That Peace Corps 'THING'!: Macedonia

After our Tourism Meeting in Sofia, a group of volunteers and I headed to Skopje, Macedonia to continue our experience exchange with other Peace Corps Volunteers. On the ride to Skopje, I looked over my notes. I looked at what we had just learned, and what we had experienced at the tourism meeting in Sofia. We talked sporadically of what we liked about the conference, what we felt was most useful and how we can try to implement these things in our sites. It also got me excited to think of what the weekend held for more potential exchanges and that the possibility of the PCV’s in Macedonia experiencing similar struggles as well as possible partnerships.

We were all excited about meeting new(er) faces, being in a new(er) country and enjoying some familiar travels aka long bus rides. It took us about 7 hours (with a one hour stop at the boarder) to get into Skopje. We were beat. I was sitting next to a guy that I’m pretty sure thought he owned all 3 seats in the back of the bus. He kind of reminded me of this guy.

Anyways once we got into Skopje, our other Macedonian college picked us up and headed to the hostel. The weather was great and I had no idea, but Macedonia is an hour back than in Bulgaria. Plus that weekend was Daylight savings. Talk about confusing.

After a few beers, we were tired and hit the bed, we had to get up for the conference we had been patiently waiting for. Long story short, the conference was great. We learned a lot about each others’ respective country programs, where the trends were, what the plans for future involvement are and future collaboration. After that, we went and had some Mexican…don’t judge.

We then had the opportunity to walk around Skopje and take in all the sites. We saw the Turkish Pazar and Old town, The Fortress, Mother Teresa’s Birthplace, and The Old Stone Bridge. All in all a great trip! Pictures in order!