Gorgeous by Nature

Though Prishtina and Mitrovice are nice cities to spend time in, it is when you go outside of the cities that you see the beauty of this land. Already showing signs of spring in some places it showed the potential of this area as a premier vacation destination! However be aware, until the infrastructure of the country improves things such as electricity, hot water, internet, and the availability of toilet paper may not consistently be available. Joking aside, I know that I would love to return to Kosovo!

With blue skies and rolling land dotted with the occasional home, the countryside in Kosovo is picture perfect.

Here I am at the Field of Blackbirds, where the Battle of Kosovo Polje took place in 1389.

No matter how many pictures I took of the mountains it is hard to capture the beauty of them. None the less, here is an attempt at doing so.

Some goats living above the Cheese factory that we toured.

With warmer temperatures than Copenhagen, sunshine, blue skies, and green grass it was wonderful to spend some time outside in Kosovo.

Being American in Kosovo

One thing that my class could never get away from when in Kosovo was being easily identified as Americans. From the moment we arrived to the moment we left, we were starred at, had strangers coming up to us, and in general always stuck out no matter where we were. Thankfully, unlike some areas of the world, in Kosovo it is wonderful to be an American. When we confirmed that yes, we are Americans , the Albanians were overly friendly and extremely helpful in navigating Prishtina (the capital where we stayed most of the time). Since I am not typically a big fan of this sort of attention it took a little getting used to, but near the end of the week I was getting used to having people in restaurants, stores, and the streets come near me to stop and stare.

(U.S., Albania, Kosovo, U.S., Kosovo - flags)

I dare to say that many places in Kosovo fly more stars and stripes than in many U.S. cities. For instance, during the ride from the airport to our hotel, which was a relatively short distance, I counted 14 U.S. flags, and saw a statue of Bill Clinton. This in addition to the fact that we were driving on Bill Clinton Boulevard led me to believe that Kosovo is definitely a pro-U.S. country!

(statue of Bill Clinton)

Oftentimes where ever we were in the country, when the Albanian or Kosovo flag was flying, next to it would be the U.S. flag. All the taxis we took on the trip had American flags hanging from the rear view window, and the shops coordinated their manikins so that they were oftentimes dressed in red, white, and blue. Even in the countryside, far from where most tourists go, there were American flags.

(House in the countryside flying an Albanian and American flag in the tree)

Reflecting back on my trip to Kosovo, there is one moment in particular which epitomizes an Albanian’s enthusiasm for the U.S. My friend Beth and I went shopping together at various points on the trip, but the one thing we had trouble finding was the Kosovo flag. Though it flies from almost every building, we could not find the flag in a store. At this point we had almost gaven up on our quest to buy a flag, and we were wandering down Mother Theresa Boulevard (Bulevardi Nënë Tereza) talking. As we were passing people selling things on this pedestrian street we noticed that one such person was selling flags. This man, who was over 60 years old, had goods spread out on a blanket on the ground with a duffel bag of more goods next to him. Since we do not speak Albanian and he only spoke a few words in broken english it took some time to purchase the Kosovo flag. After trying to sell us an American flag, he pointed and said – British? When he didn’t understand what we meant by saying U.S. I pointed to his duffel bag which was covered in US flags and said United States of America. At this he face lit up and he was so excited, repeating the word American over and over. He then shook our hands and talked to us in Albanian for a while, of which I unfortunately did not understand a word. Despite not understanding what he was trying to say in Albanian to us, I shall always remember how genuinely excited he was when we were able to relay where we were from, as a pure expression of the enthusiasm in Kosovo for Americans.

Kosovo - A Land In Transition

As many of you know, I was in Kosovo from the 6-12 of March. Despite people asking me if I really thought it was safe, and the warnings about being abducted (too many people have seen the movie Taken), I was so excited for the trip. When one of your majors is World Politics and Diplomacy, being able to go to Kosovo is absolutely amazing! I can not even put into words how my experience was, besides that it was incredible.

(the view from our hotel room's balcony)

Being in the country, you are able to fully grasp the reality of the situation in a way the a textbook would never allow you, from observations on the street, to meeting with international organizations helping to stabilize Kosovo, meeting with local NGOs working to rebuild the society, listening to locals tell of their lives in Kosovo, and seeing some of the tensions first hand, the experience is most assuredly something that can not be encapsulated in the classroom.

(one of the many areas of road construction)

Kosovo is a self declared (and therefore contested) state which was formerly a part of Yugoslavia. If you take the Albanian viewpoint, Kosovo broke away from Serbia as a result of the Kosovo War. After the international community intervened to stop the war Kosovo was under control of the United Nations for a time (UNMIK- Security Council resolution 1244) and finally was able to Declare independence in February of 2008. The official Serbian view is that Kosovo is still a part of Serbia that is currently being administered by the international community. Like many areas in the Balkans, Kosovo has seen many tragedies within its borders particularly during the peak of the war in 1998-1999. It is these tragedies, tensions, and the recent progress in the rebuilding of the state that we came to study.

