Last week was marked with a lot of interesting events. After a better acquainted among students in RIT Kosovo summer program, we divided into groups of two people to work on newborn project in Kosovo, were every group was given the person to spent a day with and do interview. Our person is a journalist by profession and to make things more interesting the person in my group is studying  photojournalism from which I learned a lot about photojournalism. Another interesting thing that happens in first part of the week was exercise where we were given the pictures to make a story. There were seven groups, each group was given same pictures and the most interesting part was, at the end every group developed different story.

 

Working in a country where there are many people who don’t speak English has proven to be an extra challenge while working on documentary projects. This is my first time working on a story where I need someone else with me so that I am able to communicate with my subject.

I find that I have to go through extra efforts to get my point across to someone and it interrupts the flow of the conversation when what I say has to be translated. I try to communicate the best I can, and offer a smile here and there to make them feel comfortable.

Nevertheless these challenges have proven to be a learning experience for me. It is necessary exposure that will benefit me in the long run.

On Saturday I joined my subject, Kaltrina, to understand the level of activity during her day. The language barrier was hard, but I did my best to work with it. Kaltrina is highly motivated to get up each day and exercise in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I unknowingly photographed a local celebrity here, Agnesa Vuthaj, as she is trained by Kaltrina.

Kaltrina also works with little kids and teaches them how to swim. She helped them to put on their swim caps, adjust their goggles, and in some cases, give them an extra push when they dive in!

This past Tuesday I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with the Zeka family and participate in their Bajram festivities. When my partner Malinda and I arrived we were immediately greeted with open arms and given a tour of their beautiful home. Once their father and a few family members arrived back home, we all sat together on their outdoor patio and shared some delicious baked goodies ranging from baklava to a fancy three layered cake. We sat and chatted for some time learning more about the Muslim religion, and finding out more about their family.

Once their mother began making lunch, we followed the children and their father into their garden to pick fresh herbs and vegetables for the meal. I was amazed at the variety of greens that they had (they had mint, chives, tomato’s, arugula, and everything in between) in such a small space. The feast they prepared for lunch reminded me of a Thanksgiving dinner. The amount of delicious food they had made was incredible and ranged from meat pies and rice with chicken and roasted tomato’s, to noodle soup and mixed vegetables. After dinner we were given even more baklava before departing to a family members house. We were informed that typically only the men do this, but we were invited to come and document this as well. Once we reached the relatives home they too provided some goodies for us (more delicious baklava!) and took a tour of their garden as well before heading back home

The entire day was a great experience. I myself am not a religious person, so I am always extremely interested in hearing about other people’s beliefs and customs. I feel that participating in this holiday brought me closer with Pristina itself because since coming here I haven’t got a chance to really immerse myself in their traditions. It was so nice to have strangers be so warm and welcoming, offering their home and food to us. I will never forget this day.

Hi everyone,

I took this class to further enhance my capabilities on video production field. I am interested testing myself in overcoming the challenges that might occur during the exercises of this short summer semester, and why not learning from them.

For me this class is something different and new. I think that this class will provide me with better opportunities in developing my skills in either shooting,recording and interviewing tasks. Also, is worth mentioning that is gonna be a new experience for me, because of this new studying environment, new cultures and a lot of opportunities to learn from international students from Rochester in US that happen to be in Kosova for this Summer Program.

For those of you interested in visiting some nice places around Kosova, if you haven`t done yet, below you can find couple of pictures and short information about them 🙂

You can find this place next to Peja city in western Kosovo. Is a wonderful nature and worth visiting as it is shown in the picture! You can find a lot of activities there, such as: biking, hiking, camping etc.

I would like to talk for the Nightlife in Kosovo as well, and especially in Prishtinë, since some of you were not happy of the last event.

This picture is taken from Zone Fest`s Facebook page. This place is located in Fushe Kosovo, 10 minutes away from Prishtina. Zone Club is the most popular club frequented in Kosovo, and different genres of music where you can find electro/house, hip-hop, and R&B events  performed by a lot of famous DJ and artists.

If you are interested for more information, below in the comment rubric you can ask questions, and I won`t hesitate to help you!

 

This week I had the pleasure to meet Bardh Ajeti (18) & Arjona Morina (16), two youth activists here in Prishtina.

I was assigned to work with Youth Activists for my “Newborn” project. I was very happy that I had the chance to spend time with younger people than myself and to see what their life in Kosovo looks like from their perspective – and I must say I was so surprised in the most positive way!

I met them both in order to discuss with them what the project is about, what the main idea behind it is but also to ask them what they would like to share in the “Newborn” Documentary, because I believe that it is important to give them the freedom to share their thoughts and ideas without me pushing them in a direction they don’t want to go. They had a lot to talk about and the meetings turned from minutes into hours and it got better and better. I am really excited to work on the Newborn Documentary with them.

