3rd Easter in Albania..

Realizing what I have and what I'm about to give up..

This past weekend we had two visitors to Bajram Curri, Eric's brother and a PCV that has never been up here before. It's really easy to get frustrated here and especially at the end of service to just be waiting around to go home. After having two people who had never been here to see what we've done and the relationships we've built here it made me realize I'm about to leave it a little over a month. The weeks and weekends are filling up with things to do before I leave Albania and I'm beginning to feel like I don't have enough time.

Although Bajram Curri  is one of the most conservative places still in Albania I've been able to make relationships with men my age and in the high school but I feel like a lot of that has to do with having male Peace Corps Volunteers here as well. When our friend was up here from the south she kept saying "Where are all the women?" or "Brenna, you've done really well making friends here" and it made me realize that as a single, foreign woman I had sort of breached the sex divide in friendships. We had a beer with two of our closest Albanian friends while the other PCV was here and discussed rumors in Albania about different places in Albania, spoke in Spanish, Italian, English, Albanian, Serbian, Japanese and German, when the power went out we started my Ipod up and sang and cheered in the dark.

The next day we had basketball and I went and played like I usually do but there was another girl in the gym this Tuesday, our friend and fellow PCV. I came over to chug some water and she once again told me how impressed she was that the boys were treating me how they were, like I was one of their friends and not like foreigner that they're scared to break or talk to. It was so nice to hear an outsiders perspective on my life here because it is easy to take things here for granted, especially on the down slope of service.

Erin's trip to Bajram Curri..

Slowly being phased out..

As to be expected there's a lot of paperwork that goes along with closing your service at the end of two years with the Peace Corps. Today marks the day that the group that will 'replace' us arrives in Albania. I'm a member of Group 14 (the 14th group of Volunteer's that have been in Albania) and today Group 16 arrives in Elbasan to start their two year journey just like I did not that long ago. The first week in April I will probably meet the person that will take my place at the municipality. I'm in the process of filling out questionnaires and plugging in names and numbers so the new person can know who will be willing to work with them and projects that I did that were successful and one's that didn't work out too well. Another Volunteer made this Youtube video for the new group about what our group has learned in our two years here.

When I think about my first impressions of Albania when I was living with a host family and how foreign everything felt it makes me realize how far I've come because everything feels too normal at this point. You start doing a lot of reflecting on what you could have done or what you wish you would have done as well as looking back on all that you have actually accomplished, even if at the time it seemed small and not important. I've now been in Albania for over two years which means 1/12 of my life has been spent living in the land of the double headed eagle.

Weekends are starting to fill up and in the 7 1/2 weeks I have left here it seems that I've become very busy. Weddings, going away parties, site visits for the new Volunteers, hopefully a basketball camp, speaking to the new Volunteers in Elbasan, planning my C.O.S. trip, wrapping up projects here in town, spreading the word in town that I'll actually be leaving soon and in fact won't be living here for the rest of my life.. It is nice to have something sort of planned out for when I go home and not have that blind falling feeling again like I did after college.

Long weekend in Divjakë..

Family portrait with Mia!..

Afternoon walk..

Erin's birthday party..

combined with St. Patty's Day..

9 hours of traveling on a Friday..

Starts in Bajram Curri with snow and no power..

Layover in Tirana..

Ending up in the village of Divjake..

Rainbows & clouds in Tropoje..

International Women's Day..

I was woken up at 7:45am by my neighbor with a piece of cake on a knife saying "Happy Women's Day!"
It's great to be appreciated.

Another sunny March day!..

I'm coming home, tell the world..

Ten weeks from today I will officially be back on American soil, for good. After the C.O.S. conference it was sort of surreal coming back to Bajram Curri because I had just sat through 3 days of sessions preparing me to leave Albania and saying goodbyes to people leaving early and then I come back to my community for three more months!

I'm in the process of planning my "life after Peace Corps." I feel like there should be a manual for this or something because when the 6 month countdown started I began to feel like a fish out of water. What better way to fill my time and not think about what inevitably waiting for me in America but plan my trip before I come home! I'm going to take two weeks with a former PCV in Albania traveling the Balkans and making a loop around the Black Sea, ending our trip in Istanbul and flying home. Oh yeah, and I got into grad school.

When I went home I had prepared to take the GRE the day before Halloween. I hadn't really made my mind up on going to graduate school but though since I had the time to study, why not take it while I was home. The more and more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go back to school. When I was on my Christmas trip I had a little freak-out moment when I checked my email at a hostel in Portugal informing me that the application that I had started before I left had 1 week for early admission acceptance. When I came back from my trip that was my focus for 8 straight days and I sent in the application at the very last minute of the early deadline.

I applied to two universities, one in North Carolina and one in Colorado. As supportive as my family has been throughout these two years I know deep down inside they were routing for the NC school to have me closer to home. I found out this week that I was actually accepted into both programs! Denver for Intercultural Communications and Elon for Interactive Media; both programs that would fit me perfectly. Denver offered the Peace Corps scholarship option for RPCV's and would knock off my foreign language requirements because of my time here in Albania speaking the local language.

Drum roll... I put my downpayment in this week and in August will be a student again at Elon University. It's such a weird feeling to actually have some sort of a plan when I come home because I was honestly just planning on taking the summer off and crashing on my aunt's couch. I think the work I've been doing with Barazia Gjinore really made my portfolio stand out and I talked to one of my old professors who said she wrote in my reference that Peace Corps was the best preparation to grad school that I could get.

The program seems perfect. It's only 1 year (10 months on a school calendar) and includes a "send-off" team project, more than likely abroad. I believe the program will take my skills and knowledge further with the programs I already use, as well as teach me about programs I'm not familiar with. My mom and aunt when down yesterday to check out the campus and begin looking around for apartments! My flight has me back in Raleigh on June 2nd. I feel like I was just closing the chapter in my life from under-grad and college basketball and now it's time to move on yet again.

Enjoying a sunny day in Bajram..