June 17th – From the Court to Kurti

By Ben Kiem

Today was a day many of us had eagerly anticipated: our meeting with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti. But before we delved into questioning 

Kurti’s government and his previous life, we had the early part of the day entirely to ourselves. While some chose to catch up on much-needed sleep, Julia, Oscar, and I decided to spend the morning playing basketball. Also, I almost forgot to introduce myself - how rude of me - I am Ben, a third-year student currently enjoying the last days of my AUC life. I'm writing this after an intense day, riding in the back of a very shaky UN bus, but that’s a story for another blog.

 

Back at the court, we played for around two hours, where I blocked Oscar more than once. As the day grew warmer, we decided to stop playing and headed back to change into our formal attire - after all, meeting the Prime Minister is not an everyday event. Dressed in our Sunday-best, we made our way to the government building, where the stakes became clear as we passed through airport-level security measures, including a metal detector. In the meeting room, we sat in seats we could only assume to be usually reserved for important people, waiting for the Prime Minister’s arrival. As the minutes passed, the mix of nervousness and excitement grew.

When Kurti entered the room, we all stood up. After his introduction, we were given the opportunity to ask a handful of questions. Unfortunately, I can’t spill too much information about the contents of our conversation with the Prime Minister, as all information is to be kept confidential per Chatham House Rules. After about 20 minutes, Kurti had to leave, giving us the opportunity to address questions to Elizabeth Gowing, the PM's Advisor on Community Affairs and Bierta Avdili, Political Advisor to the PM. 

 

After the meeting, some of the groups met with Anne to talk about their projects, and a bunch of us grabbed lunch at a place where we had had a great dinner a few days ago. The rest of the day saw more basketball, more great food, and some clubbing. But more about this later from Ousman.