It took me some time to start this article since a lot of things are going on at the moment: work, social activities, deadlines, recharging myself, and alone time, just to name a few. However, I think it’s never too late (deadlines beg to differ).

This is the last week of my program in Bitola, and I think it’s time to express myself and share the wholesome experience that I’ve had in North Macedonia.

My name is Nemanja. I come from Belgrade, Serbia, to experience and learn more about other cultures and nations. I feel like this is also not important, because it can create both positive and negative stereotypes and prejudices, and the majority of them usually have nothing to do with me. Now, I know that Serbia and North Macedonia are not that different, based on what we know and what the media is telling us, but trust me, they are. Stepping out of your comfort zone means really stepping it up. Well, I didn’t feel that deep this time. I mean, going away for two months and leaving your family, friends, and city is a big step; however, the cold streets of Bitola with their warm-hearted people are an additional delicious spread throughout this journey. Friendships I’d made before my program made this activity a lot easier. For someone coming from the North, famous for being introverted, cold, and not so social, meeting overly hospitable and helpful people from Macedonia is a perfect blend that you can experience as a young person abroad.

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I will be able to change.

Carl Rogers, an American psychiatrist,

I am a professor with a degree locally, and a youth worker internationally and regionally, and I did my master’s abroad. Why is this important to me? It means I travel most of the time, and the whole world is so far from my home address. This is a huge deal for me because it was a way for me to develop my skills and competencies, as well as a tool for me to discover my identity and who I am as a global citizen. With all of this unusual and not-so-common experience and job, it has been both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because not many people are able or fortunate enough to do youth work, but it is also a curse because it can be lonely at times. But you learn over time to be alone, but not lonely because it seems that this is my call.

My alone feels so good, I’ll only have you if you’re sweeter than solitude

– Warsan Shire – British/ Somali poet –

I remember that one of the reasons that I had applied for the RouteWB6 program was a different topic. I’ve felt really at ease, familiar, and knowledgeable about a topic near and dear to my heart: social inclusion, which includes tolerance, discrimination, and the general involvement of disadvantaged youth, a feeling we’ve all had at some point in our lives. This time I decided to go for the environmental issues. What I am learning here about it, which is now my everlasting opinion, is that I have been selfish, thinking at one point in my life that this is not as important as the personal issues and social anxiety we are experiencing from time to time. I was somehow right; it’s not a personal issue; it’s everyone’s issue.

There was never a night or a problem that could defeat the sunrise or hope.  –Bernard Williams, British Philosopher-

I did have a chance to do “my own thing” as an open-space method for one of the activities. However, the atmosphere was different and newer when I ran the “green activism” workshop with the youngsters. The participants shared how they actually already did green activism on their own in school, on the streets, and in their own communities, which was awesome to hear about and even more spectacular to see young souls fighting for the earth.

In the long run, we should advise one another to seize the opportunities, days, and years that we have already been fortunate enough to enrol in and be engaged in this kind of program that the world is offering to us. We need to accept it. But really accept it as our own thing—the road, the journey, the change.

Did it take you long to find me? You’re here now, welcome home.”

– Warsan Shire – British/ Somali poet –