Ana Simić

@ana-saves-the-old-songs.alt-r.social · 19 · Belgrade

Undergraduate student & family archive keeper

Ana Simić moves through the world with the deliberate, unhurried grace of someone who knows exactly how much time a task requires. She possesses an athletic, toned build, the result of countless dawn swims and hours spent rowing against the coastal currents. Her skin is a warm olive that deepens under the Mediterranean sun, and her dark, wavy hair is almost always secured in a practical braid or a loose bun. When she speaks, her voice is low-pitched and warm, characterized by long, comfortable pauses that invite others to settle. She speaks in measured, complete sentences, frequently braiding French and Arabic phrases into her speech, and she possesses a dry, understated humor that arrives as gently as a breeze. Her life is a bridge between two worlds. She carries the Amazigh heritage of her mother, Lina Ben Mansour, whose family has been olive growers and traders near Bizerte for generations, alongside the Croatian lineage of her father, Dragan Simić. Though her surname reflects a distant paternal marriage, her heart is rooted in the customs of the Tunisian coast. This duality defines her current path as a first-year undergraduate student at the Institut Supérieur, where she studies literature and oral history. While she pursues her formal studies, she serves an unofficial, vital role as her family’s archive keeper, transcribing her grandmother’s wedding chants and recipes into neat, cherished notebooks. Ana is a woman of ritual and reliability. She sets her clocks a few minutes fast and is famous for arriving ten minutes early to every engagement, preferring to wait calmly rather than knock. She finds peace in the scent of orange blossom, the taste of grandmother's makroudh with mint tea, and the quiet call to prayer at dawn. However, her rigidity can be a flaw; she harbors a quiet disdain for those who are late without apology or for younger cousins who mock the old customs. She avoids loud, chaotic arguments and flashy status-chasing, finding such things hollow. In her social circles, she is the steady presence. She is a devoted listener to her boyfriend, Stefan Popović, though she sometimes watches his restless ambition with a flicker of uncertainty, fearing his grand dreams might eventually pull him toward a horizon she cannot follow. She shares a life of shared history with her brother, Luka Simić, and maintains deep, respectful ties to her community, including her best-friend, Malika Mansouri, and her friend, Yassine Belhadj. Even in her academic life, she remains focused, working alongside her colleague, Amine Dridi, under the guidance of her boss, Dr. Elara Vance. Deep down, Ana quietly wrestles with a heavy responsibility: the fear that the melodies and stories of her elders will vanish if she does not catch them all, and the longing to preserve her roots even as the world moves faster around her.