Most Americans wouldn't regard the Balkan nation of Albania -- among the poorest countries in Europe -- as an alluring place to visit. Not Xander Meise '01.
During her senior year at the College, Meise, a religion major, received a Fulbright scholarship to travel to Albania, where she lived from October of last year until returning to Dartmouth just weeks ago.
Meise, captured the religious life of the nation through photography, speaking to and taking pictures of Albania's Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic populations.
"It's a place of contrasts," said Meise, who also instructed students in photography at the National Academy of Art in Tirana, the nation's capital. "Some people are incredibly wealthy while a large percentage live in abject poverty."
Albania is officially listed as the only nation in Europe with a Muslim majority, but Meise said the number who actively practice their faith "is in reality much lower" than raw percentages would indicate.
Under Communism Albania had an atheist doctrine officially written into its constitution, and despite its religious diversity, Meise said the nation has been remarkably devoid of religious conflict.
"Albania is the only Balkan country not to have fought over religion, which made it an interesting case to study," she said.
Meise was originally slated to work in Macedonia, but found those plans derailed when a conflict broke out there. In Albania, the only country in the Balkans that Meise had not previously visited, she found a nation that, while lacking basic infrastructure, was rapidly undergoing change.
Arriving in Tirana to teach photography, Meise found the Academy lacking in even the most basic equipment.
"The school had two cameras, and both were broken," she recalled. "I ended up doing a lot of art history and explaining processes and techniques."
The language barrier also presented a problem. Meise learned basic Albanian -- a language unrelated to any other in Europe -- while many of her students, who "put America on a pedestal," understood some English.
"Albanians love America," she said, explaining that the United States' financial support -- as well as support for the Albanian population in Kosovo during the recent conflict there -- had inspired many to think of America in near-worshipful terms.
Despite its economic woes and soaring emigration which has seen many Albanians abandon their homes for opportunities in Western Europe or the United States, Meise said that the country is itself making perceptible gains.
"The country is transitioning so rapidly," she said. "They actually installed traffic lights in the capital while I was there," though she added they stopped functioning soon afterwards.
Meise will travel to Washington D.C. next week to present her work in front of recent Fulbright recipients and others
Her interest in the Balkans began during her high school studies and on numerous trips to the region and to Europe as a whole, where she has visited more than 20 countries.
Earlier jobs at the U.S. Embassies in Macedonia and Madrid, at the U.S. Mission in Switzerland and at a Georgetown foreign study program in Prague paved the way for her trip to Albania, and may serve as the foundation for a career.
"The Fulbright helped me realize that combining my interests in international affairs and art is something that's important to me," said Meise, who said she may become involved with art antiquities law.
For now, however, Meise hopes her work will help people see another side of a country known as little more than a byword for corruption and backwardness.
"People have a lot of misconceptions about Albania," she said. "I hope I can give a more accurate picture."