On top of the world in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Photo by Connor Moriarty. A typical view of Mother Teresa Blvd in Prishtina. As I walk down Mother Teresa Boulevard on my second to last day in Prishtina, I am overcome with a wave of bittersweet nostalgia. Just eight weeks ago I walked sluggishly down this white brick street, jetlagged and disoriented. My mouth was agape as I took in all the new sights and smells, experiencing the gentle bustle of the hot early summer day.
But today, I amble down this street with ease, perhaps with the air and language of a foreigner, but with the look of someone who has truly experienced this place.
This city has so much soul, and I am not quite sure if I am ready to leave it. A view of the rolling, village-dotted hills of Kosovo. The past eight weeks have brought a whirlwind of studying, traveling, learning, growing, and barely enough sleep. I have written three, in-depth news stories for my internship at KosovaLive. I have completed eight credit hours worth of college classes.
I have established strong friendships with several of the students who joined me on this trip, and lasting relationships with professors who can help further my career. The amount I experienced in this short time seems enough for several lifetimes. But I will tell you what I have found most important. I have used this picture before but I it is the perfect shot of the Ottoman influence that has survived in this region of the world. Upon arriving here, one immediately sees the Turkish-Ottoman influence, with the red-roofed villages speckled across the mountaintops.
They may be struck by the Muslim influence, with the eerily beautiful call to prayer reverberating five times a day from the mosques across the city. They will pass by the shell of the Serbian Orthodox Church and know who also claims rights to this land. Its identity is found within its people, who blend millennia of different cultures, traditions, and belief to generate a new, unique personality.
