I remember when last year I woke up one day and decided, much on a whim, that I was moving to Berlin regardless. After hours of fantasising about living in the German capital I managed to find an MA in British Studies at Humboldt University. So what is a British student doing in Berlin studying British Studies? Well I was asking the same question and trying to answer it, often failing. So when I got on a plane heading towards Prishtina, Kosovo to work with the British Council, questions started to be answered.
Prishtina is the younger, energetic but somewhat dysfunctional member of the Balkan family of capital cities. With a population of close to 800,000 people, of which is dominated by a young demographic, it’s a bustling city with lots to offer. Many of the effects of the war seem to be hidden amongst the huge regeneration programme that the newly elected Mayor has commenced. New roads, new housing and the constant efforts to pipe water from one of Kosovo’s main lakes mean that traffic is a guaranteed daily spectacle. When you do manage to get anywhere in a taxi they seem to be absent in the knowledge of what road my apartment is on. The traffic at least makes walking up one of Prishtina’s numerous steep hills satisfying.
The British Council here has one of the smaller teams among the European set up. With only 9 people including myself, with three on leave at the moment, it’s going to provide great opportunities to get involved with the projects the council runs, rather than being the trolly dolly.
I’ll be commenting on adventures and experiences here for the next three months and trying to avoid featuring in Elliot’s Google alert of “Jamie Pickton international incident”!!!
Flas me vone.
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