PLUS ÇA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MÊME CHOSE

I came to Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1977 and now it is Belgrade, Serbia. I knew virtually no Serbian, but had had a half a year of Russian at UCLA. There are some similarities, which helped me with Serbian.

As the French say, PLUS ÇA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MÊME CHOSE and it is true for many things here, including the Institute for Foreign Languages, still at the same address when I  attended classes here. I didn't stay long though, since at that time the teaching method was so uninspiring, so I just hung out with friends, got a good grammar book, and here I am now fluent.  I imaagine now though, despite the still antiquated appearance of the entrance, that they must be doing something right to have lasted all these years.