KontemplatingKosovo

For the past few days, I've been meaning to sit down and write one final entry considering my trip to Kosovo- although I tried to capture all the details of our activities, there are just a few things left that I wanted to mention, mostly so I don't forget, and perhaps you'll find them interesting too.

1.  Whenever anyone asks me how the trip went, the adjective I jump to right away is "interesting."  I then usually mention that only a few people suffered from gastrointestinal disturbances (too much sausage, perhaps), there was only one event of theft, and no one got human trafficked!  After describing my trip like this to a friend, they said "So in other words- it wasn't much fun?"  To this, I had to disagree.  It was much different than most of the other European cities fellow DIS students traveled to on study tours, and there were precautions we all had to take because of this, but I never once felt unsafe, and I had so much fun getting to know my classmates, who included some of the funniest, nicest, and most interesting people.  

2.  Before leaving for the study tour, we had a legal analysis due in our War Crimes/Human Rights class.  A lot of us struggled with this paper because it was so different than anything we were used to.  When we discussed this with our teacher, he simply told us that challenging us and forcing us out of our comfort zone was the point.  He and our other instructor wanted us to struggle, because once we struggled and had to reach beyond what we were used to, our comfort zone would expand and never return to its previous size.  Not only did that paper do that for me, but so did traveling to Kosovo.  It opened my eyes to real life, and once again showed me the importance of being aware of what's going on in the world.  

3.  The opportunity that I have to study abroad is incredible.  Since freshman year of college, I always knew I would study abroad somewhere at some point even if I wasn't sure of details.  That certainty is something that I didn't understand the value of until visiting Kosovo.  Getting a passport/visa there is difficult, so many young people don't have the opportunity to travel for studying or for working.  They want to get out and explore the world, but the lack of means to do so is obviously frustrating.  It made me realize how lucky I am to have come from the US to study in Copenhagen, where I then had the chance to visit Kosovo.  It reminded me that if conditions on the trip weren't ideal or completely comfortable, or if I'm dissatisfied with something, I need to remember to appreciate every moment of the opportunities that I have.  

“ Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. ”

4. Remember how one of my study abroad goals was to become a regular at a coffee shop?  I think I achieved this in Kosovo!!  On the first morning, my roommate Charlotte and I went down to breakfast.  We were the first ones at the buffet, and you had to ask the waiter for coffee because he made it fresh behind the counter.  (And it was delicious, by the way.)  When we got to breakfast the second morning, I sat down at the table and before I knew it, my coffee was delivered to me without having to ask!!  This continued everyday for the rest of the trip.  You win the award for my favorite person ever, Waiter!  Making my dreams come true.

:)

5.  The day before leaving for Kosovo, I skyped with my parents.  Despite the tension in Northern Kosovo, and despite the travel warning issued by the US for Kosovo, what my mom was most worried about was that she thought I had become a vegetarian.  In retrospect, the food I mention on my blog does happen to be meatless, but this is unintentional.  I reassured her that I am, in fact, getting enough protein; however, if I didn't manage to console her, let's remember the enormous plate of meat I consumed:

So, there you have it- not only did I "survive," I also expanded my horizons, stayed caffeinated, and proved once and for all that I am still an omnivore.  No worries, Mom!

October 6: Long Study Tour, Day 5

Today brought another trip outside of Prishtina out west to Peja, which is the second largest city in Kosovo.  We stopped for a short walk around the city and saw the main town square as well as the many narrow market streets- definitely a smaller feel than Prishtina, but very charming!  Peja is situated at the bottom of the Rugova Gorge, and the mountains surrounding the city are absolutely gorgeous.

After a quick bus ride, we visited the Decani Monastery outside Peja, which is another Serbian Orthodox Monastery.  The area in which its located has had quite a turbulent history, so we had to pass through a military checkpoint and give over a form of identification before entering.  Once inside, one of the 30 monks that currently live there gave us a tour.  Despite its turbulent history, the monastery itself was gorgeous, and it was such a tranquil and quiet place to walk around.  Best of all, there was a dog, cats, and a kitten!!  

