My first full week

 Monday 20th January 2025

Today I went to work and continued transcribing the Michael McClellen interview. I have just got to the part of the interview where goes into the time just after the war, in the year 2000, when he returned and the UN had its base there. A this time he was trying to help set up an American English speaking university in Kosovo, he had spoken with Ibrahim Rugova about it in previous years but the idea got put on hold. The idea was to get both ethnically Albanian and Serbian students to come and be educated together, the English speaking meant both groups were forced to struggle to learn the new language and bring them together. The logic was that Albanian kids would never go to a Serbian speaking university in Serbia and vice versa for the Serbian kids, so having the American English speaking university gave them an equal handicap and would not be able to avoid learning together. 

I grabbed lunch at Papirun after work, a sandwich place that does quick and filling meals. I went home after and continued some work I needed to get on with, including reading some of the other Oral History interviews that Anita, from work had recommended for me. 

Tuesday was a similar day, I continued with transcribing the Michael McClellen interview in the office, but the day got cut short as Anita and Ana had to leave early. So, I went and got lunch then went back to my apartment to continue working until the working hours were finished. 

I was told to work from home on Wednesday and Thursday as there was no one in the office, this was fine as I have plenty of work transcribing this interview. It is 90 minutes long and Michael talks quite a lot and quite quickly, I suppose that is unsurprising as he was a diplomat. He finished the story about the American university in Kosovo, they managed to find a campus and get help funding from a rich Albanian and partnered with RIT, the Rochester Institute of Technology. This is a big college in America that had already set up a partner university in Dubrovnik, Croatia. So, it was a successful start up and the university is still going strong now and growing. Michael believed it was the most important work America did in Kosovo after the war as is it was producing English speaking Kosovans, both Albanian and Serbian ethnics. This would create links with the university in Kosovo and the other American universities in Europe, promoting a future of international connections. 

Friday I worked from home again, as the others had meetings outside of the office. I completed the transcription of the Michael McClellen interview and sent it off to be checked through. Tomorrow I will be leaving Pristina for the weekend and going to visit the city of Peja, also known as Pec. 

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