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SpunOut.ie Blog
A taste of Macedonia
Blog: SpunOut.ie Youth Editor, Marie Duffy reports back from travels with the European Youth Press.
I recently attended a training week in Macedonia, organised by the European Youth Press. I’m ashamed to say that before the trip I knew nothing about the country – it is in the Balkans in Eastern Europe, just above Greece and was formally part of Yugoslavia.
Macedonia is relatively poor by Irish standards and is currently attempting to join the European Union, but the capital Skopje, is on its way to becoming a vibrant and energetic European city. I was surprised as to how trendy the city is. Its bars, restaurants and nightclubs could rival many Irish establishments, while everything is dirt cheap! 100 Denar is the equivalent of 1 euro and to put things in perspective a 2-course meal for 4 people including drinks all came to less than €20. My idea of heaven.
The Macedonian people pride themselves on their food and one of their unwritten rules is that food must be cheap and of the highest quality. In the whole city there is only one fast food restaurant -McDonalds, which struggles to compete with the more popular bakeries. (Hah to corporate takeover!)
A visit to a Macedonian bakery is a must. A croissant is around 10 Denar; their specialty pastry pies filled with everything from cheese to chocolate are about 20 Denar. Unlike us Irish who visit the chippy after a night out, the Macedonians visit the bakery. If someone was to start up a Macedonian bakery in Ireland I have no doubt they would make a fortune.
I was pretty naive to think that the country would be backward because it had only declared independence in the 1990’s. It’s true that it may not be as modernised as western Europe and the country is quite poor, but I have no doubt that in a few years Macedonia will be a tourist destination. I was completely shocked when I discovered that it is the world’s first wireless internet country!
The other people on the course, who were from all over Europe, actually laughed when I told them that I still used dial-up at home because broadband wasn’t available. They haven’t used dial-up for years. Although the country has wireless internet, the majority of the people are too poor to afford it. The American government provided the funding for the wireless internet and one must question this good-will gesture. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that they use the country as a stopover for Iraq and are heavily investing in the country’s infrastructure with the hope of setting up companies there.
20 people from all over Europe attended the European Youth Press course. Myself and Jessica (also on the SpunOut.ie Youth Board) attended from Ireland. Other countries represented included Macedonia, Poland, France, Denmark, Romania, Russia, UK, Belgium, Lithuania, Portugal and Finland.
Meeting with other young media makers was inspirational, especially when we learned that most European countries have a youth press established. Having made links and friendships with these people, I hope to learn from their experiences of working in the media.
Most of all I learned so much about other nationalities. I think that if more young Irish people had the chance to attend events like these, there would be less racism in Ireland. Perhaps the reason that much of Ireland’s racism exists is because of communication difficulties. It had been a long time since I have had so much fun and learned so much about other European cultures. There is actually little difference between us all!
By: Marie Duffy
