Albania: Even more radical a change

 

After considering many, many options, I ended up choosing an AIESEC internship here in Tirana, Albania. I could have made my life radically easier if I had opted for an internship in good old Bosnia or in somewhere else in the former Yugoslavia. I mean I am now supposed to work in a country of which I know very little about; I have never been here before, I am mostly unfamiliar with the culture and customs, and after a few days I speak less than ten words of the local language (which is not related to any other language in the world). However, what attracted me in this internship was the opportunity to deliver an authentically Radical Change In My Life: a completely new situation in life, a completely new job in a completely new environment. As I have proven before, such shock therapy may result in enormous initial suffering, but after a while turns out to be the most rewarding and educating life experience.

I can honestly say that the radicalness in this change exceeded my expectations. It was indeed a really good idea to turn on an "adventure mode" before traveling here. I bet that 99% of my friends would have run away (and never come back) upon seeing my current accommodation. (I don't want to go too much into details in order not to shock anyone. As a hint, even the local Albanian girls hate it here. Some say even Albanian prisoners live in better conditions...) When I saw the showers I thought I had seen something similar before... Maybe in some film about Auschwitz or the Gulag.

Anyway, my initial impressions of Tirana and Albanian people are for the most part very positive. Am I right, is this an authentically liberal, secular and fast developing place? Or am I again buying into illusions of yet another Balkan town (and country)? Time will tell... Right now I truly hope that I don't soon find myself living in a country which is to become the dumping ground for the chemical weapons of Syria.

Once I get started, I will tell more about my job and my other (hopefully great) experiences here in Albania.