Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Photo provided by Shqipron Qunaj Shqipron stands in front of bombed ruins in Vermica, Kosovo (near the Albanian border).

At twenty four years old, Shqipron Qunaj (pronounced Sh-Chip-Ron Chew-Nye), a transfer student from UW-Sheboygan, has seen and done more than many Americans will do in their lifetimes. Shqipron, an international business major, has lived in three countries, and has learned how to fluently speak four different languages.

Shqipron's journey begins in the volatile climate of Eastern Europe in the mid 80's. At the time the Serbian government was trying to gain control of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a nation that was comprised of seven different republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Albanian refugees from Kosovo, Shqipron and his family fled their home shortly after the outbreak of the Bosnian War in 1992. Shqipron was seven. Unsettled by the increasingly intrusive and violent Serbian police forces patrolling the remaining republic, the family vacated Kosovo, leaving behind family and friends, in hope of finding a more stable life in Germany.

Although allowed to stay in Germany, the Qunajs never quite felt like they belonged there. Not being allowed to work or get driving permits, Shqipron's family found themselves heavily dependent on the German government.

"We couldn't get loans, or even cell phone contracts. If we left the country we couldn't come back… we were pretty limited in opportunity in Berlin, but it is a beautiful city-I love that place," Shqipron says.

In the seven years spent in Germany, Shqipron's family was never able to visit Kosovo.

Despite, or maybe due to, the moments of awkwardness that came with being an obvious outsider in Germany, Shqipron was able to cultivate a natural aptitude for acting. "Acting mirrors life. Having different life experiences to draw from helps," says Shqipron.

In the sixth grade, Shqipron got involved with a school acting troupe who preformed a play, "Ritter Rost und das Gespenst" ("Knight Rust and the Ghost"), in which he landed the lead: Ritter Rost.

"The play was at [the] Bezirksant Zehlendorf, which is like the city hall. Our school was doing the acting, and there was another school from Ukraine that came to sing….Every other part of the play had understudies [backup actors] except mine. I loved the challenge."

Continued...

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