The Banal in Our National Identity
I’m writing this article partly because I want to continue to explore my own relation to national identity and how it affects me. For that, I need to go through the looking glass.
I’m writing this article partly because I want to continue to explore my own relation to national identity and how it affects me. For that, I need to go through the looking glass.
We were not one of the people with prejudices. Some of us have already been in Prishtina, some have heard amazing stories from the others, and some had no idea where exactly they were going or what was waiting for them there. I belong to the second group. But no matter how many stories I’ve heard, nothing could resemble to what I have experienced.
I believe I’ll always remember the first time I went to Prishtina on my own. It was summer of 2013, and I took the long-forgotten Adio tours bus (at the bus station in Belgrade I told myself: goodbye dear life!) which offers everything but comfort and a safe trip. I arrived at Prishtina bus station around 5 pm. Squeezing the note which contained the address of the guesthouse where I was headed, I looked around myself and felt terrible fear.
