I wouldn’t have read this editorial a few years ago. Back then I wouldn’t read editorials, introductions, author’s notes... I was always too excited to jump straight into the article I wanted to read. Why should I read about the behind the scenes of the article? With time and experience, the world around us changes…
⭐Lea: Life in Skopje is so different. It is unpredictable. It is surprising. Sometimes taking all my willpower and strength. Still, so beautiful. The people, the cultures, the different ways of living. All the new things I get to do and see. It is changing me in ways I never expected, and I enjoy this…
While some celebrate New Year or Christmas a silent, eldritch species is threatening the world, the Woodcrawlers. They are not animals. They are tall, silent, and move wrong. They mimic voices and hide in plain sight, becoming part of the trees. The forest falls unnaturally quiet when they are near. When you go to the…
While traveling to a new place and starting a new life, a new job, building new relations, you will always be accompanied by one constant: things are going to change. Since my arrival in Macedonia, this is what I struggle with the most. I keep telling myself I want to discover as much as possible…
Hello and welcome to the November edition of VOICES, This month, we sadly say goodbye to two long-term volunteers at VCS. I’m Cassandre, also a long-termer, and watching volunteers leave is always bittersweet, especially Terry and Chloe, the last ones from when I first arrived. In this editorial, they share their final thoughts and reflections,…
I was certainly aware that the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), held in Skopje from July 20-26, would teach me something as an Olympic volunteer, but it went beyond my expectations. I spent the entire week at the venue with competitions in taekwondo, which allowed me to see a world I hadn't previously been aware…
In April, I was sitting on campus in Ankara, just thinking about summer internship plans. I had no idea that in just a few weeks, everything in my life would change. While browsing through the university’s programs, I came across a three-month volunteering opportunity in Skopje, Macedonia. At that moment, I realized that something important…
Hope is a dandelion – and a dandelion is it. The story of everything takes its course with the smallest, tiny-tiniest seed of it getting carried and carried away by the early summer breeze. Despite its completely inconspicuous looks, the slender seed possesses a secret super-power: It can take a hold even in the most…
Dawid: As my time in Skopje slowly nears the end, I find myself naturally becoming more reflective about my volunteering journey. Stumbling upon the opportunity, struggling to write an application, accidentally missing the interview (thanks to my poor judgement of time zones) and arriving at the airport, all of this seems like it happened a…
Dear reader, birds chirping on the trees, water rippling down the mountain, the wind is brushing through the trees and you feel the warmness of the sun shining on your face. Spring is starting and with it a new Voices edition full of inspiration and ideas. Spring for me is a time to reconnect with…
One year ago, in February 2024, I was at the Montpellier Caribbean Carnival, celebrating the start of Lent. Totally immersed in a Caribbean environment. Who could have predicted a year later that I wouldn't be able to go to the carnival because I'd literally be in ANOTHER COUNTRY? A country that is completely unknown to…
I remember when I got my first email with an invitation to write for VOICES. I was still at home, in Poland, impatiently waiting for my visa. Now I'm on the other side of the screen, a few published articles later. What about my home? Well, it's been 3 months since I started to call…
Sharing… What is sharing? Before I came to Macedonia I knew that one of the main tasks is writing Voices. It’s not my main hobby to write articles but when I found out the importance of writing I was thinking deeply about what sharing is. According to Cambridge dictionary, the definition is “to tell someone…
With April being the second month of spring, flowers start blooming and trees start turning green. Mother nature slowly but surely comes back to life as plant buds open. That’s also how the name of the month April came about, because in Latin ‘aperire’ means ‘to open’. April is the month of the birth of…
Welcome in January and the New Year! The name-giver for the first month of the year is the Roman god Janus. He is the God of all beginnings and endings, doorways, transitions, and time. With his two faces, he looks into the future and the past at the same time. In the beginning of the…
As another year is coming to an end many tend to have a look back on how we spent the time we were given this year. Sometimes it’s good to take a deep look at the beautiful and peculiar things that are there rather than things that are not. The things that can happen instead…
“In the summertime, when the weather is hot, you can reach right up and touch the sky” - Mungo Jerry Ahh summertime at last! Nice to see y’all again for this June edition. I can already see you all looking forward to take a dip in the pool or the sea, enjoying an ice cream…
Hey, it’s May! What do you think about May? Isn’t it a very special month? Did you know that no other month of a given year starts or ends on the same day of the week as May does? May is a month full of change. In May the climate changes, the society changes, our…
Ah, Spring! It finally feels like spring. We hear the birds,f eel the sun warming our faces, start to ditch the scarfs and boots…So much more daylight, so much more energy. Parks become the place to be – nobody wants to stay inside on days like these. Camping starts to sound good after months of…
Hello again, Greetings from downtown Skopje! Back in 2003, the talented composer Matthew Bellamy from Cambridge wrote “Our time is running out”. For this October edition, we invite you to think of the time in its wide meaning with us and our cross-border fellowship of writers. Angela brilliantly highlights the fascinating nature of seasons: familiar…