Goce Grozdanov went to Cluj-Napoca, Romania for an 8-month EVS project.  Since Cluj-Napoca is the European Youth Capital in 2015, his project will include activities planned and organized in the framework of this strategy. Goce shared with us his first impressions in an interview.

What motivated you to decide to go for an EVS to Romania?

In the start – the pure adventure spirit and the curiosity. As a bit unknown place for me, Romania had a sound of a new, unexplored territory and a new challenge for me.

What were your expectations prior to starting your EVS? Are they being fulfilled?

To be honest, I didn’t have high expectations prior to the start of the EVS in Romania because of my previous short-term EVS volunteering in Sofia, Bulgaria which didn’t impress me much. So, after coming here I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how different it is in Romania and I can say I’m pretty satisfied with how things are done here.

Cluj-Napoca is a student city which offers a rich cultural life. What do you like the most about it?

Definetely the bars. All those alternative, artistic places where you can meet all kinds of people from around the world or within Romania. Almost everybody speaks English and people are open, talkative and quite diverse. Besides that you can find many concerts, events, movements or museums that show Cluj as a cultural pearl. And you don’t need a lot of money to experience all of it.

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What kind of activities is your host organisation providing?

As a newcomer I’m still not introduced into all of the project activities that we will work on. Some of the activities that I participated include the intercultural evenings that give insight and presentations about different countries with their specific food, drinks and customs, or the movie night with the educational movies that provoke discussions for change into society.

Did you spot the cultural differences between your country and Romania?

For me it was easier to spot the cultural similarities between Macedonia and Romania in the sense of similar food, words or cultural and religious habbits.

How do you spend your free time?

Exploring, adventuring around. This area has a lot to offer. We’ve done some trips to abandoned castles, to lakes or different cities or simply exploring Cluj every way. Restaurants, bars, food and especially people who are interesting enough to write stories about. Random meetings with unique people all over the place.