Lviv it | October'14

It has been a while, or at least it feels like this. I traveled a lot those days, but it somehow goes right through the fingers when it comes to writing things down; the beauty is in the process, you know, and sharing adventures and memories can sometimes hurt a lot. I epically failed the story about my trip to Bialystok in the middle of September (although, of course, I will never fail to remember), as well as the journey from Belarus to Italy through Poland and Czech Republic I had (don’t ask); however, now, being back from Lviv International Summit of EYP Belarus, I simply can’t keep quiet; at last, here are some stories about how we Lvived it so much.

(As a reference to the world of EYP you can always use the Article from March)

Firstly, some travel advises:

•          Don’t trust Ryanair, - especially if you have some transport to catch afterwards, - and make sure you have mobile numbers of the bus driver, if the transport you are to catch is the bus. That’s what happened to me in Krakow when I was changing from the plane to the bus at 1 am; Ryanair was predictably late, leaving me half an hour to reach the bus station in the center of Krakow and catch the bus – luckily, I managed to call the bus driver and find out that the bus itself was late as well. I mean, of course, having both plane and bus being delayed  is lots of luck for one person in the middle of the night, but it worked out, so, god, who cares;
•           Be ready to be the only one from the whole bus whom Ukrainian border control will decide to check out; remain calm, be nice and try not to look scared when you will see machine guns on their waists;
•           Arrive to the train and bus stations in advance. You can never know when the city will host football game or some other event, so the whole city will be stuck in a traffic jam;
•           Check the name of the airport; I’m sure, airport of Warsaw sounds persuasive enough, but, believe me, when you arrive there in the middle of the night and find out that Warsaw has two airports, it gets a bit messy;
•          Make sure you know the way to reach airports, train and bus stations, center of the city, etc. It was getting messier and messier as I was going through the night Warsaw looking for another airport;
•          According to the European Union regulations, you can have a reimbursement, if your plane was delayed for more than 3 hours. If you are late anyway, make some use of the time and pass three hours in a pleasant anticipation.

So, back to another European Youth Parliament adventure I had. After getting through all the troubles on the way to Lviv and before leaving it with the equal amount of troubles, I had the best time being

a journalist there. Such a good and properly busy time it was, that after leaving Ukraine I found around 10 photos only which would be really mine, and not my committee’s, chairpersons’, board’s or the ones from farewell party. I found out how I can properly write without endless procrastination, about the real potential of my magnificent nifty fifty lens, about the way to be both journalist and part of the committee, and all these professional achievements where nothing when compared to how great the people around me were. I also had two great surprises from the people I really love - a friend of mine and my cousin, who came to Lviv from Kiev to spent some time with us and made some unforgettable memories. I looked through endless pictures and I keep smiling for the people so far away but somehow so close; I smile because they were bright, brilliant, adventurous, brave, supportive and creative, and conversations with every single one of them brought me – of course, joy and happiness, but also – serenity.

Magnificent view of our main venue

The reason I’m writing about Lviv is because I fell in love with the city, with prices for food, with people around me, with my camera and – over and over again – with the feeling of unity and hope EYP creates.

I had a feeling of doing it right, and it was a great feeling to behold, especially on an event organised by EYP Belarus after such a break. I loved it, every second, and I had the feeling that people around me loved it as well, and I wouldn’t wish for anything more.

Same venue, different angle

Okey, well, may be, one more thing – as a member of a media team of the session, I wish

our great work will be greatly appreciated. If you haven’t don’t it yet, look at our newspaper’s issues, the video done by our supreme video-editor and follow the session’s page for upcoming photo updates.

Because the memories we create are burning bright, aren’t they?

Issue 1

Issue 2

Issue 3

Live from Lviv epidose 1

Live from Lviv episode 2

One of the few photos with me I have; perks of being a journalist and things