Daily report "Day 1"

Macedonian group, day 1

It was a hot summer afternoon on the 14^th of July when a big group of people (around 40) arrived in Struga, with smiles on their faces and eager to get to know each other. Those people were the participants of the “Sending Hope” project, held near the Ohrid Lake in Struga from 14^th-22^nd of July. Although tired, because some of them traveled more than 30 hours, the young participants couldn’t hide their first impressions of the surroundings where this exchange will take place.  With around 30 degrees during the day, and around 20 during the night, the climate was just perfect for the Youth in Action Program to take it’s practical form.

         After the accommodation and the first meal in the hotel, the participants began with the informal communication and getting to know each other. The overall atmosphere was highly positive and you could easily hear loud laughter from every direction, and more often lines like “I’m getting another drink”. So it was in that kind of relaxed atmosphere when the Macedonian team, which had the task to write short report of the day, started to make few short interviews with some of the foreign participants. We picked three people ( Paul from Lithuania, Asya from Turkey and Semih from Turkey) and ask them some basic questions. Their answers were very similar, expressing their satisfaction with the surrounding scenery and mostly the presence of the beautiful lake so near the hotel. Their expectations were mainly to have fun, meet new interesting people, have a lot of laughs and memorable moments, and from how it all began, we can say for sure that all of their expectations will be met and even raised to higher levels. Our interviewees were also eager to have the Welcome evening, which was about to begin at 9:00 pm, starting formally the exchange, as it was the first task on the time table. So, with a little delay and a little “sorry that I’m late” from our host Bosko Nelkoski, the exchange officially began at 9:15 pm with small introductions game. Then we took a detailed look at the time table, for which there were no suggestions, and then Bosko announced that the “mini bar” was opened and everyone was welcome to have some drink and share a few laughs. Also, our host reminded the participants that they must be on time at 10am on the second day, to continue with the tasks of the time table.

                The evening went silent few hours afterwards, when almost everybody got to know each other, and most of the youngsters were too tired to go on. And that’s how the first day of the “Sending Hope” project went J