By Lara Riemens
Waking up on the second full day in Kosovo
to yet another warm day (temps in the 30s), we prepared for a day of interesting meetings with the
University of Pristina, the Kosovo Gender Studies Centre and finally the Kosovo
European Youth Parliament. Making it to the meeting point, where we usually
start the day, on time again proved a bit difficult (we’ll blame the heat), but
once there we were ready to start the day.
Our first stop was the University of
Pristina; a university with a controversial history as an
Albanian-nationalistic university that no longer facilitates the Serb minority
of Kosovo as it did in the past. We were able to meet with the vice dean of the
law faculty and about a dozen law students from the university, which was the
first time we were able to meet Kosovars our age. It was incredibly interesting
to hear from the students’ takes on the current situation and how they felt
about it. One of the students, for example, was particularly passionate about
the fact that she (a Kosovar Albanian) lived in a Kosovar Serb majority region.
Where earlier we heard more about the Albanian majority having the most power
in Kosovo, she said that in her hometown, she felt like the Kosovar Serbs were
in control and expressed a dislike of Serbs (but as a group rather than
individually).
There was a definite mix of opinions however, as another student
we spoke to told us she had travelled to Serbia multiple times, had several
Serbian friends and expressed a willingness to learn Serbian in the future. Especially
with no Serbian students at the university to argue their side of the story,
the visit just illustrated once more the complexities of the situation in
Kosovo and how close to home many of the issues we discussed in class were for
these students.
What also struck me was that most of the students voiced their
wish to stay in Kosovo after graduation to help shape the future of their
country. Seemingly, they were willing to stay despite the fact that we also learned
that even with an education in Kosovo, the prospects of employment are not
necessarily good. Right after the visit, we set the politics aside for a while
when the vice dean and three of the students we met took a group of us out for
lunch at a local café. It was incredibly nice to chat and talk with the
students especially, with the formality of the visit having disappeared and it
feeling a lot more like hanging out with friends.
We talked about anything and
everything, from music, beer recommendations, differences in humour across our
respective countries and recommendations for in Pristina. I think the vice dean
recommended an entire summer’s worth of festivals and trips in Kosovo for us to
return for. When we mentioned that we were going out later at night, the
students that could were also very happy to join, which was super fun. Lastly,
we exchanged Facebook and Instagram accounts to keep in touch and perhaps meet
up again next week or later during future visits to Kosovo.
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