Why do people go abroad? Is a question with many answers. While being in Macedonia one would meet a lot of people who have lived, worked or studied abroad. This is a Macedonian couple story who will go study and explore across the world  in Australia.

Angela (21) and Filip (20) are a young Macedonian couple who are taking a journey to Sydney, Australia. Angela is originally from Skopje and finished a local high school for economy and continued on her studies  in Faculty of Economics, which she will be in her third year. She has big love for nail art, makeup and fashion. It all started when she was around 15 years old and she got interested in nail decorations and after that makeup and fashion just came along. In the future she is hoping to open her own beauty salon. Filip is also from Skopje and finished the same high school as Angela, by now one would know where these two met. Filip puts a lot of his energy into a healthy lifestyle. He goes to gym everyday, as it is his hobby and job. He is a personal trainer for fitness and health. He is also a swimming instructor in a Local swimming club. In future he hopes to continue being a personal trainer and gain more knowledge on the subject. This is also the reason for going to Australia.

Few  months ago Filip was looking for study opportunities in physical education and found nothing suitable in Macedonia. Because of that he started searching for options abroad. At one point he came across a school in Australia and felt that this would be a good option. He saw that not only was it the right studies for his interests, but also the quality of the school was very good. There was only one problem to study abroad your English levels need to be quite high and he did not feel that he would be able to understand everything, if he would apply. But as all good things do he had a plan to fix it. After He consulted with the school and the agency, the best option seemed to be applying to go study English first, to gain the confidence and level in the language that is required. And then after that look for and opportunity for physical education studies.

Looking back Filip said that the visa procedure was extremely smooth (shout out to Bridge blue agency) as everything work out quickly. Since he is going to study, he applied for study visa which is valid for 7 months. As Filip decided to apply for studying in Sydney, Angela decided to apply for 3 month tourist visa. It seemed like a nice idea since she has a lot of friends and family who already live  there. Interestingly enough the cousins who live there recently visited her and invited her to come visit. Seemingly, the timing is rather perfect, so she made the decision to go fast. Because it would mean that she can support Filip in he’s adaptation period and also visit her family and friends abroad. Both of them agreed that being abroad for a longer time might be hard at first since they feel that every country is a bit different and at first there might be a bit of a culture shock. But they also agreed that Macedonia is very multicultural country and because of that they feel that they will adapt just fine. For example they studied in High School with Macedonians, Albanians, Turkish and Roma children. They even mentioned that sometimes they feel like tourists in Macedonia since there are areas in the country that are mainly inhabited by other ethnicities.

As for the future Filip and Angela feel that right now they are really focusing on getting a good education. Hoping that in that way they will have a better opportunities in future to get a good job and fulfill their dreams. Because of that they have also got a lot of support from their parents, who in Filip case have encouraged him in his journey to go study abroad. Filip Dad thinks he is extremely lucky to have a chance to go study abroad. Back in a day it use to be way harder to get such an opportunity.

In a way it is really important to have some type of support while deciding to go abroad weather it is for studies, work, travel etc. because often while traveling or living abroad at one point people find themselves out of place or in other words in a culture shock. Depending on a person it can last a week or a month, until then it’s rather nice to have someone to talk, who understands where You come from. But even though in life there might come some obstacles to tackle one should never stop exploring. As this is what makes life so interesting.

Ann Aro