After our tour, we got back on the bus to head back to Peja.  All of a sudden, I hear someone say "There's a monk on the bus!"  Sure enough, there was in fact a monk on the bus.  Turns out, Charlotte asked to take a picture with him.  He didn't quite understand English, only that she wanted a picture, so before we left he came on the bus to give her a pamphlet with pictures of him in it!

He had quite the beard..

........Back in Peja, we had lunch at a restaurant whose specialty, apparently, was meat.  Meat of all colors, shapes, and sizes.  While it was a bit intimidating, we were hungry and didn't have much of a choice, so I chose to enjoy it.  It turned out better than expected!

Did it for the story.

After lunch, it was once again baaack onto the bus.  Our next activity was a bus/hiking tour of Rugova Gorge.  My expectations for the whole thing were pretty low..  But it turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my entire life.  We drove for a while on some incredibly narrow and winding roads, then we got out and walked a little bit further up to a cheese factory that was nestled in the hills.  After grabbing some samples of their signature "white cheese," (which I unfortunately passed on due to my life-long aversion to most cheese products) we continued up the hill to a small village where we were greeted by a precious little old man, his wife, and their daughter-in-law.  They gave us fresh cornbread, milk, and honey and let us explore their farm.  It was so much fun, and again- one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  They are trying to start an agro-tourism business, allowing guests to come and stay with them and help on the farm.  Before leaving, he encouraged us to come back someday with our parents, or husbands and wives, promising to always be there, since eating fresh food from the farm was his secret to a long, long life!

Sampling their cheese.. Some enjoying it more than others!

The factory.

Ben, Truc, and me

Justice & Human Rights in Rugova!

After a perfect visit to Rugova, it was back to Peja.  We got a chance to do some shopping before our final group dinner of the trip!  Ended the trip on a beautiful, delicious, wonderful note!  On Friday, we had one final academic visit before flying back home to Copenhagen.  

Home sweet hygge!  :)

October 5: Long Study Tour, Day 4

HAPPY HALF-BIRTHDAY TO ME!  Today marked six months until I reach the ripe old age of 21... whoa.

And what better way to celebrate than with a visit to the Center for Gender and Equality in Prishtina?!  In the morning, our class split up into groups of five and went to a bunch of different NGOs in the city.  At our meeting, we had the opportunity to learn so much about what the organization is doing in Kosovo, and since there were only five of us there, we got to ask a lot of questions in a setting that was much more informal than our usual meetings around a conference table.

After our visit at all our separate NGOs, we met back up, had lunch as a class, and took the bus to the KFOR (Kosovo Force) base, which assists local security forces and deals with current security issues.  KFOR was actually sent out to the bridge in Mitrovica that we saw the day before, so it was interesting to go and visit their headquarters.

On the way back, we stopped in Garcanica, which is a Serbian municipality.  We talked with a political leader in the town about the current situation, and then went for a guided tour of the Garcanica Monastery, which is an orthodox monastery that was built in 1321.  It's on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and it was gorgeous!

Back in Prishtina, we had some free time to grab dinner before we met back at the hotel for our suprise evening activity.  Our guide Eleanor got us tickets to a play at the local theater and ordered us fancy "London cabs" to take us there.  We were a bit skeptical considering the play was entirely in Albanian (with the exception of strategically placed Adele and Beyonce songs), but it turned out to be really fun!  Throughout the whole play, I tried to figure out what was going on, assigning a lot of deep, metaphorical meanings to what was going on.. only to find out that the premise of the play was two girls fighting over a boy.  Oh well, my ideas about a coming of age tale and/or a symbolic battle of a man's two muses were a good effort, but overall completely incorrect.  After the play, a few of us once again gathered at the restaurant across the street for a few drinks and snacks.  Highlight of the evening was definitely the restaurant manager getting rid of the birds in the trees above our table using this cool firework wand thing, after which he compared himself to Harry Potter.  Coolest thing I've ever seen.

