Ejona/Tirana Albania/ Week 2
This is week two of my internship in Albania. I have had such an amazing and unforgettable time in here so far. This week we started our work at the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism. On the first day we meet the minister's advisor and she introduced us to the Directors that are part of this ministry. Than she placed us in the offices that we will be working at. Im working in the office of the Marketing and Promotion of Tourism. The people were very nice and very excited to have us here. I work in an office with 5 other people. I love the people in my office. Several of them have worked outside of Albania and they returned to work for the Ministry so they can share what they learned with each other and work together to make a difference and make Albania move forward. They are very smart, highly educated, hardworking and I have a lot to learn from them.
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| My office |
On the second day we went to work, to our surprise, we found a team from Harvard University. Those all grad students were trying that in cooperation with the ministry to develop strategies in order to improve Albanian tourism. They are a group of 14, but so far I had the pleasure to meet only 6 of them. I attended their presentations for 3 days, and I learned a lot about tourism, strategy planing and how to turn a piece of land into a huge resort.
As the Albanian tourism season just opened our office has a lot of work. We are working at multiple projects at the same time. As a start I had to read Albanian legislation on everything that is related to tourism. Also I read a plan strategy on how to develop tourism in Albania from 2014-2020. Both of those were very important documents that taught me a lot for our country. Now I am taking care of translations English to Albanian and vice versa. Also I am doing research on all areas that our office controls and than I'll have a meeting with my director to choose a project that I will work during all sumer.
On my free time I have explored the city of Tirana. It is big and beautiful. Tirana is the house of the Albania's most important offices and VIP people. Sometimes as I walk down in the sidewalks I will see faces I have seen on TV all the time. I have seen several Albanian singers so far. My favorite; Bojken Lako.
As most of Albanians do in the afternoon we go to coffee shops. This week we went to a place called Mon Cheri. It was like Starbucks but 100x better, and here people can spell my name correctly without me having to spell it out (lol). The environment was very classic and relaxing. I plan to go there more often since it is on my way to work.
My friends and I plan to travel a lot in the future and I'll try to share those experiences with all of you.
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| Mon Cheri |
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| Frapuchino |
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| Mon Cheri has some tables on the sidewalk too |
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| Makiato e ftohte-Cold Machiato |
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| I thought this was pretty cool, still need to go try the food there. |
Ejona,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! You answered all of my questions from my comment on your first post. Your job at the Ministry of Tourism sounds very exciting. I also get the feeling that what you're doing is extremely important. I can see how reading those documents could really open your eyes regarding how to promote tourism. When you're done translating, will you begin working on any projects? Meeting students from Harvard all the way in Albania has to be extremely surprising. It sounds as though they are working on similar ideas as you are.
AFC- Albanian Fried Chicken- that's funny!!! Great picture. How is the coffee? The Mon Cheri coffee shop looks like a great place. I am really looking forward to reading about your travels and experiences at work. Keep sharing pictures, especially at work!
Best,
Tammy
The job is really exciting. The work is really important, especially because the touristic season in Albania just opened. We have already sent a proposal and now we are waiting to hear from the Director of Marketing and Promotion of Tourism in Albania to give us his opinion and create our own project. I have learned so much in this job already!
ReplyDeleteCoffee shops and coffee in Albania is amazing. People love especially after work to go grab a cup of coffee and catch up with each other. There are lots and lots of coffee shops and all of them are unique and full of people. It has been an amazing time so far!