Before technology came along, in the earlier years daily life was different as contemporary lifestyles have created a different way of life. Throughout every summer, my two older brothers; Artan, Adrian, and I would always spend our vacations at our grandma’s house in Korca.

Every time we entered the pathway to the house’s entrance, we all became excited as our emotions were evoked reminding us of our previously spend vacations.

Whenever we first arrived, we placed all our belongings in a designated area, knowing we only had a room for the three of us to share. After taking about half an hour to settle in, we then would either help around the house or go out into the nearby woods. When it came to doing the chores, I would always be the least fortunate due to how I was the youngest and apart from some small amounts of tolerance, I would always be forced and pushed into helping around. Due to how I was a child, the excitement of playing a rough game of football tempted me throughout the day. I would hear the screams of joy whenever a team scored a goal or the argumentative conversation as one team lost.

“Rematch! That was a foul!” screamed the opposing team as they all played an intense game of football in the neighborhood streets, while my brothers and I were sitting home, helping around the house.

As the day progressed, my brother Artan and I had finally finished our tasks and were given permission to go out and meet up with the rest of the kids who were still out playing soccer. As our eldest brother, Adrian, stayed home, we continued out the pathway into our neighborhood, looking for excitement. We quickly played a single game of football until the time we realized that we wanted to do something more than have a repetitive match every half an hour. As we parted ways from the other kids, leaving them to continue with their tournament, we decided to go out for a walk in the woods. As we first walked in, we were able to unearth dozens of wild fruits, pinpoint a variety of wild animals, and even cast stones towards a nearby stream. As time passed, the sky became darker as it welcomed the afternoon. Since we had been working all day, and we had only eaten a simple loaf of bread, we picked up a handful of savory fruits from occasional stops and decided to take a small break. We had found a quiet area where there was more space than there was in the rest of the dense, tree filled forest. We than sat down and had a nice chat, enjoying a tactical game of cards known as Mulan. The night became darker, the stars were now shining, and the cold breeze hit against our skin making chills run through our bodies, hinting that it was time for us to head back home.

As our time spend in Korca wasn’t enough, we spend most of our days with simple activities such as football matches, going into the woods, and even going for a swim in nearby streams. My brothers and I always enjoyed our time here as now times have changed, making it harder to go through those experiences again. As we are now getting older, we look back at these times, filling us with warm memories and wonderful experiences without ever forgetting a single detail.