Learning Albanian

Well folks, I've decided to learn some Albanian before my departure. I mean, attempt to learn.

I shopped around on Amazon and settled on these:

1. Pimsleur 
          This software has been recommended to me before, so I decided to give it a try. Its focus is learning to speak through listening and repeating. It comes with five CDs, each with two 30-minute lessons. (10 lessons total.)
           I listened to Lesson One about a week ago, and all I can remember how to say is, "Are you Sonya Luarazi?" 
   
   PROS    
            The lessons are short and I can listen to them while cleaning my apartment. I also enjoy the listen-and-repeat method. 
   CONS
             I wish that the lessons would focus less on pronouncing random names. The first lesson alone had four made up names that they ask you to repeat, syllable-by-syllable. I would much rather learn common phrases in Lesson One, such as 'hello,' 'goodbye,' 'how are you,' etc.
2. Discovering Albanian Textbook
           I decided to try a more academic approach in addition to the simple Pimsleur method. This textbook was highly rated on Amazon and had the option of purchasing a workbook and audio supplements. It is made up of 18 lessons.
   PROS    
            It is very thorough. It gives me a lot to work with. 
   CONS
             Maybe I have just gotten lazy since graduating college, but it is difficult to pick up a dense Albanian textbook in my free time. I just need to buckle down and start studying.
3. Discovering Albanian Audio Supplement        After opening up the Discovering Albanian textbook when it arrived in the mail, I was intimidated. Each lesson contains at least one dialogue. As someone who knows ZERO Albanian, it was difficult to piece together the pronunciation of 20+ lines of dialogue. I immediately hopped on Amazon.com and purchased the Audio Supplement. This comes with two CDs with recordings of each dialogue in the textbook.

I will write an update on my progress in Albanian after I complete a few lessons. Mirupafshim! (That means goodbye!)