(this wall in the city center is one of several covered with the photographs of those missing from the war)

Wandering around Prishtina you notice the construction and the traffic before anything else. Since the war had been very destructive, efforts are under way in most areas of the city to rebuild. Though at the current moment such construction makes the area appear devoid of the typical city ambiance, it is a wonderful sign of the progress that has come to the region. I hazard to guess that within a few years Kosovo will be highly evolved from what it was this past week, to a place that is the vacation destination of many.

(Prishtina Skyline)

There are many things that still need improvement, such as the enforcement of traffic laws. When rebuilding a country and trying to preserve human rights, giving individuals a ticket for illegal parking or running a red light seems utterly absurd. As such I saw things like driving on a sidewalk, cars parked in incredibly bizarre places, people jumping out of cars’ paths, yet thankfully I saw no accidents.

An underlying theme throughout Kosovo is the issue of sovereignty. Serbia does not acknowledge Kosovo as a sovereign country, so when flying to Kosovo the plane ride is actually around an hour longer since one must fly around Serbian air space. Even at the different international organizations you see a great division between pro-Kosovo and neutral member states of organizations such as EU-LEX, K FOR, International Civilian Office, and European Union Special Representative. Sometimes it becomes so divided that one person has to assume a pro Kosovo position at certain times, and a neutral position at other times, which to be truthful, just makes the situation of Kosovo being aided in stability endeavors from the international community even more muddled than it already is. Yet, as with the construction, there has been much progress in this area. The international force here is slowly decreasing and more responsibilities are being given to the Kosovo government every day.

In talking to the different international as well as local organizations working towards stability in Kosovo you got a great sense of the need to heal and look towards the future with hope. While there are still missing signs around Kosovo from during the war, the feeling amongst the people around the country leans towards the creation of a peaceful future, one in which the past is not forgotten but is learned from so that it does Not repeat.

A Day Spent At Copenhagen Police Facilities

This Wednesday I had another field study with my Danish Politics and Society class. Not one to ever let us down, my professor Jacob took us to the headquarters of Denmark’s police equivalent of SWAT.

Walking up to this locked down facility where armored trucks sat outside, I knew that this was going to be an interesting experience. And the next several hours fully lived up to my expectations.

As soon as we arrived, we were briefed on procedures surrounding things such as anarchist groups, drug busts in Christiania, and football (soccer) hooligans. It says a lot for the safety of the area when the biggest map found in the briefing room is of Parken the football stadium, and the immediate area. Since I really have an interest in Danish society I thought it was really nice to learn all about their usual procedures and what they do for special events, such as the climate summit that was here in 2009.

The Commander who was touring us around then took us to the equipment area, where we got the opportunity to look at the various pieces of equipment the police have available to them. I thought it was interesting that the majority of equipment utilized by this group is defensive in nature. It is unfortunate but true that usually on occasions that these officers are utilized more of the officers get injured than participants in the occurrence.

After lifting the woman’s vest, trying to pick up the riot shield and looking at all the other equipment each officer would have on their person, I can confidently conclude that I would never be a member of this team as I would not be able to move. With the equipment weighing more than I do, it would be quite comical for me to be placed as a riot officer outside of Parken during the Brønby FCK game. I assume that is why all the people I saw working at this facility are a lot taller than I and incredibly fit. Needless to say, I have a new appreciation for riot police and their struggle to move quickly to counteract malicious doings of others.

The grand finale of our tour was a demonstration put on by some police officers being trained on how to function on occasions where all the gear is necessary. As we were watching from above, you could tell that the demonstration would be action packed when the ‘suspect’ (also a police officer) was sitting with a baseball bat laying across his knee.

Sure enough it was action packed. The bat ended up in two pieces, and the ‘suspect’ got foam strayed in his face just as he was tackled by the police officers.

Needless to say this trip taught me not to mess with the Danish police!

Vi Ses!!

Next Stop... KOSOVO!

True Patriotism in the Streets

While I am abroad I have these moments where I think...only in Denmark. This Friday I had one of those moments, one in which I felt so lucky to have come to live in Denmark and get to know the Danes.

Only in Denmark could one leave class to find yourself walking next to a brightly uniformed man atop a horse, with an actual sword hanging from his side. After a moment of thinking that Copenhagen had been invaded by a blast from the past, I realized that something was happening on Stroget  (the pedestrian street in Copenhagen).

With soldiers parading down Stroget as people by the hundreds cheered and waved Danish flags, it was not an enemy invasion but a home coming for Danish soldiers involved in the war. Watching everyone there was so heartwarming. I have never seen such pure patriotism like what was displayed in my life. 

I am sure the soldiers really appreciate when their fellow countrymen show support for their efforts. For me, it was beyond wonderful to see the Danes' display of patriotism.

 Even the little ones proved to be extremely patriotic!

As you can see the Firefighters did their part to contribute to the patriotic and supportive atmosphere. And what is amazing about seeing the fire truck there is that it was the first one I had seen in Denmark. (which should tell you how amazingly safe Denmark is)

 I was happy to be a part of the procession as everyone followed the soldiers to the square in front of city hall. There the soldiers stood in formation as anthems were played and speeches were made. 

I have grown quite attached to Denmark, so it was really nice to see Danish pride in themselves, their nation and their fellow Danes.

As I said before, these images could only be Denmark! I shall remember this day for the love of my adopted country that it showed me.

Vi Ses!