Rachel & Ben on our way to the theater!

October 4: Long Study Tour, Day 3

Today we drove an hour northwest to the city of Mitrovica, which is about as far north as we could travel without entering into a high tension area.  A few days before leaving for the study tour, we found out that tensions between the Serbian/Albanian populations in northern Kosovo were mounting and that some of the borders were being blockaded.  Fortunately, the rest of the country was safe (and both of our instructors used to be in the Danish military, having been stationed in Kosovo during the conflict, so we were definitely in good hands!!), but we just had to take precautions when traveling to Mitrovica in particular because it is further north and because it is a city that's divided on Serbian/Albanian lines.

On the way, we stopped at Gazimestan, which is the site of a medieval battlefield known as "Field of Blackbirds."  We climbed to the top of the monument there and had time for a few quality DIS photo-ops.

I swear there are boys in our class too..

Embracing all opportunities for the solo shot..

In the city, we visited the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) as well as the office of Community Building in Mitrovica, but I think the most striking part of the visit was walking to the Mitrovica Bridge, which divides the North (Serbian) part of the city from the Albanian section in the south.  As I said, just days before we arrived tension had been mounting, and the bridge itself was blocked with piles of sand and wood.  Standing around the bridge, there was a very eerie, strained energy, and there was both police and military presence.  One of our instructors went to ask if it would be possible for us to walk onto the bridge, and we were told that we couldn't all go as a group because it might be seen as a threat, but we could go in small groups of four.  Also, we couldn't take any pictures that included any of the military vehicles or the guards who were there.  We all took turns walking out onto the bridge up to the blockade.  It was definitely a memorable experience for me, because as much as I have learned about the conflict in Kosovo, nothing compares to actually being there to experience effects of that conflict.  It's something I don't think I'll ever really forget.

From our spot a little bit away from the bridge

On the bridge; Northern Mitrovica in the distance

After our day in Mitrovica, we headed back to Prishtina and had the rest of our evening free!  A few of us decided to go out for a nice "girls night" dinner- something that is quite an expensive venture in Copenhagen but pleasantly affordable in Kosovo!  Everything was delicious, our waiter was awesome, and afterwards, we met up with some other friends from our class and explored the city a bit.  It was a great way to unwind from a long, eventful day.

Miriam, Charlotte, Sarah, and me at dinner

October 3: Long Study Tour, Day 2

"Do as the locals do... jump in!"


Day 2 marked the start of our academic visits in Kosovo.  As I checked our tour program to see what the day would bring, I saw that we would be taking taxis all around the city, as the traffic in Prishtina is often unpredictable.  Different from what I was expecting, but I accepted it.  Our DIS leader called cabs for all of us, and we set off for the International Civilian Office, or ICO.  It was at this point that I learned that traffic is not only unpredictable in Prishtina, but also that things like stop signs, traffic lights, and turn signals are more or less only seen as a suggestion for the local drivers.  If the coffee from breakfast hadn't significantly woken me up that morning.. this ride definitely did the trick.  Although the ride was a little crazy, I couldn't help but to be impressed that we didn't side swipe anyone, take off any mirrors, or hit any pedestrians.  Once we arrived safely at the ICO, they gave us more coffee (yay!) and we got a presentation on how the ICO is working to advise Kosovo's government and community leaders on European integration.

Official conference tables, water, coffee, and microphones.  Legit.

After lunch, we visited the European Union Rule of Law Mission to Kosovo, EULEX.  They focus on implementation of law in Kosovo, and we learned a lot about the challenges they face, including Kosovo's unclear status in the EU, security threats, lack of financial support, and politcal corruption.

Once our busy afternoon was done, we had some free time to do some shopping and stop for an afternoon cup of coffee!

