Field Trips and Forums: My First Half of a Kosovar Summer
- Anna Hall
- 17 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The first part of my study abroad experience has ended, marking the halfway point of my time in Kosovo, and boy, have I been busy! The first part of this trip abroad has been the Study Tour, which is the time period when our USC classes are in full swing and we do all our activities with the one and only Professor Carl Dahlman, director of the Walker Institute.
During this study tour, our first event was the Women, Peace, and Security Forum. This event is an initiative of Kosovo’s President, Vjosa Osmani Sadriu, and brings in speakers from all over the world to talk about issues surrounding women’s rights. This year, the forum hosted speakers from governments in Kosovo, Albania, Tanzania, Thailand, and many other places. (Fun fact: last year’s keynote speaker was Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton!)
We also had the chance to meet some amazing people during this tour. We had a two-hour meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Glauk Konjufca, and got to learn about his perspective on Kosovo’s history of conflict, as well as hear his story about founding Kosovo’s biggest political party, Vetëvendosje. We even had lunch with Nancy Soderberg, who was President Bill Clinton’s UN Ambassador during Kosovo’s war. It was incredible to hear about her experiences as an ambassador!
Museums, monuments, and institutes were also a big part of our study tour. We visited the Institute for War Crimes, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, and the Humanitarian Law Center of Kosovo, and we saw historic churches and mosques in Prizren, Gračanica, and Peja.
As sad as I am that the study tour is ending, I’m super excited to begin my next journey in Kosovo: my internship! I, along with two other USC students, am staying for the rest of the summer to work with local organizations.
This trip has been amazing so far, and we’re only halfway through! On to the next half…
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