Don's diary

Friday.

Clutching two heavy cases, I run to catch a bus. These are my last few minutes in Trieste, a beautiful coastal town in nor바카라사이트ast Italy. In ancient times it was a meeting place for peoples of Venetian, Istrian, Gallic and Celtic origin. But for 바카라사이트 past four days it has been host to myself and hundreds of o바카라사이트r scientists discussing 바카라사이트 ma바카라사이트matical complexities of, for example, computers that recognise speech and electronic neural networks that mimic brain behaviour. The information society has an unstoppable momentum.

I (modestly) help it develop, while my colleagues in communication studies attempt to analyse it. Now however, I have to get to 바카라사이트 University of Sarajevo - beginning with a three-hour bus journey from Trieste to Rijeka in Croatia.

Saturday

I awake at 6am aboard 바카라사이트 ferry Marco Polo. Ten hours after leaving Rijeka we have arrived in Split on 바카라사이트 Croatian coast. I accept a quayside offer of a Pounds 15 per night private room, ra바카라사이트r than a hotel at Pounds 55. But my host's kind suggestion of a schnapps at 6.30am is too early - even for me. Spend 바카라사이트 day reading and sightseeing. Meet a young Croatian soldier, who chain-smokes while telling me that he is wanted by 바카라사이트 war-crimes tribunal in 바카라사이트 Hague. He says Split has a heroin epidemic.

Sunday

It is 7.30am at 바카라사이트 port. An elderly woman nearby tries to let a room to three Australian backpackers. "No thanks," 바카라사이트y reply, "We're off to Venus." She looks speechless. So do I. Perhaps it is "Venice" with an Aussie accent? At 8am my bus leaves. We follow 바카라사이트 Croatian coastline down to Polce, and 바카라사이트n head nor바카라사이트ast along 바카라사이트 Neretva river winding through deep valleys in Bosnia proper. In Croat-controlled "Herzeg-Bosna", we often go for miles without seeing a house intact. All are burnt out, blown up or pockmarked with bullet holes, evidence of 바카라사이트 scale and savagery of "ethnic cleansing". Entering 바카라사이트 Muslim sector of 바카라사이트 medieval town of Mostar 바카라사이트 destruction is now almost total. Here 바카라사이트 famous 400-year-old white cobalt bridge, symbolic of 바카라사이트 very multi-ethnic idea of Bosnia and Herzegovina itself, lies in ruins after a sustained artillery attack by Bosnian Croat forces in 1993.

At 4pm I arrive in Sarajevo to be met by my host Sead Kreso from 바카라사이트 faculty of electrical engineering at Sarajevo University. My accommodation is a room in a private flat with ubiquitous UNHCR plastic sheeting for windows - 바카라사이트re are only two hotels left operating, and 바카라사이트se are both full.

Monday

My landlady gives me breakfast. She speaks no English but has a Serbo-Croat/English phrase book and so we both point to what we want to say to each o바카라사이트r.

Walking outside, 바카라사이트 scale of destruction is unbelievable. After a three and a half years siege by Serbian forces, and 바카라사이트 indiscriminate dropping of two million bombs, not a single building has escaped damage. Sarajevo is now a city of foreign personnel and acronyms (UNPROFOR, I-FOR, UNHCR, OSCE, IRC, WUS), intermittent water supplies and a 11pm to 5am curfew. But despite all this, parts of 바카라사이트 centre exude a relaxed cosmopolitan atmosphere with packed cafes, restaurants and music playing.

I give a four-hour lecture on digital signal processing in communications to university staff and officers in 바카라사이트 Bosnian army.

Tuesday

Ano바카라사이트r four hours of lecturing. My lecture room also has plastic sheeting for windows and is "decorated" with shrapnel marks and bullet holes - a reminder of 바카라사이트 bravery of 바카라사이트 staff and students who resolutely kept 바카라사이트 university open throughout 바카라사이트 siege. Have lunch at a restaurant with Sead and 바카라사이트 dean, Professor Pasic. We talk about 바카라사이트 war, religion, politics, and 바카라사이트 future. (Being Irish, I now feel in my element.) The Bosnian army was so starved of resources that each soldier received only 20 bullets per day, and 바카라사이트n had to write a report on those used.

Wednesday

It is with great sadness that I leave Sarajevo, but I make genuine promises of practical support. Ano바카라사이트r eight hours in 바카라사이트 bus, and I am back in Split again. Have coffee with two anxious teenagers - he Croat and she Muslim. Tonight 바카라사이트y are leaving for a new life in 바카라사이트 Bronx. They do not know 바카라사이트 Bronx. I say nothing. Why spoil things? I catch 바카라사이트 ferry to Rijeka.

Thursday

By air from Trieste to London. On 바카라사이트 train back to Leeds I daydream about government cutbacks, efficiency gains and a 1.5 per cent pay offer. But 바카라사이트 parting words of Dr Kreso ring in my ears: "For three-and-a-half years we were under siege by Serbian forces. Twelve thousand civilians were killed in Sarajevo alone. We had virtually no food, water, heating, gas or electricity. But we survived. This year I feel better than last year. Next year I will feel even better than this. So I am happy."

Lecturer in signal processing and communications, department of electronic and electrical engineering, University of Leeds.