Sarah & Charlotte & coffee

Next up was our visit to the University of Prishtina, where we got to talk with a professor of Political Science and some of her students about the main challenges/opportunities that Kosovo is dealing with, namely, the fact that building up post-conflict Kosovo is like trying to build a plane while it's in the air- everything must be put together while trying to function at the same time.  Afterwards, they joined us for dinner at a restaurant nearby.  Unfortunately we didn't find friends from the university like we did on the short study tour in Århus.. but after dinner a lot of DIS kids hung out and bonded at the restaurant across from our hotel- the same place we had coffee earlier that day, which had lovely outdoor sitting and allowed us to enjoy the unusually warm weather!  

Our dinner.. what I assume is Kosovo's version of tapas ?

October 2: Long Study Tour, Day 1

Hej!  I apologize for being MIA, as I'm sure everyone has missed my blog updates so much, but I've been a little busy traveling to Kosovo!!  This past week was the week of long study tours with DIS, so on Sunday morning the rest of Justice & Human Rights and I left to spend the week in Prishtina, Kosovo's capital, as well as a few other cities/villages in the area.  I can honestly say that it was one of the most interesting places I have ever been-- very different from anywhere else I have ever been, that's for sure, but definitely one of the greatest learning experiences.  Also, it was quite an adventure from the very beginning.....

Sunday morning I left the apartment bright and early to meet Sarah and Charlotte at Nørreport Station so we could catch the Metro to the airport.  Since I live about five minutes away from the station, I took a nice, leisurely walk through the quiet, hazy, cobblestone streets with my suitcase in tow only to arrive at the station and have a horrifying epiphany- I had forgotten all of my toiletries.  Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, everything.  With about 7 minutes to spare before I was supposed catch the Metro, I was faced with the decision to either 1) forget about it and just replace everything once we arrived in Kosovo, or 2) to take off running back to my room and grab everything.  I chose the second option, making quite a scene as a tore down the cobblestones dragging my suitcase.  On the way back, I was within sight of the station and Sarah called me to tell me the next train would arrive in literally 2 minutes.  I continued sprinting to the station, literally ran down 4 flights of escalators, and missed the Metro by 10 seconds.  Because of a misunderstanding reading the train schedules, we thought that the next train wouldn't come for 20 minutes, so we didn't quite know what to do.  Fortunately, we soon found out that another Metro would come in 2.5 minutes.  Crisis averted.  Fifteen minutes after that, we joined the rest of our class at the airport.

Charlotte and me on the Metro

After a layover in Budapest, we landed in Prishtina in the early afternoon, stopped to drop our things off at the hotel, and went out for a guided walking tour of the city.  As I said before, the city was so different from anywhere else I have ever been, which is understandable considering Kosovo itself is still post-conflict and still developing.  Driving outside the city especially, there were a lot of buildings whose construction hadn't been completed, so they just kind of looked like empty shells dotting the landscape.  As we walked through the city, I wasn't sure what to expect.  The people of Kosovo are predominantly Muslim, but we were told that they were on the more liberal side- religion was part of life for most people, but it wasn't obvious from their dress or anything like that.  Still, we saw a mosque on the tour and got to go inside and look around.  We ended the tour with dinner, and we soon found out that we had arrived in Prishtina just in time for the last night of their annual Beer Festival!  Our guide encouraged us to go, so after dinner we went over to check it out.  After sampling a local beer, enjoying the music that can be described as polka with a middle eastern flare, and chatting with some of the locals, we went back to the hotel to get some sleep after an exhausting day of traveling.

Prishtina, Kosovo

Inside the mosque

Sidestreet in Prishtina

Beer Festival!

View from my hotel room!

“You are more than a series of experiences. You are the light that surrounds them. And if you’re too busy to stop and actually look at what it’s all adding up to, then that’s what you should be busy with.”

:)

Happy October!