My first trip outside Kosovo was during my final semester as a student, in September 2023. I had applied to an Erasmus+ competition that selected architecture students to attend a semester at the University of Dortmund in Germany.

When I learned that I was accepted, I couldn’t believe it. I was so excited that I would finally see the work of the great masters whose teachings I had grown up with and studied up close for five years during my studies.

Although I risked repeating the year due to the inconsistency in the number of credits between some courses at the University of Prishtina and those at the host university, I still decided to go. 

“Visas will be lifted in January. If you’re only going because you want to travel, wait a little longer. I don’t think it’s worth risking losing the year.” Advice like this came to me almost daily. But given how long and difficult the process of visa liberalization for Kosovo had been, it still seemed unbelievable to me that it would actually happen in January.

So, I decided to go. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Since I had never met students from economically developed countries like Germany in person, several questions arose. Would I be inferior to the German students? Would I be able to adapt to a completely new education system? I reminded myself of the sleepless nights I had endured to complete my project submissions on time, here in Kosovo. It couldn’t possibly be more challenging there.

After a series of efforts to complete the pile of documents required by the German embassy in Kosovo, the DHL courier finally delivered my passport along with my student visa. I packed my suitcase.

In Germany, my sister, who lived there, would be waiting for me. Before I left Kosovo, she explained the airport procedures to me dozens of times, assuring me that everything was simpler than I could imagine. It was my first time on a plane and I was traveling alone. But surprisingly, I didn’t feel any anxiety. After all, I had designed an airport as a semester assignment during my studies. Now it was time to see how everything I had drawn worked in practice.

As we landed, the clouds began to dissipate, revealing the fantastic urban plan of the area below — designs I had grown accustomed to seeing only in books.

A lesson beyond books

From buying train tickets to the journey to my sister’s apartment, order was noticeable at every step. It was a clean environment; houses all built in a uniform style, aligned on a single construction line. It seemed to me that this order clearly reflected precision and rigor, whereas the architecture I grew up with in Kosovo mirrored our transitional period — still grappling to find a defining style. This often resulted in poorly planned spaces and myriad other problems.

It wasn’t long before I personally encountered this mentality of tidiness. I moved into the dormitories on campus with three friends from the University of Prishtina. Unlike the dormitories in Prishtina, where three people shared a nine-square-meter room, I had everything to myself there — from my room to my kitchen and bathroom. People spoke little English, and even those who did seemed to act as if they didn’t know it.

At the faculty, despite the agreement with the host university that I would attend lectures in English, this never actually happened. The other students were German and I was the only one from Kosovo, so the lectures were held in German. I didn’t understand anything. The professors even had prejudices that they expressed openly. 

When they realized, during the first lecture, that I didn’t understand German at all, one professor asked me, “Why should you be here if you don’t have at least a B1 level of the language?” When the agreement with the University of Prishtina was explained, she replied, “Well, since we are all Germans, the lectures will continue to be held in German, and you can write your papers in English, since we understand the language. But you’ll have to do the group work yourself, because I don’t think any of the students will want you as a member of their group.”

This direct statement and brutal honesty from a faculty member was shocking to me. But still, I was determined to see my studies through to the end. As an introvert, I was forced to change my character in the face of a prejudiced environment, trying with all my effort to produce an impressive project.

The good thing about studying architecture is that most of the concepts are understood through the drawings. However, seeing my interest in collaboration, the professor quickly changed her approach, often lecturing in English and providing me with additional English literature, which I then expanded on myself.

I was impressed with the design task for the course, which involved consolidating the ruins and renovating some existing parts of a synagogue in the city of Hamburg, which had been destroyed during World War II by the Germans themselves. The professors were trying to raise awareness among the younger generations that something like this should never happen again, despite what had occurred. As a student from Kosovo, could there be a more relevant topic? Everyone from Kosovo knows how many monuments and sites like that synagogue there are in our country, which still bear the scars of the 1998-99 war.

It didn’t take long for us students from Kosovo to have to present ideas and concepts for our projects in our various classes. We received the highest grades. I had never been prouder of my country and my professors from Kosovo, who had not only taught us design methodologies but also encouraged us to think more deeply and critically.

Without a doubt, what impressed us most during this period was not the faculty assignments. Rather, it was the numerous trips to various German cities and, in particular, countries such as the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Italy and the Vatican. Italy, in particular, was the most extraordinary, and I would recommend everyone to visit. 

It is so difficult to describe in words the first encounter with the great paintings we had studied, with the original brushwork of artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Johannes Vermeer, Vincent Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn and other masters of their caliber. Then there was the architecture and the enchanting effect of all those churches and museums, along with the different cultures of food, clothing and behavior. I realized that, truly, in order to grow as a person, I had to see.

So, after a period of six months, I felt more grown up. Coming from a small country with narrow roads, I was now able to manage my own travels to every corner of Europe. These six months shaped me as much as five years of study.

But, above all, these trips made me realize how inexperienced and arrogant a person remains when they limit themselves to the culture within the borders of their own country. 

I returned to Kosovo in March. I had missed the people so much, and had especially missed the espressos; they were incomparable to the coffee in Germany, which no one could afford. Visas had truly been liberalized.

Feature Image: Atdhe Mulla / K2.0.

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This blog was published with the financial support of the European Union as part of the project “Diversifying voices in journalism.” Its contents are the sole responsibility of Kosovo 2.0 and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.