Month: June 2017

The UN office in Mitrovica knows how to throw a party. Went to their summer BBQ last night. Watched the sun set on the drive out:

Since arriving at RIT Kosovo from our week long regional trip, the unity of togetherness in shared awe and misery has been been broken in a way. People go to their respective classes, sit with those they are now comfortable with, and go about their day in a manner of rapt partitionality. There is however, a single unifying factor present at RIT Kosovo which I believe connects and fortifies everyone in a particular social understanding. That is, just how freaking cute that dog is! The amount of pure affection and doting projected onto the small fuzzy frame of the puppy tentatively know as Auk is simply astounding. It is in a sense, a universal property we all may understand, that fuzzy animals with cute noses and big shiny eyes must call for and promptly deserve our never ending love and complete devotion. It is a chance for us to project onto a living thing an absolute purity of soul. (Because all dogs as we know are the utter antithesis of everything wrong in the world.) I cannot clearly think of an instance where I looked upon this animal and did not feel within myself the sense of kindness and love I now wished to bestow upon it, a feeling usually accompanied by the noise “awwwwe”. I see it, and all animals in a way, as the vessel for everything good I wish to see in the world, a slate upon which to project these things. Or maybe I’m just full of it… in any case, here are some pictures of Auk booping my camera lens with his wet puppy nose.

 

So I’v been in Europe for almost 2 weeks now. Our trip around the Balkans has been over for a few days now and classes have started up. I did really enjoy going around the Balkans for a week. When I was thinking about my time in the Balkans I figured that it would only be Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, and whatever country I go to on my own time. But it was cool to be able to see all these places.

 

I still do feel a little tired from the whole trip. We went from place to place in a very quick amount of time. It defiantly took a lot out of me. I have been unwinding pretty well this week because the current work load is not that heavy. I’m sure that will get more loaded by next week but I’m just letting myself catch up and learn about Pristina while I have free time. I’m sure once our documentary project gets going I’ll be back into the normal semester work schedule.

I must admit a certain inclination toward the particular aesthetic which the Balkans region presents. The orange tiled roofs, sometimes kempt, sometimes not, set against bright blue skies rolling hills and green mountains offer a visage I feel to be ripe in the necessary qualities of dramatic landscape. Throughout the regional trip I found myself consistently documenting nearly every new environment I came in contact with, of which there were many. Some may have memories of me on the trip pointing the camera lens at them from a distance, or in a state of unobservance while I ambled along the streets aiming the camera upwards towards the tops of buildings.

 

Yet I also find that there is a self perpetuated bias towards this environment that comes with me as a person foreign to this place. I say that I find it beautiful, but in what capacity do I observe its beauty? I may find streets in my hometown similar in functional and social quality to those in Bosnia, or Albania, yet I do not find these beautiful. To me it is the unknown quality, and not the aesthetic quality then, that I see as being beautiful here. It is the state of its unreachable, almost incomprehensible nature that I find, and I suspect many others find so attractive. In essence, that it is not of myself, or my familiar environment, thus it is beautiful.

What I want, what I desire most in the coming month, is to find a sort of familiar beauty in this place. To no longer see it as exotic or foreign, but as close to my personhood.

As I tend to be on the day before classes at RIT main, I’m nervous for classes here too. I understand this will be a lot of work and I’m ready for that. I’m kind of new to political science though.

The trip was everything I thought it would be and more! The landscapes were amazing and each city was beautiful. I also enjoyed getting to know everyone in the group as well. Out of all the places we went Montenegro and Sarajevo were my favorites.

Montenegro because the first place we went to had a beautiful beach, and Kotor was an amazing city as well. And I went on the mountain climb at 4am. While I didn’t make it to the top the view was still amazing from halfway up. Here’s a picture:

I like Sarajevo because of the history the city held. Our tour guide showed us everything we needed to see and told us all there was to tell. He was a funny guy too. Here’s an image I snapped there.

Being able to see the overall history of the Balkans up close and personal was something else. Erol and Sofija told us much about how the former Yugoslav countries view each other now, and how they teach their own history differently from one another. It was one thing to watch The Death of Yugoslavia, but so see the effects of the war first hand was very eye opening.

Just before the trip I’m very excited. The list of places we are going to is long but I’m looking forward to it. We’re looking at a few places to relax and a lot of places to see. I can’t wait to learn more about the history of this place, it looks like the Balkans have a lot of history both old and new. Not much if it is pretty but it is quite the timeline.

It’s been a while since I’ve been abroad, one of the last places I went was Ireland at least 1o years ago. It had beautiful landscapes and architecture unlike anything I’d ever seen. And on our first night here I’m already seeing beautiful mountain ranges and buildings that are new to me. I can’t wait for what’s to come.

Since I signed up for this trip, my friends and family have been asking me what this trip is going to be like. At this point, I really don’t know what to expect. Instead of imagining what my trip will be like, I have been focusing on planning and packing for the trip. Everyday, I have been packing, writing lists, researching, and spending time with my friends.

In the past when I have been planning for a trip, my imagination takes too many liberties and what I expect the place to be like is completely unrealistic. I have been trying to thwart this problem and I have been focusing all of my energy on the controllable aspects of the pre-trip.

I’m not really sure what I’m expecting this trip to be like. I know interacting with people will be much different than it is here in the U.S. And I know the language barrier will be tought but I’m confident I’ll still be able to make friends and show that I mean well. I think not matter where I am people will understand the art of documentation and will hopefully allow me to work with them. I’m very nervous but also very excited.

I know that people may be unwilling to share their stories, but my hope is that people will be eager to share because they are finding their place in a newly independent country.