Sara Stratoberdha

SFS ’15
Age: 21
Hometown: Rhode Island and Albania
Major: International Economics

Can you tell me a little bit about where you’re from? How similar would you say it is to Georgetown? 
Rhode Island and also Albania. Coming from Albania, it’s very different.

Do you remember it at all? You emigrated when you were pretty young
I do. Unfortunately, the things that I remember — because Albania was just coming out of communism and the reason we fled was because politically it was very unstable. We lived in the capital city of Tirana, right in the center, and that’s where all of the commotion was going on. There were a lot of rebel groups because the government was kind of up in the air at this point, so it was like, who’s going to take over, what different parties? I remember gunshots and things like that, and that, unfortunately, is how I remember that aspect. But what I love most about my country, what I miss so much, is obviously being with family. Everyone lived in the city, uncles, cousins and aunts, and everyone is still back there, so that really tight-knit community is what I found in my high school in Rhode Island, which I really liked. It’s a small school, and by the end of four years everybody got to be so close. Even though Georgetown’s obviously a lot bigger, that’s what I appreciate so much about it — that you have so many different people. Like me, for example, coming from a totally different country and the fact that Georgetown has given me the opportunity to have this great education; I’m so grateful for that, I really feel so lucky about that. Like I said, it is a tight-knit community in the sense that you can feel, even with people you don’t really know, that you meet for one day and you chat with them, a connection with them. You’re like: “OK. We’re both from Georgetown. We both have totally different paths, but we all come together here.” We can all get along, and everyone has different opinions and different backgrounds, but the fact that we all come together at this school and we all get along, that’s great.

You haven’t gotten the chance to go back to Albania, right?
I’ve been back twice, but it’s very expensive to go back. All my family’s there; we constantly talk on the phone with them. My dad’s been back a few more times, but I definitely in the future hope to go more often, whenever I can get the chance, though.

What do you do on campus?
Well, unfortunately, I’d like to say I do more, but I really don’t. Like I said, coming from this position and having this great opportunity I’ve never taken lightly, being here at Georgetown, I tried to do the best that I can at school so I can have the best opportunities in front of me, which, fortunately, I have an internship now and everything. I also do random stuff like intramural basketball — just try to do as well as I can in school while also taking advantage of the city, of D.C.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
I went abroad this last semester — I went to Madrid — and it was one of the most difficult things because I knew I would love the culture and the people and the food. Obviously it was fantastic, but it was definitely tough to be out of my comfort zone. It was definitely tough to throw myself into a school where I took all classes in Spanish, taking economics and literature classes in Spanish. I was kind of saying, “What am I doing?” That was definitely one of the most challenging things: to just throw myself in there and say: “OK. I don’t know where this is going to end up, I don’t know how this is going to turn out, but I’m hoping for the best.” I wanted to throw myself completely into the culture and try to make Spanish friends and definitely establish the language even better. That turned out better than I hope for; I loved it. 

What’s the biggest change you’ve consciously made in your life?
I guess a big change has been coming to identify myself as Albanian and also as American — really identifying wholly as both. Having lived most of my young life in Albania and always having, you know, speaking the language at home, I guess finally coming to the point where I identify myself as an American Albanian. It may seem like a small distinction, but in terms of tradition and culture and understanding that maybe we wouldn’t do things that way in Albania, but I like that here — just kind of coming to terms with that. My parents have always been great; we’ve always spoken the language at home, but in terms of becoming American, they’ve never held me back from that. It’s been a family effort, like let’s start celebrating Thanksgiving, because that didn’t exist in Albania, you know? Just little things like that that make me feel wholly part of two cultures. And I think being at Georgetown, too, has really helped me identify with that.

What are your plans after Georgetown? You talked a little bit about your internship; what are you going to be doing?
I probably would have done a year abroad, to be honest, but I wanted to come back so I could be here for recruiting, and even though I’m in the SFS, I’m interested in finance and business. I applied for a lot of positions—banking, finance, things like that—and I was lucky enough to get an internship with Credit Suisse this summer in investment banking. I’m really excited and just really grateful and lucky to have that opportunity. I’m going to be in New York this summer in Manhattan. I know it’s going to be tough, I know investment banking isn’t a breeze, but I’m really excited. Hopefully, if I do well in that this summer, I’m looking to get an offer for a full-time position as an analyst. I know the gig is that people usually do that for two years, then go into something else after that, but just the fact that I’ll get that opportunity and get that door opened is amazing. So hopefully that’s what I’ll be doing in the future.

Interview by Hanaa Khadraoui