Border.

We woke up packed our luggage onto the bus, and headed to the center of the city, for our meeting. While on our way we got lost, luckily one of the other students speaks Albanian, so we were able to be pointed in the right direction. Our group met with Patrick from a local NGO. This was not one of my favorite meetings, but he was quite interesting. He said the role of the NGO was, “to facilitate dialogue for Serbs to return back to Kosovo”.

Our professors, TA, and tour guides allowed us about an hour of free time in Pristina, which was nice since we were able to get some souvenirs, and mentally prepare for the trip ahead. While walking around I noticed two things. The city was very small, but people were working to improve the conditions of their country.  Also as we were talking to people around the city, and telling them we were from America, they were very friendly, and wanted to help us in any way possible. Some even said if given a chance they would love the opportunity to visit America.

Our next stop was a tower dedicated to the Serbs who won the battle against the Turks in1389(above). This battle site was the war beginning of Serbian rule in that area. I understand there is a clash between the Serbs and Albanians of the area, it is just so sad to think that each side has no problem destroying historical landmarks. This reminds me of the current war in the Middle East, because the Middle East is known as the cradle of our civilization, and it is sad to think that with just a few bombs all archeological remnants of our past could be wiped away.

We then boarded the bus and headed to the Serbian enclave, Mitrovica. One could easily tell the differences of the two areas in regards to economics. The two parts of the city were separated by a bridge, on one side the bustling Kosovar side, and the other the grim communist looking side, Mitrovica (Serbian side of bridge). Each side displayed their national flags clearly, and had representatives of their respective police on each side, to prevent outbreaks.  On the Serb side, we met with a local professor at the university. He talked about the disparity he and other Serbs faced as Serbs in a mainly Albanian population. He knew that he had rights to this land, and wanted to stay.

It was time to board the bus once again, this time we were headed to Mokra Gora, a small town in Serbia. Upon reaching the border, we found we had four options. One we could call the United States Embassy, and make them let us through, or two call a council of the Kosovar and Serb border units to let us through, three reroute our trip, or just run across the border and hope no one sees our large white tour bus.  Although those were all feasible, minus the last, we decided to reroute our trip and head to Montenegro, I mean the more stamps and countries in 24 hours the merrier.  How did we end up in this pickle you may ask, well the answer is not simple. Kosovo, recognizes themselves as an independent country, but Serbia does not. So, being an independent country Kosovo as any other country would, stamped our passports. As we tried to leave the Serbian border patrol said they had no way of nullifying the stamps, so we had to go to another border crossing where they could do that, and then cross back into Serbia.  We were off to Montenegro.  After a long trip we made it to our posh 4-star hotel in a small little mountain.