A Little Bit About Moi

Saranda at night time

I was born and raised in Saranda, a small town in the South of Albania. For those of you who have never heard of it, Saranda is one of the main touristic attractions in the Albanian riviera. It is also known as the Pearl of Albania, or the city of the Honeymooners, because it used to be the number one honeymoon choice among Albanians before the fall of Communism, when we were not allowed to travel outside our country.

It is a lovely city and I have very fond memories of my childhood years spend in there. I still visit it occasionally, when time and money permits it. Now I want to mention a small historic fact regarding my hometown. It will sound insignificant and totally not related for the moment, but I promise you it will start to make sense soon. (Hint: Title of my Blog ;))

During the World War II, Albania was occupied by the Italians. Benito Mussolini fell in love with this little hidden jewel and changed the name to Porto Edda in honor of his eldest daughter. After the Deceleration of Independence, the city switched back to his old name Saranda.

 

In September of 1999 me and my family immigrated to the States (I will write more about this another time). My mom won the American Green Card Lottery, and my parents decided it was time to leave our dear homeland behind in the hopes of a better future for all of us. You see, the years following the fall of Communism were hard on Albania, both economically and socially. Things got worse in 1996, when the Ponzi schemes operating in Albania failed and a lot of people lost their lifetime savings. The 1997 was one of the worst years of my time in Albania. The economic crisis following the failure of the Ponzi schemes culminated in an armed rebellion. Schools closed for over a month and state of emergency was declared. We couldn't leave the house for fear of being accidentally shot. It was during these exasperated times that I pleaded to my parents to find a better home for us. And so my mom tried her luck with the Green Card Lottery. She won it the first time around, and against all odds we found ourselves moving to the States :)

Now I want to go back in time a little bit and mention a few facts that are important. My parents are both chemical engineers. They went to school together, which is where they met. When I was little, my dad also did his masters in chemical engineering. During that time he also took Italian courses at the university. He started teaching me Italian when I was about 6 years old, but gave up after a month when he found himself struggling to explain me the grammar. Fast-forward few years in the future, once we were allowed to watch foreign channels (during communism it was forbidden), I started watching cartoons in Italian and before I even knew it I could understand and speak Italian better than my dad. He was amazed and confused at how I could do that, seeing that I never studied grammar, but I used to tell him that I learned the language the baby's way. Full immersion :)))

Before my mom won the Green Card Lottery, my dad, who at the time was working for an Italian company, had planned on sending me and my sister to the University of Bologna, Italy. So when I came to the States and started college I learned about the study abroad opportunity. I remember the first thing I did when I started Brown, was to stop by their International Office and collect as much info as I could about their Study Abroad Program in Bologna :) And so in September of 2003, after merely four years in the States, I was ready to face another major cross-Atlantic move, but this time all by myself. It is here in Bologna that I met my best friend and my future husband (This will need a completely new post :D).

And here I am now, after 9 years and two beautiful baby boys, planning an overseas wedding in Rome. Hence the title of my Blog: All Roads Lead to Rome. Which for me, this was literally the case :)))