
Looking over the edge is the only way to find out what is there. Prizren, Kosovo, July 2010. Photo by Ardian Gashi.
I think this is a really important blog post and I will try to stress a good point with my own young experience. Thanks Todd for inspiring me and to all of you who read this post to the end – I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and your own stories.
A couple of months ago as I randomly browsed the Internet, I stumbled across www.toddswanderings.com. Todd is American and left home ten years ago. After grad school, he took a job as an English teacher in Japan and ended up staying 5 years. Then he went to Sri Lanka working with international development and also met his future wife there. Todd moved on to work as a conflict resolution and human rights expert in East Timor and now he is based in Kosovo as a consultant in the same field…
I was instantly captured by Todd’s exciting stories and amazing pictures. So I wrote an e-mail, asking him if he wanted to meet once I arrived in Kosovo. Said and done - yesterday I met up with Todd Wassel in Prishtina. We had a coffee in a typical Kosovo café where the macciato never costs more than 50 euro cents. I told him my story, Todd told me his story and as he finished, I said:
“I hope my life is like yours in 10 years.”
Todd just… smiled. I would soon now why. We parted ways - I went home to finish my homework for Albanian class the same night, Todd went home and wrote an excellent blog post, including my quote that I had already forgotten:
3 STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU SUCCEED AND TRAVEL THE WORLD.
Todd writes how he wanted to be “That Guy” when he left home 10 years ago – “the guy who can land anywhere in the world and make a living” only to realise that being “That Guy” wasn’t something he could plan… “The truth is you have to strike out first. Somehow, as I look back on the last 11 years I have become “That Guy” without ever realizing it.”
Todd lists three things that one has to keep in mind on the journey we all do as “That Guy” or “That Girl”.
1. Just Go (dreaming is not enough)
2. Take Risks and Look for Opportunities (live a bit on the edge)
3. Being Passionate is the Best Form of Networking (do your own thing).
YES – we already are “That Guy” or ”That Girl”. We already are those guys and girls because life happens NOW. Why do we always forget about this? I certainly forget about it all the time. I’m unpatient and blind. When I complain about life to older friends or mentor-like people in my life, they shake their heads and go, “Anna, you’re 22. Take a look at your life. You ARE “That Girl”.
So now I will take a minute to take a look at my own story and try to see the sense in Todd’s list and the meaning of his smile.
1. Just Go. Life in itself is obviously an adventure and I am happy for everything I have experienced and learned til this day, but when it all comes around, going to Kosovo last summer is probably the greatest adventure so far. What brought me here was a guy (yes, life is full of clichées, better get used to it!) and a 3 month internship with NATO.
Professionally I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into, I was only about half way through my bachelor degree and I had no previous experience of public relations what so ever. Who the hell did I think I was? Some sort of superwoman? But guess what – it worked out fine – I learned extremely much about how to deal with public relations in these months…
2. Take Risks and Look for Opportunities
Neither did I know a lot about Kosovo and for sure not much about the people and the culture here. Friends and people I knew told me before I went – “Anna, isn’t it unsafe? A bomb might drop on your head”. Kosovo is NOT a war-zone. The war ended more than ten years ago. Fact is that it can be unstable in some parts from time to time, but… if we never go to or near to alien places or places that are strange for us, do we ever really see anything in life?
After 3 months in Kosovo I returned to Western Europe for 10 months. I liked it but… I was bored. Which is why I returned to Kosovo again this year. During these 10 months, I had been looking for opportunities and excuses to come back. I wanted the thrill from doing something completely different.
I am living alone in a 2 bed room apartment in Prishtina. I drove here by myself from Sweden. Both these facts make people go “oh my god, weren’t / aren’t you scared”? I say: If we are scared, we never live. And if we are not careful, we are stupid. Which brings me to…
3. Being Passionate is the Best Form of Networking
Todd writes: “Having a 1 minute elevator pitch or making business cards just to give out wasn’t my cup of tea”. It was never my cup of tea, either. When I look back and analyze how I got in contact with some people that have been really important for both me personally and for my career, its really funny how it becomes obvious that traditional networking seldom works. Todd also writes: “Just remember to help others out for the sake of helping them out.”
__ I wrote a fan e-mail to Elizabeth Gowing, columnist at New Kosova Report in August 2009. 5 months later the editor offered me an opportunity to write my own column for them. I had always dreamed about my own column. Later I personally met Elizabeth in London for a seminar and met a person I had been dying to meet, Tim Judah, Balkan correspondent for the Economist. Elizabeth is now a good friend of mine and is also living and working in Prishtina.
__ I was randomly walking by an office that looked interesting last year in Prishtina so I got curious and asked to be let inside. I asked them: “What do you do here exactly?” A man told me about their task. He was a lawyer. I thanked the man. Ten months later I sent him an e-mail, “I’m looking for a job, you got any advice?”. “Well…” he said. Opportunity number 1. Same thing happened on Facebook of all places! Do not underestimate “stupid networking” like Facebook. I stumbled across a wall post somewhere – a guy working in Washington D.C. was asking for help to find a company in Kosovo focused on conducting research and surveys. I knew some so I sent him a simple list of links and didn’t even expect an answer. A few days later, I got an e-mail. “Are you looking for a job?”. Opportunity number 2.
__ Networking is not always about work or school. When I decided I was really going to return to Kosovo, I realised finding a good apartment could become a hassle. I called some real estate agents without luck. On a random evening when I was about to go to bed I instead asked an acquaintance I had met last summer but hadn’t really talked a lot with if she knew about any availible apartment. Turned out, she was looking for someone to move into her place while she went to work abroad. Win-win situation.
