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Training at the University of Velora.

III

The last two days have been incredible. Yesterday we traveled about two hours on a ridiculously winding road to the city of Vlora to work with students at the University of Vlora. Vlora is on the Adriatic Sea, and although the views of the water are beautiful, it is not a nice city.

Albania fell into complete anarchy in 1997 when some massive pyramid schemes destroyed the nation's entire economy. They say that a huge percentage of Albanians lost almost everything. When things crashed, the place erupted in violence, and the military and police just quit. The violence started in Vlora, and the city is known as a rebel city.

Ultimately, as . . . [a] fledgling democracy that was experiencing so many things for the first time, Albania's government was incapable of dealing with this situation, and Vlora still kind of gives you that sense of "tension in the air" when you drive through. One of the long-standing jokes is that Albanians are always amazed at how the city fields a good soccer team, but despises teamwork in every other way!

Anyway, we drove this crazy road made in the 1930s by Italian occupiers, and our State Department driver just drives like a maniac. We think maybe the State Department tells the drivers to drive fast to avoid the inevitable gawking that goes on. In American-made black vans and SUVs, we really stick out, so everyone looks at us wherever we go. I guess the diplomats here are extremely powerful, because not only do they have your typical diplomatic immunity, but the Albanian government is so intent on fostering good relations with the US that they instruct their police and army personnel to "NEVER mess with the American Embassy!" Therefore, the drivers (who are Albanian and EXTREMELY proud to have these sweet jobs) just drive like idiots. Most of you know that I enjoy driving very fast, but these guys drive like 90 mph on roads that we would have a 25 mph speed limit on. Seriously, there are a few miles of decent highway outside of Tirana, and this guy had our van at 120 mph. I LOVED it for the first 20 minutes, but imagine doing 60-70 mph on golf-course cart paths for two hours, and you'll understand the feeling in my stomach for most of the trip.

So, after a bit of a roller coaster ride, we arrived at the University of Vlora. This school is also commonly known as the most corrupt university in Albania. I'm struggling with how describe this place. Just imagine a university that makes the typical public school in DC look like a shrine, add in years of soot on the walls because students and professors smoke in the school, bad lighting, and an entire university workforce for sale. That's the short version. I was aghast at trying to help these students, because they told me that it is much easier to just give the professor $50 and pass the test than to study! I asked them what the problems were, and they shouted problems for almost an hour. My translator went through an entire pack of cigarettes just while they answered that question! Seriously!! (Sidenote: my translator's name is Altin, and he smokes NO LESS than FIVE packs a day) Anyway, as my translator is speaking eight inches from my face with the most charcoal breath you can imagine, these students are yelling out all of their problems. This will go on for hours! As soon as I suggest some strategies to begin to make progress on an issue, someone will jump up and begin shouting about another problem. They cannot focus and cannot reach consensus. They have corrupt teachers and administration, no textbooks, unfair test calendars, impending changes to the national laws about higher education that they do not understand, and so many more problems, and they are passionate about stating them.

This dynamic has made training these students one of the most difficult leadership assignments I have ever experienced. I am blown away. It's nearly impossible to examine strategies to solve issues when there is nobody for them to turn to for help. Higher education in Albania exists (it seems) to enrich those in charge of it, and they have so much work to do.

That said, the more students I meet and talk to, the better I understand the complexities of their world. It's easy to understand their passion for calling out a problem, because for so long, they were not allowed to speak of problems out loud. It was less than 15 years ago that these students would go to a market with their parents and possibly find that the potatoes were all gone for the day. If their father or mother made a fuss about having to go hungry that night, they were jailed or punished for speaking out in a communist society. As I think about that, I have to extend these students a lot of grace. Truth be told, I've already developed a love for the whole messy place and everyone I have met.

It has also been a blessing to have a guy by the name of Landon here. He is a student at American University in Washington, DC and fluent in Albanian. Anyway, he is an intern at the embassy this summer and has tagged along with the delegation, and that has been helpful.

Finally, today is a Flag Day in America. Find a flag somewhere (that flag flying near the Dirksen Senate Office Building had BETTER be flying tight) and take a second to think about the symbol of freedom and democracy represented by that beautiful piece of cloth. We should be so grateful to live in the greatest country in the world.

Albania might aspire to be like America more than any other country in the world right now, and while they certainly have a long way to go, I can see sparks of potential here. If democracy can't flourish and work on the doorstep of Europe, how can we expect it to work in the Middle East? Albania is an important piece of the work, and this experience has already been life-changing for me.

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Continued