CDT Neese’s CULP trip to Albania

August 20, 2014

Recently, I was selected to go on an army CULP (Cultural Understanding
and Language Proficiency) trip to the Eastern European country of Albania. Before the trip, I was worried; I did not know a single word in Albanian, and I knew nothing about the country. Also, I had never traveled outside the country. Through some small courses online before leaving, I was able to learn a few Albanian words and learn a little of the cultural norms before traveling overseas. I had no idea what to expect though.

When I first arrived at Fort Knox, the trip became real. I went through inn processing and learned what was expected of me as I was representing the United States Army in a foreign nation. After 11 hours of flights, we arrived in Albania, and I was surprised to find the climate similar to that of my home in South Carolina. Albania was hot and humid with clear skies, sunshine and many large mountains. The first meal in Albania was a salad with olive oil, feta cheese, and lamb. Every meal in Albania was a treat because the Albanians only use fresh ingredients. We were taken by bus to our housing which was in the Albanian Ministry of Defense Compound; we had nice rooms with air conditioning which was a blessing in the hot weather. Luckily we also had a soccer field located right next to our building, so often we played soccer with the Albanian soldiers.

In Albania, our main job was to teach the Albanian Non Commissioned officers some English while learning some Albanian, and we also performed some humanitarian aid missions at an orphanages and special needs schools. Teaching English was useful in learning about Albanian culture because we would schedule lessons around common activities or cultural aspects from our lives and have the Albanians relate to them. We learned a great deal about how Albanians value their names and value personal interactions over wealth; one of the Albanians said, “Money has no soul.” A great deal different from the money focused culture of the United States. Between the classes and soccer games, we made quite a few friends in Albania.

The sights were another great part of Albania. We got to take a gondola ride up Mount Djati and see the whole view of the capital city of Tirana. We were also able to see two castles, Kruja, the castle of the national hero Skanderbeg and also castle Rozafa in Shokder. It was an awesome sight to see a castle in real life instead of reading about them in books or seeing them in movies. The countryside we traveled was beautiful with farms and mountain.

All in all I took away a great deal from my trip to Albania. As my first trip out of the United States I learned how to represent my nation well in another country, and I learned how to fit in with the culture of another nation and respect its norms. I also gained a love of travel and seeing the world.