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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.

I find myself currently in a perpetual state of disassociation from my feelings towards my impending travels. Nervousness, excitement, joy and disquiet cease to carry meaning when I have no basis to pin these feelings upon.

By this I mean that the future experience I am to embark upon is as of now merely that, a future state that I have not yet had contact with. Any feelings I may have are then only in relation to a mental idea of that particular place or thing.

An idea of travel, of a city, of a people which I know only through vague adjectives and the nature of their countries past. That there is present in me the knowledge of a past state of war and strife within this newly minted nation, I cannot help but garner empathetic but perhaps wholly naive images of a particular strength of character that this country must hold.

I imagine those walking the streets carrying with them the physical and mental scars of conflict. I imagine the youth upon whose shoulders the reinvigoration of their homeland now rests. I see a collective which finds itself in the burgeoning period of something beyond themselves, a period of growth which will determine for generations the path upon which their country must walk.

This synthetic model born of an almost childlike propagation carries with it the need to devise broad narrativization of things unknown to us in their details. Though I recognize this creation and sustained development of werternized narrative, I have as of yet no other image to adhere to. I have only the awareness of my accounts innate bias and the hope that it will be brought to task and supplanted by a more whole, fruitful realization of this place and people in the course of my stay. And so I stave off my feelings of expectation towards my trip, because I know that no mere idea can be equated to reality.

 

Im currently sitting around the airport killing time and working on my projects. I have a flight to Germany leaving in one hour. I am going over some more of the Kosovo class resources that I did not get at this point. I’v been up since 6 packing and seeing some of my friends in the Boston area before I leave for the next month and a half.

I have never been outside of North America so this is my first time in Europe. My fokes used to go to Eruope all the and still talk about it a lot. This is all new to me and I’m looking forward to everything. Most of my anxiety for traveling goes away after I cross security, then mostly I start thinking about where I’m going. I have no idea of what I’m going to experience in Kosovo, but I plan on keeping myself open.

Here we go again! Documentary Projects in Kosovo is on it’s second year. Our journey begins now.