To be a European volunteer in Prilep: To start an adventure

Bérénice, Tomas and Rosario are three EVS-volunteers, from France, Portugal and Spain. Now, they live in Prilep, helping in the program services of Youth Information and Counseling Center-INFO SEGA and Coalition SEGA.

Bérénice arrived on January 16. Her trip was an adventure, because when she was traveling to Belgrade, her flight from Paris arrived too late and she missed her second flight to Skopje. Then, she had to sleep in a hostel, having only 24 hours to visit Belgrade. She is from Britanny, on the west-coast of France. When Bérénice arrived, she thought that it was really cold. “I didn´t expect that it will be snowing so much”. After, she took the bus to Prilep and met a guy who traveled a lot, as well as two macedonian girls. “They were very nice to me, because they helped me when I arrived in Skopje. Eveything was really hard to understand because it was cirilic alphabet, and I know nothing about it”, says Bérenice. When she arrived in Prilep, she liked seeing mountains and beautiful landscapes. For her, “everything seems cheap here compared to France”.

To be helpful

Before her arrival, Bérénice didn´t know much about Macedonia. Now, she wants to know more about the country, Macedonian culture, language and people. About the EVS, she wants to help others: “I can teach French, I can share my experiences like for example being an au pair in United Kingdom. I think this experience will help me grow.I will see with time what will happen and I am looking forward to learning more about this place”, says the french girl.

Tomas is from Algueirão, a suburban neighborhood near Lisbon. He arrived to Macedonia on 20th of January. “It was already late and it was quite foggy, leading me to see a much more dark and dreary Skopje than it actually is”, Tomas says. He arrived to Prilep the next day and he got off the bus in the old bus station instead of the new one. He thought that it was a very run down station for a city of about 77,000. Tomas is about to graduate his Master’s, thus he had an opportunity to take some time and do something that might help others, like EVS.

Tomas hopes to experience as much as he can, but he is fearful that due to his lack of knowledge of Macedonian, the limited ability to communicate with people will prevent him from making any significant difference.

Rosario arrived in Macedonia in December. Her flight was delayed and she had to sleep in a hostel in Skopje, because she missed the last bus to Prilep. She is from Sevilla, of southern Spain. She says that the trip started like an adventure. Before travelling, she read information about the people here. “I heard that the people here are very friendly. I can say now that it's true, they recieved me very well”. On the other hand, the first days are strange because everything is new, in a foreign country, you have to learn everything, everyday. Perhaps that is rewarding for her.

Macedonians know more about Spain than she thought. In general, people love Spain, most of them hadnt traveled to Spain, but they imagine it as a nice country. It is very interesting that a lot of people can understand some words in spanish, from the novels from South America. In addition, some people want to learn spanish.

 Enriching experience

Rosario thinks that an EVS is an opportunity for everyone because it is an enriching experience : “You can work in another country, where you can be useful. Most of the time, you recieve more than you give. You learn life skills”, she says.

Rosario didn´t know anything about Macedonia before this proyect.  She  simply followed her intuition and she is here now. The weather is hard for her, but “I will survive”, she jokes. The spanish girl has met other volunteers during her time here, most of them Americans. Meeting them is one of the best things she ecperienced, yet. The adventure yet awaits.