Last weekend may have been the most bizarre, surreal, exhilarating 48 hours of my life.

Giving my speech, “Becoming A Citizen of the World”

TEDx Tirana was an incredible experience thanks to lots of hard work by all the terrific speakers and staff. Earlier that week, I had started to get really nervous about my speech–and by “got nervous” I mean I experienced a series of minor mental breakdowns–but after a comfortable rehearsal on Friday afternoon, I was on cloud nine. Giving the speech itself was a lot of fun and people had really nice things to say afterward. I also had the opportunity to meet some really impressive people, both my fellow speakers (including the former first Lady of Albania, architects, artists, CEOs, doctors, fellow expats, etc.) and those who attended the event. However, it wouldn’t’ve been the same if I hadn’t had some awesome friends attend with me…