By Panajota Gushkova (YES 2015-2016, Macedonia, hosted by AFS in Marietta, OH)

All of us YES alumni share one thing in common: we are all astonished by the experiences we had during our exchange year: the people we met, the places we traveled, the food we ate, the classes we took... It is, indeed, an amazing, life-changing, fun-filled, joyful experience, and we all speak very fondly of it. But I want to take a moment to talk about what happens next; what happens when you come home?

I came back to Macedonia in June 2016. I finished my junior year in the U.S. and was to continue my education at my old high school in Kochani. My initial reaction to becoming an alumna was one of confusion. I remember thinking, “I just finished the most incredible year of my life… and, now what?” The adjustment process was a challenge. I had overwhelming feelings of nostalgia, for I fell so deeply in love with “my America”  it felt like I had lost a part of myself at the DC airport. The re-entry seminar organized by American Councils to help us with readjustment after our YES year relieved some of my worries, but it was a few months into my adjustment that I promised myself that, with small steps, I would try to create a better reality here, in Macedonia, instead of longing for one.

I organized a flower planting project with an elementary school in my hometown. I attended the IDEAL Workshop for YES and FLEX alumni in Montenegro and learned strategies for combating corruption and organizing community projects. I gave an anti-corruption presentation to my university colleagues. I participated in projects organized by my fellow alumni that inspired me and gave me more ideas. Then, in August 2018, I applied to be a volunteer YES Alumni City Representative and was selected, along with five other alumni. As a City Representative, I will be responsible for further developing the alumni community in my city and the surrounding region, managing and monitoring activities, managing and tracking a quarterly budget, organizing alumni meetings, and reporting on alumni activities.

On September 24-25, my fellow City Representatives and I attended an intensive training in Mavrovo, where Alumni Coordinator Bojan Aleksovski (YES 2013-2014, hosted by AFS in Chelmsford, MA) guided our team through the structure, goals, plans, procedures, and professional duties associated with our roles. By the end of the training, we had developed a full program plan for the coming year!

Here I am, two years after my exchange year and more motivated than ever to improve my surroundings and empower others with my work. Since starting my term as City Representative on October 1, I have organized an International Day of the Elderly event in Skopje and a Mental Health Awareness Workshop in Kochani, and I am currently organizing a Halloween Party at the American Corner in Skopje, a cooking event with Macedonia’s YES Abroad students, two workshops and one presentation at the American Corners in Skopje and Shtip, and a few social media projects. And that is all just for October! I have abundant ideas for the months coming, which I will realize together with my City Representatives team and other alumni. I am immensely grateful for having become a member of such a committed team.

To think setting foot back home was the end of an amazing experiences was a complete misapprehension; quite to the contrary, my return was just the beginning. No, it does not end here, it just starts here!