I could go on. Dozens of opportunities pass by every day but only if we keep a very open mind. A lot of it is about being nice. Simple as that. Opportunities come to you because you create them – you just got to have the courage to grasp them. Same with dreams – dreams come true only if you let them.
I’m complaining less and less about simple stuff in life. I live in Kosovo – Kosovo is not a war-zone and people in general have good lives but some are very poor. All my friends here have to go through a disgusting visa process just to get to the Schengen area – sometimes they don’t get more than a visa for 8 days. Bitching about the water being turned off after 10pm and complaining about bad airplane food and waiting in line at the gate… would be… so wrong.
We live our lives the way we are supposed to live them. There is a path for everyone. It makes me really sad when I see people who dream about another life but don’t have the courage to take the first step. Instead, they fall into a boring and depressing rutt that keeps them unhappy. It also makes me sad when I see people who have everything they could ever imagine and still complain.
We are all “That Guy” or “That Girl”. What’s your story and when did you realise you were “That Guy” or “That Girl”?
What have you been up to lately?
No blog posts the last 2 months. I’ve been busy living…
…I attended the 2-week course ”EU Foreign and Security Policy towards Western Balkans” at the the Prishtina International Summer University 2010. The majority of the participants were from Kosovo and the rest from other Balkan countries like Albania, Bosnia and Serbia. For a while I wasn’t even planning to attend even though I had been accepted… I was so close to calling everything off but I am so happy I went - I met some truly amazing people there. This is our class outside the Faculty of Philosophy where classes were held.
…I got even more impressions from Prishtina. 1) The National and University Library. 2) View from the student dormatories from what is called the “Sunny Hill” neighbourhood. 3) Construction on Bill Klinton Boulevard 4) Rain in Prishtina. 5) A Serbian-orthodox church in the middle of Prishtina.
…I went swimming with friends in the swimming pool at Germia Park just outside Prishtina. At the entrance one could see all sorts of flags that are of importance for Kosovo – not just the Kosovo flag (second from left), but also the Albanian and American flags and the flags of NATO and EU.
…I travelled around Kosovo A LOT. Last summer during my internship I didn’t get the opportunity to travel around Kosovo as much as I would have wanted. I was blessed to have my own car and more time on my hands this year which resulted in many small trips around the country.
…I had a minor car accident with two friends driving from the capital Prishtina in the east to another city in the west. We were in a traffic jam moving considerably fast and I wasn’t paying attention to the road for half a second which was enough to bump into the car in front of me when he suddenly hit the breaks. They were Serbs with Serbian license plates. Their car wasn’t damaged one bit but I had to take mine to an car repair shop to get it fixed… 25 euros and 45 minutes later, it looked as if nothing had happened to it. : )
…I spent many nights on my balcony. I absolutely loved my apartment! The sunset was always so nice and in the evening it was a perfect place for socialising.
…I had to buy bread whenever I had guests. Albanians have a tendency to eat bread with everything – with one hand they hold the fork and in the other a piece of bread. ; ) To the right, Kosovo wine from the Rahovec region.
…I threw a party for my Albanian friends at my apartment. I put a tiny Swedish flag on the table in the living room and a friend brought Albanian brandy… the night ended at one of the night clubs in Prishtina. Now that I look back on the summer, I realise I went out very few times in comparison with last summer.
…I celebrated the ICJ decision on Kosovo’s declaration of independence. On July 22nd, the International Court of Justice in the Hague delivered its opinion about Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia on February 17th 2008 – “it did not violate international law”. Of course the Kosovars were happy about this decision and I got a surprice from my Albanian friends. They decorated my car in the evening and we drove around Prishtina like this. : )
…I participated in an amateur documentary. Unfortunately I can’t tell more than that. We went to the city of Gjakova for some scenes. I really enjoyed it there, it reminds me of a smaller version of Prizren, Kosovo’s third biggest city. My friend Valdet is the producer and director of the movie.
…I spent a lot of time in the countryside. Most of the end of July and the beginning of August I wasn’t even in Prishtina but instead exploring the rest of Kosovo. I fell in love completely with Kosovo nature.
…I went to two concerts in the end of July. Elita 5, an Albanian rock band from Macedonia performed in Klina on July 27th. A few days later, Albanian singer Alban Skenderaj sang at a concert near Klina on July 30th. It was the middle of summer and we were happy, young and free…
…I was invited to an English language summer camp held in the Rugova valley for children age 9-16. Most kids came from the nearby city of Peja and some of them came from mountain villages. Classes were held in nature. I stayed in a private home during my stay in the mountains and the last picture shows the view I had from the balcony. The family I stayed with were farmers and also bee-keepers. The bees are in those colorful boxes on the forth picture.
…I ate excellent fish at the restarant “Trofta” in Istog in northwestern Kosovo.
…I was invited to my first Albanian wedding in Mitrovica. My friend’s brother got married. This is me and his little sister. We danced traditional Albanian dances and my feet were bleeding at the end of the night, haha.
…I went to the hair dresser to freshen up my hair a bit. I look completely different in straight hair, don’t you think?
…I went to Durrës, Albania for about a week in the beginning of August. The highway in northern Albania is finished and makes it a whole lot easier to travel from Kosovo to the Adratic Sea these days… I managed to also get some work done and in the evening, I had excellent food and enjoyed good company.
What can I say? I’ve been on standby in Sweden for 2 weeks. It feels great to know that I’ll be back in about a week. : )