EuroTrip '08 - Belgrade, Srdjan

I already mentioned my friend Srdjan Milovanovic before. Like his father, he is a psychiatrist now, but we go waaaaay back. We have been friends since we were really small - he was two and I was three years old. We grew up in this house - Srdjan on the 8th floor, I on 7th floor:

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We were in the same classroom in the elementary school (grades 1-4), in the same middle school (5-8), and kept in touch even when we went to different high schools and later when I went to vet school and Srdjan to med school, and once I left for the USA.

Growing up, we spent a lot of time visiting each other. His mother and I had a special connection - we always had something to talk about and I loved her food. So, although I saw Srdjan earlier in the week, I just had to go and visit his Mom again:

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Then, Srdjan and I spent a couple of hours talking about science and medicine and he explained a lot to me about the state of Serbian medicine, the academic system (including the system of promotion which is very strict) and ways that it can be improved and how their biomedical researchers can regain international reputation again - this was probably the most informative and useful part for me (in-between cracking jokes as if no time has passed since we last saw each other):

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