Editor's note: Ada Heqimi is an Albanian journalist in Lawrence as part of an international journalists' program. This story is about her impressions of the United States and its people.
Ada Heqimi, a journalist working for the Gazeta Shqiptare newspaper in Tirana, Albania, is visiting Lawrence as part of a Balkans media training program. She refers to her monthlong experience as "shaking hands with Lawrence, Kansas."
When I arrived in this big country big compared to mine I expected everything would be huge and different.
I'm from Tirana, Albania, a little country situated in the southeast corner of Europe. It's small compared to Kansas, about the size of Maryland with a population of 4 million people.
My first destination in the United States was Washington, D.C. We landed at Dulles International Airport 13 hours after leaving Tirana. It seemed huge, with lots of lights, and it was full of people. We were five journalists from Bosnia, Croatia and Albania.
Patrick Butler, our host from the International Center for Journalists, picked us up at our hotel and gave us a tour of the monuments of Washington, D.C.
The Franklin Roosevelt Memorial was very impressive. The writings were very sincere. I think the sayings like "I Hate War" are useful at all times. There was a worn spot on the Roosevelt statue's knee where people had rubbed it.
I very much liked the Vietnam Memorial. It was incredible seeing all of those names. We found a Slavic name that looked Croatian.
After seeing the Korean War Memorial with the soldiers walking through the grasses, I felt that I had actually seen them at war.
And of course, the Washington Monument was so tall and so proud-looking.
The White House
We went to the White House. It was very important for me to go there. We went to the press briefing room that I'd seen many times on television. In Albania we have National (government) Television, some smaller private TV stations, plus CNN and EuroNews.
President Bush was in Mexico during our visit.
We attended a briefing with regular White House reporters and cameramen, and I was so surprised at how small the room was. It looks much bigger on television. When we walked in we saw a TV cameraman sleeping in one corner. It was impressive to be there and listening to a briefing by the State Department.
The big surprise at our hotel was a convention of transsexuals who were meeting there. I had never seen men dress up like women, wearing lots of make-up. They were very friendly as we passed in the lobby. My Bosnian friends kept asking me, "What do you think is going on here?"
We didn't know how to react.
I arrived at Kansas City's airport Sunday, Feb. 18.
"You will go right in the center of the states, in Lawrence, Kansas," one of the representatives of ICFJ told me. "There you will understand the true life of Americans."
At home in Lawrence
I was met at the Kansas City Airport by my hosts Dona and Bill Snead, with whom I will stay during my month in Lawrence. Having a host family is very important in my program. Out of the seven Europeans in my group, I am the only one fortunate enough to live with local residents. The others in the group are living in hotels. They are so alone. I think staying with residents is a good opportunity for me.
On the ride from the airport to Lawrence I saw many areas without buildings. I've never seen so many open spaces without buildings on them. The roads were very big and busy compared to ours in Albania.
Not everyone in Albania has cars like in the United States. On my newspaper, for example, three out of a staff of 24 have cars. We use public transportation, which is plentiful, and we use bicycles.
My first contact with Lawrence seemed strange. The buildings are not very high and they are situated on large pieces of property.
The weather is strangest of all. One day the sun is bright, the next day it's cold and cloudy; sometimes it rains and other times it snows. I've been told this is the way of the weather in Kansas.
Weather at home
In Tirana we get a lot of rain in the autumn but it hasn't snowed for five years. The temperature this week was about 60 degrees, almost like it was in Lawrence before last week's snow. Last summer the temperature broke heat records, and it was more than 100 degrees last July.
The people in Lawrence are very friendly. When I am introduced to them they all hold out their hands to shake just like we do in Albania.
An Italian proverb says, "Everywhere you can find a home while you are in an unknown place."
The buildings here are not very tall and the city is spread out in all directions. In Tirana I live a five-minute walk from my newspaper office.
Much of my time at the Journal-World is spent going on assignments with the staff reporters and photographers. It is only my second week in Kansas and I still don't know very much, but I'm trying to understand how life is lived here.
I met Mr. Edward Salisbury, a nice old gentleman who is 95 years old. He told stories about how life was in Lawrence many years ago.
'Price of democracy'
I went to a meeting of the city commission and many people spoke about landlords. Listening to all of their stories is, I guess, the price of democracy. In Albania the government meetings are closed to the public as well as to the press.
I met some homeless people at a "drop-in" shelter during an interview for the newspaper. Some looked very depressed, as I can well imagine.
I was at the Douglas County Courthouse on election night when the ballots were being counted and all of the candidates were there. I was told that because of the snow, and perhaps because of lack of interest, that voting numbers were low.
In Albania, especially in our period of transition, nearly everyone votes. There are a few who don't but most do. We have only had the opportunity to vote during the past 10 years, and it's a way that we can express ourselves about the government and local administration.
The voting takes place on Sunday. I voted for the second time in my life last October.
Many Albanians get their impressions of the United States from watching American movies. Now I have a different impression.
I've found that people here are like people in Albania, and when you can shake a person's hand you will find that nearly all are friendly.
Albanian journalist Ada Heqimi can be reached during her stay in Lawrence at 832-7196.
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