The view from the plane was amazing. The city was small and seemed green. I had no idea what the people there were going to be like. All I had was a couple youtube videos, and the usual Albanian stereotypes. My dad had also told me some stories. He went there months before for a mission. A job position had opened, so they asked him to be a temporary replacement. Since we had been living in New York for six years, we had started thinking of places to move already, and this was the answer to our problems. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about Albania ever. I would’ve never thought that one day, I would move to this country. The only thing I knew about it was that it existed. But to me, Albania was a country that was someplace in Europe, and that I had no knowledge about. 

    There’s only so much preparation one can do to facilitate the move from one country to another. As it turns out, watching youtube reviews about Albanian food until two in the morning on a school night isn’t one of them. My dad’s colleagues had given him a huge book entitled “Albania”. I was mostly just interested in the pictures. Vast green mountains, clear waters with golden sand, bunkers in every direction you look. This idea of seven hundred thousand bunkers in all Albania was intriguing to me. I could just imagine myself one day adventuring into a forgotten bunker on the side of the road. One thing that was unclear to me was the reason this massive amount of bunkers were built. I later found out that there had been a communist era in Albania, but other than that, I didn't really know anything about it. I imagined it was just like any other communist era. 

    My first impressions on the ground was that it was like any other middle class country. The people were surprisingly nice, denying the stereotypes that I had heard. Some of these stereotypes were that Albanians were involved in the mafia, or that Albania is dangerous.  For the first month, I lived in a small, two bedroom apartment, sharing a room with my brother. To be honest, that month wasn’t the best of my life, but it was definitely not the worst. It made me reflect on all the families that have to live in these very small apartments because of poverty. On the first weekend, we went to Kruje. This was the first taste I got of semi-rural Albania. All in all, it reassured me that Albania was going to be a good experience. Many one day trips followed after that; Durres, Vlora, Saranda, and Gjirokaster.

    The first day of school was a blast. Camping was probably the only reason I made friendships so quickly. On top of that, the lake was beautiful, and the four hours of staring out the window told me a lot about the country I was in. Another thing that blew my mind was the food. Some parts of it resembled Italian food, but most of it was completely new. Overall, I’m very happy to have moved here. The people are incredibly nice, and the places are amazing. So far, only good has come from this.