My experience this semester can be likened to a bus ride. Before coming to Belgrade, I had almost no experience navigating public transit independently, having grown up in suburban Massachusetts, where public transportation is practically nonexistent. My host family lived in Zemun, an outer district of Belgrade easily accessible by bus but farther than I had expected to be from the school building and the city center. I was so nervous that my host mom took me on a practice trip from home to school the weekend before classes began. My first day of classes, I came down with a stomach bug; at first, I associated the bus with the nausea I felt as I willed it to get me home as quickly as possible. As I used the bus more, however, I became comfortable with it (although I accidentally got on a bus headed in the wrong direction more times than I’d care to admit). Then, I began to look forward to the 45-minute rides to and from Zemun. It gave me a chance to take in the city, to gaze at the Danube River as the bus crossed its waters, to watch as the sky turned subtle shades of pink at the day’s end, to notice a rainbow briefly make an appearance when the rain gave way to sunlight.

Public transport was a thread woven through most of my experiences in Belgrade, both positive and negative. Once, my wallet slipped out of my pocket as I was leaving the train. Someone turned it in to the bus driver, and luckily I got it back (albeit with my cash missing…). After my phone was stolen, I had a terribly stressful time trying to recover my monthly bus ticket, which was issued in a text message. Later my local friends laughed at me for being so worried: “We don’t even buy tickets!” they told me. The positive far outweighed the negative. I look at bus seats now and remember the memories associated with a time I sat in that spot — eating pizza with friends, balancing luggage on the way to the airport, debriefing with my supervisor after a field visit to a refugee camp.

As the weather grew colder, the negative environmental impact of the buses became apparent. Chimneys on top of them blasted black smoke upwards, contributing to Belgrade’s extreme air pollution. In the back of the bus, where I tended to gravitate, the engine roared and rattled, impossible to block even with earbuds in and the volume turned up.

This semester, I was pushed out of my comfort zone in all areas, even in something as routine as public transportation. I learned to dive into new experiences despite my fears and insecurities and to rely on others for guidance, but also to think critically about the advice given to me. I learned to appreciate small moments of natural beauty and to notice how my daily actions impact the environment. As I leave Belgrade, I will take with me an increased awareness of the power and influence that everyday, seemingly banal decisions can have on your local and global environment.