Ejona Korcari, Week 8, Tirana Albania

My internship in Albania has been a blast so far. The days are going by really fast and I have had a lot to do. This week I continued to work in the translation of the UNWTO document and I just finished it. It took a bit long because the document surprisingly was written in a convoluted manner. Some of the sentences were really confusing and supper long. At the same time it was an official document which as far as I know, it is still confidential and only a few people have seen it. In this document UNWTO, after reviewing the Albanian Tourism Draft Law, provided the Albanian Government with this document with suggestions and comments on how to improve this law and how to make it be in the same standards as the Tourism Laws of countries already part of the European Union. It felt good to see that the government has done so much work already and now we are working to improve the tourism in our country. At the same time, by doing this translation from English to Albanian, I got the chance to get more familiar with how government works, how laws are made, how countries cooperate, and how much hard work is needed in order for Albania Tourism to be in the levels of the EU countries. This document, since it was sent by such an important organization was a very detailed and elaborate piece of legislation. I got to read, understand and at the same time explain it in Albanian, therefore this experience was really important and helpful for me because now I know how complicated laws are, how much effort it takes to make them and how they have to consider every aspect of the situations they are about (tourism and all of its elements in this case). I learned a lot about Albanian Constitution and Laws because in a lot of cases I had to look through Albanian Legislation terms to figure out what the UNWTO was referring to. For example "statutory laws" in Albania are "Decisions of the Ministers Council (VKM-s)" and many other terms. Albanian Legislation is much more different than the legislation in other countries, so in a lot of cases, on the side of the document, UNWTO would suggest something and than explain that this suggestion might not be in agreement with Albanian Constitution or Laws. This was true in some cases but in the others it was just to make sure because UNWTO doesn't have much knowledge about Albanian legislation since it is a bit confusing for them how our legislation works, which laws are more superior and what institutions can make regulations about certain situations. So, even though translating this document was a bit tiring because it was needed ASAP, it was totally worth it and taught me a lot. I also have been working in other things that have popped up during the time that I have been in the office. We made a flier to promote camps that the National Costal Agency has opened along the Albanian beaches, who accept volunteers at all times to help in cleaning of the beaches, so we can offer a better and more beautiful beach to the people who visit them. I translated this in Albanian and now we are finding ways how to spread the word in order to attract as many volunteers as possible, Albanians, travelers, tourists, foreigners etc. Also we have helped the BBT (Black Belt Team), the team created by the Harvard Grad students in Ministry of Tourism. We (Kledia, Enxhi and I) have been part of this team since the first day we got in Albania and now we are working with the other members of the Team in Making a Tourism Package for Albania. We have helped in research of the materials needed to make the final presentation, translations and structure of the materials prepared by other members of the group etc.  This internship was the best choice I ever made. 

Finishing up the translation :)

Except work, in late afternoons after we left the office,I tried to find some time and go visit my family. I had the chance to spend some time with Grandma, who is always asking to spend more and more time with her. In the weekend, the girls and I were in the UNESCO protected city Berat. This is a city that everyone must visit if in Albania. It is a big city, separated in the old Berat, a 2000+ year old city, which is the part that everyone wants to see. Here there are small white houses that look like boxes and they have brown windows and doors. They are placed in the foot of the mountain and the view that they offer is breathtaking. On the top of the mountain there is located the Castle of Berat. When we visited it we found out that it was a Castle City . All the houses and the Main Castle were surrounded by thick walls. A good part of the ruins was still intact. It was amazing. Osum river splits the city in half and over it there are two bridges, one of them really old. The people were really friendly, the food was delicious and we got so many good memories from this city. This is my Albania on week 8.

Castle of Berat

Traditional albanian tables (sofra) and sofas. Really rare to see tho now

Me flying over Berat

A normal neighborhood

Kledia and I sitting on the porch and talking using a lot of body language