After both meetings, I had a really good feeling! I felt kind of proud and excited for the future. I met two very smart, generous and ambitious young Kosovars who are TODAY actively trying to make a difference in this country for a better TOMORROW in Kosovo.

I am looking forward to hear and see more of them!

– Besiana Kajtazi

I am really glad I took the Documentary class!

Until now, I mainly took courses in Political Science and International Relations; you know systems of governments, history and political activities and behavior – and I actually like these kind of topics.

However, this documentary class shows me every day that there are so many other possibilities to speak out and share my ideas with others namely through pictures, stories and films. The best thing about these whole activities that we’re doing in the documentary class is that I really enjoy working. I like to take pictures, I like talking to interesting people and listen to their story and even the technical parts of this process, as editing which we’ll do next week, sounds interesting to me.

I always was interested in Journalism, but I never really had the chance to work in this field and see if it is really what I want – until now. I am really glad I took this class, especially because it kind of opened my eyes; I see my future in a bigger picture. But for now I am enjoying this Class and look forward to the other stuff that I’m going to learn.

– Besiana Kajtazi

On Monday morning started the Summer Program at AUK and I was really excited. Not only excited because I chose two very interesting courses for the upcoming next four weeks but also because of the so many new faces I will meet and get to know. Meeting new people; this is something I really love to do when I travel. It is always interesting to see how other people live, what they care about, what their values and beliefs are or how they look at things.

The Summer Program at RIT Kosovo started on June 19th and will end on the 22th of  July. We had the chance to choose in between many interesting courses in such as for example the Origins and Resolution of Violent Conflicts, Conflict Resolution and Transformation, the Economics of Post-Conflict Transformation and Human Rights, Mediation and Journalism in Conflict Regions. Each one of these courses deals in some way or another with the history of the conflict regions in the Balkan, and especially with Kosovo. This is interesting for me, because even I, as a Kosovo Albanian, am not very familiar with the events that happened 17-18 years ago.

 

Every day is a combination of new faces and new stories. I meet new people and learn more about the history of my home country. I think this is the best way to spend a summer and I am very glad that I am experiencing this. I am looking forward to beautiful moments, interesting discussions, wacky parties and a lot of laughter.

On July 5, 2o16, I had the wonderful opportunity to follow a family as they celebrated Bajram, which marks the end of Ramadan. Fatlinda and Mirlinda Rrustemaj welcomed me as part of their family to experience the culture of Kosovo as well as the traditional celebrations.

The day started with food prepared by the women of the household. A large pan of rice and meat sat at the table surrounded by salad, bread and cheese. Shortly after starting this feast, it was time for desserts. It was quickly explained to me that desserts and sweets were a large part of the culture. We moved into the living room where Mirlinda brought a tray of baklava and water.

The day continued with a trip to the village where the family used to live; Peje, Kosovo. About a one and half hour drive from Prishtina, the small village was still home to many of their extended family. Once again, I was greeted with open arms and more food. I was given more baklava and cake as we sat with their family and I pretended to have an inkling of what was taking place during the Albanian conversations. I watched as the children play-fought with each other with a seemingly endless amount of energy.

The day continued with a very steep drive up a mountainside to see where the girls’ grandparents lived and where they had spent some time in the summer. After what I had referred to as a drive similar to a roller coaster, we reached 2,000 meters when we arrived.

It was an incredible opportunity to have learned about this holiday from a family that was so willing to let me be a part of it. I saw how family is such a large part of this day and how welcoming the family was to everyone. And not to mention all the wonderful food that left me full until the next day!

Long before I arrived to Prishtina, I had already developed the preconceived notion that Kosovo was a war stricken country burdened with constant crime and corruption and was no place for an American to live. Upon my arrival, I quickly came to the realization that my idea of the place couldn’t be further from the truth. The people here love Americans, and they have a genuine interest of who we are and where were from. Over my years I have visited many countries and lived in a couple as well, but I cannot recall being exposed to a culture quite as welcoming as this one. The friendliness of the people is something I notice everyday, and coming from Florida that was not something I would see very often especially from strangers. The over mentality here seems to be very relaxed and there is an honest caring for one another.

One of the things I enjoy most here in Prishtina is the food! Not only is it extremely inexpensive, it is also very organic and unmistakably delicious. So far I have been eating out for almost every meal and each restaurant I go to never ceases to impress me. I can feel my body being cleansed from all the processed food that America practically its citizens to eat, and now with a recently acquired gym membership I will soon be in the best shape of my life. Last but not least, the weather and landscape here in Kosovo is to die for. Again since I am from Florida I have been accustomed to enduring extreme heat and humidity. The weather here in Kosovo has served a relief from Florida’s severely hot summers. But besides the weather the landscape here is breathtaking. Luscious green mountains can be seen touching the sky from all views, and the variety in plants and trees is something I am not used to seeing. I very much look forward to my stay here Preshtina for the next couple of years, and for my experience in this country to both broaden my perception and to evolve myself as a human being.