions of
speaking with some university students about their thoughts on the
United States, the war in Iraq, tourism, and the Balkan Wars of the
1990s. Before going to the university, I consulted Michael
Angrosino’s article, "Conducting a Life History Interview" to help me
prepare some questions for my potential interview. After almost
an hour of wandering around the campus, I sat down at a café
next to a young man reading a magazine. After gathering my
bearings and telling myself that he would not think I was crazy, I
asked him if he had a minute to discuss a few topics with me.
As it turned out, he was more than happy to
speak with me. His name was Vica and he was a sophomore studying
agriculture in Dubrovnik. He seemed generally interested when I
told him that I was an American student traveling the world. I
asked him how he felt about our current president and American policy
abroad. He told me that he did not like the direction that the
U.S. was going with regards to foreign policy, but he did emphasize the
fact that he liked Americans very much. He did not have a great
deal to say about the Balkan Wars because he was not very old at the
time, but he said that older people in his family talk about it quite
often and it definitely had an effect on his life. Vica also told
me that he has had great experiences in the past dealing with tourists
in his country. My talk with Vica allowed me to have a greater
understanding of the mindset of the youth in Croatia.
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