Wake up and get ready to meet the team.

Meet up with the team, usually at one of our apartments, and decide where to work: at the office, a café, or just our apartment. 

Start working on our project. Usually divide up our individual sections for research or writing. Sometimes we prepared for interviews that we conducted.

Head out for coffee and work for about an hour or two on our project.

Come back to the apartment and continue working on our own.

We finish up work for the day, then relax. Some of us nap, others hang out with friends until dinner.

Go to dinner with other teams, almost always in Blloku, the block area home to all the best restaurants in Tirana.

Sometimes get together for a movie, but when we had lot of things to do, we’d get more work done.

Set the alarm and go to bed.

Wake up and get ready to catch a bus for our hiking trip to Valbona.

Leave our apartments in groups and meet up on the main street for our bus.

From Fier, we take a minibus towards Valbona (it was a long trip, but we had fun)

Stop for lunch at a small restaurant somewhere between Fier and Valbon where we have absolutely delicious traditional Albanian food.

Recharge and get ready to hit the road again.

Make a stop in Valbona, where a concert is taking place as a protest to stop building a hydroelectric dam in the Valbona River in order to conserve the ecological diversity.

Reach our hotel in Valbona, a beautiful place surrounded by mountains, far away from the city.

Our host at the hotel prepares a delicious meal, which we enjoy with the other guests. The food, music, and dancing is fantastic. Our tour guide also taught us their traditional dance.

Go for a walk to explore the place. The night sky is absolutely clear, so we decide to sit outside for stargazing.

Come back to our rooms and go to bed, everyone excited about the next day, when we’ll take our long hike across Valbona.