Reporting live from Martha’s Vineyard

By Alba Cela
Every morning, Eni and Jona take the 8.45 am bus from their house outside of town, in a wooded area, to the nearest town on Martha’s Vineyard where they both work in a clothing store. It’s a sunny day and they already know their shop will be full of tourists and potential buyers. They will be ringing up sales, restacking the shelves and making sure the shop looks great all day. “It is just another long working week in Martha’s Vineyard”- they both laugh while the bus stops and an international crowd of student workers get off the bus and go down the street all going off to work. Both Eni and Jona are Albanian young women and students at the American University in Bulgaria, majoring in Business Administration. They are in the United States just for the summer season, to work at summer jobs on Martha’s Vineyard.
Mention Martha’s Vineyard and many Americans will sigh in awe recollecting this summer resort and celebrity hangout located east of Boston, just a 45 minute ferry ride from Cape Cod. But to many Eastern Europeans this does not say anything. Who are the exception? The hundreds of college students who fly in here every year to help fill the many seasonal job positions, with the hope of earning their tuition money. The island itself is not very representative of the States. It is home to the summer houses of some of the richest people in the country, the nature is beautiful and well preserved, the landscape features big ponds, woods and spectacular cliffs that drop down to the ocean. It has five towns, some of which were established as early as the 17th century. Each town has its own characteristic nature and offers diverse activities and sightseeing delights to its visitors. Martha’s Vineyard population increases tenfold during the summer with thousands of tourists pouring into the hotels, shops and restaurants located in the island’s five small towns. That gives rise to a huge demand for labor in food industry, retail sales positions and transportation industry.
Polish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Moldovan and Albanian young students join the thousands of Brazilian, Jamaican and Mexican workers every summer that satisfy the labor demand created by the resort’s main industry: tourism. For many years now Bulgarian boys and girls have worked as bus drivers for the Vineyard Transit Authority that operates buses all over the island year round. Albanian guys tend to prefer construction as it pays slightly better. Girls usually seek positions in retail, coffee shops and hotels.
For the Albanians, it began in 2004 when one college student at the American University in Bulgaria found a job through the internet for her and her friends on this island that nobody had been to before. Apparently charmed by the island, they shared their first experience and the next summer more students came – then it took off.
Albanian students at the American University in Bulgaria had used the Work and Travel agencies in their host country to participate in exchange programs for years. These agencies sponsor J1 visas, necessary to work in the USA for a limited time. Every year students from all over the world apply and most of them are allowed to work throughout the United States. Albanian students recount experiences from exotic sites as far away as California and Alaska. Nevertheless, Cape Cod (Massachusetts), a peninsula near Boston that thrives on tourism as well, is as near as they had ever gotten to the island called Martha’s Vineyard.
This year there are approximately 40 Albanian students working on the island. Some of them are returning to their old jobs and for some others it is their first time. The latter are eager to get the advice of the returning students and envious of their previous connections but in general students help each other out with getting housing and finding jobs. Most people work two jobs and their days are exhaustive. Sometimes American students are paid more, sometimes they get better positions within certain companies or shops, but generally the businesses in the island have fair and non-discriminative methods of payment. “It is not uncommon for the owners of a business to trust a foreign student with the entire management of a store” says Katia, a Bulgarian girl who technically supervises her Albanian and Bulgarian friends in the shop.
The islanders are by now well accustomed to the foreign students that work here in the summer. Richard, a manager who regularly depends on foreign young women students to operate his store, says that he considers “international students indispensable for the smooth operation of all the industries that depend on tourism.” Many students go back each year to the same job and have established a regular relationship with their employers.
As far as their social life goes, the students have one of their own but frequently socialize with the locals as well. They organize parties in the houses they rent for the summer which are often located near the towns. Birthdays and good-bye gatherings are times when the students meet their friends whom they frequently don’t see for weeks. Unusual as it seems for a small island, this is not surprising given their packed schedules. The parties take place always late at night when everyone is finished with work.
This year, on July 9th, the Albanian community in the island gathered to see the World Cup final, and drank Birra Tirana. “This exported beer is probably one of the few items you can find in the States from home”, says Baggy, a boy from Shkodra, for whom this is the second time working on the island for a liquor store. His friends ordered the beer in advance to have it ready for the event. The expats cheered on Italy in a free break between jobs, something they had scheduled long before so as not to miss the major soccer event of the year. “The European love of soccer will never fade away wherever we are.” said Andi, an ardent fan wearing a Italy T-shirt. “As far as American sports go I really don’t understand what is so exciting about baseball.” Cultural differences are many but the students slowly but easily adapt to every unknown thing that surrounds them. A good command of English and an open attitude are all that it takes. They feel very comfortable having both these assets under their belt.
Martha’s Vineyard has been a different learning experience for everyone. Whether it has been an improvement in their English language skills, an introduction to the world of business, the discovery of a certain talent or even the occasion to make friends and acquaintances or a combination of all the above, the summer on the island has offered everyone something valuable to take home. Most importantly it has helped to pay for their education, which hopefully will elevate them to better and different jobs in their future.