understand and learn about these cultures which help us indeed to understand and learn more about each other because we all come from different backgrounds. But sometimes even being from the same country does not mean that we have identical cultures. My co-year, Egi, is a Muslim, I am an Orthodox, he comes from Central Albania, Elbasan, I come from the South, Vlora.Many people believe that all Arabs are Muslims and all Muslims are Arabs. In the case of Habib, who is from Lebanon (Arab) this is not true because he is Christian. On the other hand, Yasaman from Iran is Muslim but not an Arab and certainly my Albanian co-year, who is a Muslim as well, is not an Arab. Being in the College it became obvious to me that Muslims around the world share a religious belief but have many different cultures.
In this course we try to understand what a cultural identity really is and what it is made of: nation, language, religion, social background...
All these aspects tell about who we are and the way we are. It is very interesting to observe differences when you live in a community with people from 85 countries of the world.
Is this interesting only for UWC students? Certainly not. World Arts and Cultures taught in other schools would be a window to the living parade of traditions, colours, languages, costumes of different cultures; it would make you aware that you don’t belong only to your country, to your language, to your religion and territorial area, you are part of something bigger: the world and its many many colours.
Lorela Paco, Albania
