My first thought when I started writing this article was how to combine a simple and useful guide to accompany travellers in their exploration of the biggest state in America- Texas. The Lone Star State, as many people call it, is the American proudest and friendliest state. This giant desert is home to 25 million people: a diversity of communities living under the same blistering sun by the motto “friendship”.

Ah, Barcelona! – Words that are often heard from people who had the opportunity to visit this city. Barcelona will literally take your breath away. You will want to go there again and again. As soon as you arrive in Barcelona, you will be pleasantly impressed by the beauty of the city, especially if you decide to have a walk during the day.

Students will often find an excuse not to dive into the adventure of studying abroad. “I don’t speak the language”, “I don’t know where to start”, “I can’t miss my boyfriend that long”, and the most used excuse: “I don’t have the money”. Think again, it’s all part of the experience.

This piece of writing is supposed to be one of the “How to…” guides that people, especially dummies or lazy bones, could use as the first steps to write their article and, possibly, have them published somewhere.Based on my experience as an editor, after several emotional eruptions, I decided to write something really easy, yet comprehensive, so that next time after you sit in front of your word- editing applications, you won’t make editors (that is, me) blow up.

Freedom of movement is one of the most common human right concepts. Poverty is another concept, mostly common amongst students. Combining these two is a basic skill of surviving in the academic society, and nowadays it‘s not so hard to do it. Cheap flights, bus, train and ferry tickets, carpooling, hostels and hospitality services on the internet are all part of it, but the most philosophical way of free movement is for sure hitchhiking.

As it turns out, this last “method” of presenting your country is probably the most popular one. It is nice to see how people easily remember the names of the drinks they tried during some previous training course. You can always hear someone asking the Polish guys, “Hey, have you brought Żubrówka?”, or somebody else secretly telling the Macedonians to save a bottle or two of Skopsko for them.

This is not a usual “what to do when in Madrid” guide. It is more of a “Madrid seen through the eyes of a Macedonian girl”. With my 10 points I’d like to comment on what amazed me in Madrid and how those amazing things differ from my home city. Also, if these things are taken into a consideration, they could be seen as points that Skopje still needs to work on, to live up to Madrid.

There are many people who came for the first time in Germany and were shocked by the price of the public transport tickets. Around 2.50 for a single ride is too much compared with the Macedonian standard, but on the contrary, if you just take a look of the taxi tariffs, you would be blessing Deutsche Bahn. Starting from 5 euros till nobody knows, to use taxi is a luxury in Germany. Even the businesspeople prefer to travel with First class in Deutsche Bahn rather than to travel by taxi for longer destinations.

In February 2010 I arrived from the Netherlands to Macedonia as an EVS volunteer. Before my arrival I didn’t know much about the country; in the meanwhile I realized I was not the only one considering the fact that I met people who didn’t know that Macedonia is a country at all. Since I discovered how beautiful and pleasant this country is I decided that it deserves some more attention. I would like to recommend it to everyone: visit Macedonia! To ensure that you will have the best of experiences, here are some of my personal advises.

If beer and the sausages were the first association, then football is definitely the second association of Germany. The Germans are proud of their football and are among the most loyal fans. Watching a football match ‘live’ in Germany can be an experience of a lifetime! It is not only about the match itself, it is about the good atmosphere whole day long, starting from singing fan songs in the trains from the early morning to partying during the night.