Hello, I’m Furkan from Turkey. This EVS project is my first experience abroad! I hope it will be an amazing experience.

Let’s begin…

When I arrived at the Skopje Airport, I was surprised upon hearing this interesting language, reading the Cyrillic alphabet, seeing stylish clothes, feeling the cool weather… There are so many differences.

One important change for me is speaking English! I have never spoken English in my country, so now I really need to practice for my survival. Also, I am in a country where I don’t know anyone except my future colleagues!

I can’t connect to the airport Wi-Fi to tell everyone I am here, but I have to get to the Skopje bus station. I remember that Milcho (the President of my organization) informed me how to transfer from the airport to the bus station in Skopje, so I checked the email and found the bus.

But I had another problem—I didn’t know where I had to get off the bus! Thankfully, the driver was announcing locations in English, and I got off when I heard him say the Skopje bus station. I bought a ticket to Bitola.

I wanted to update Milcho, but I didn’t have an internet connection! I looked around and saw a young guy with his phone. I asked him to share his wi-fi with me, and he was such a polite person and shared it. I finally sent a message to Milcho to come pick me up, or I would not survive waiting in these cold streets!

I didn’t know where to get off the bus in Bitola because I didn’t know what the city looked like! Again, I asked someone, and he said, “I will get off in Bitola too, and I will tell you when we arrive.”

So I was really curious to see Bitola! I was looking around; we were moving between the mountains. For a long time, we have traveled between the mountains. I started to think this country just has mountains! Where are the cities? After one hour, I saw buildings, so I was happy to see there were some cities too.

Finally, we arrived in Bitola! I am looking around and wondering, so… where is Milcho? I started thinking about what I could do.

I saw a young guy, and he helped me call Milcho, who said that I was in the wrong place! Not the bus station; I was at the stop before the station!

But this was not a problem. I was happy to meet Milcho and have this part of my journey begin! We got to the SFERA house, and I rested after this long trip.

In the next 2 days, we had a vacation for Christmas, and I had time to go around and meet people with my Turkish friend, a volunteer in the SFERA organization. She took me to a café to eat and meet some people. I am really shocked by the friendliness of the Macedonian people. They don’t want to trick you, and they always help you if you need it. The people make you feel as safe as if you were in your own home.

Bitola is quite a small town too. I have never lived in such a small town; I am used to living in a big metropolis in Turkey.

One amazing thing for me is that when you are crossing the street, drivers stop and let you pass! This really surprised me because it’s not the same in my country— people often get injured by cars when crossing. It makes me happy to see drivers having more respect for pedestrians.

Overall, these friendly Macedonian people make me feel really good. The country may be poor, but the humans are rich with friendship and warm hearts.