It is great to be back in Prilep. For the past week, I was in Bitola working on
a few projects for Peace Corps and AIESEC.
Bitola is not that far away from Prilep (only a 45 minute bus ride), and
as I mentioned before, to me it is the most beautiful city in Macedonia. But a week away from home, from my daily
habits, from my host family, and so forth ate away at me over time.
Last Saturday, I helped the other Peace Corps volunteers
organize the regional rounds of the Spelling Bee at the American corner. Kids came from all over Pelegonija to compete
for a spot at the National Competition in Skopje. Personally, I object to spelling bees,
because in my opinion there are other skills that deserve more attention (math,
vocabulary, foreign languages, etc) than spelling. However, it was fun to see the students
compete and to see all of the happy faces of those who passed to the next
round.
Through the remainder of the week, I was busy promoting
AIESEC’s internships and volunteer opportunities. While Prilep is home to the Economics
faculty, the main university is located in Bitola where the other faculties,
including Law, Nutrition, Humanities, and Technical and Engineering, are
located. Each day I would visit each
faculty with our stand, flyers, and Letovo Sakam frame to promote AIESEC. The purpose of the creative twist behind this
campaign is pretty simple- we encourage students to take a picture with the
frame, and after we ask for their name and a country to which they would like
to travel this summer. From there, we
post the picture on our Facebook fan pages, tag the student, and thus gain
extended promotion for our internship opportunities. I have posted a picture of our LC president,
Megi, and another member below.
Yesterday, Megi and I went to the radio in Bitola to record
an interview (between her and me) that will air this Monday. One of the questions she asked me was, “Where
do YOU want to go this summer?” Since I
have been concentrating so much on work over the past month, I have not really
looked forward to the summer months too much.
Now that classes have concluded at the Economics faculty in Prilep, and
as our promotional campaign wraps up, I am starting to consider the goals I
would like to accomplish through my first summer in Macedonia.
Now, I do not have any plans to travel internationally this
summer, at least until the end half of August. But during a conversation with my language
tutor, I realized that since my visit to Struga and Vevcani on the weekend of
my birthday, I have not traveled to any cities in Macedonia outside of Skopje,
Bitola, and Ohrid. So, this summer I
want to visit some of the amazing sites throughout all of Macedonia in order to
truly appreciate again the beauty of this country. I am providing a list of
things I would like to do before the summer ends (pictures below taken
from http://www.macedonia-timeless.com).
1. Climb to Treskavec Monastery
(near Prilep)
2. Hike to Lake Matka near Skopje
3. Swim in Lake Ohrid
4. Visit Krushevo
5. Hike Mount Pelister (near Bitola)
6. Visit the waterfalls near Strumica
7. Go camping in Mavrovo
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