In late 2016 I started thinking about applying to a New Year’s event and, even if they were a lot and all really amazing, I did not really need to get through all the options that AEGEE offered this year because I knew from the start that I wanted to go to the one taking place in Skopje. I decided to apply to “Win Up: It’s Snow Time Deluxe Edition” because the programme was incredible, with lots of fun activities, but also because I had heard beautiful stories about it so I wanted to experience it at first hand.
The event took place in the Macedonian capital city from the 30th of December 2016 to the 5th of January 2017, even if my first day was the 31st of December. In fact, on the 30th of December in the early morning, me and two other girls from AEGEE-Cagliari took the plane from Cagliari to Milan and then from Milan to Sofia. We waited seven hours in a bus station and at midnight finally we found a bus. The bus was really small and the luggage was placed in a small cart trailer, but after this long trip we finally managed to arrive to Skopje in the early morning the next day.
They took us in a wonderful city tour showing Saint Mother Theresa’s House, the Old Bazar of Skopje – which is the second biggest bazar after Istanbul’s one from the time of the Ottoman empire, the Fortress of Skopje, the Holocaust Museum and the beautiful city centre, where we closed the day ice skating. Afterwards, we suited up for the NYE party, which was really amazing. 
Before it started the organisers held a workshop about alcohol and during the celebrations in a room close to the dance floor they prepared for us some typical food and chips, pretzels etc.
On the 1st of January, the organisers took us to the wonderful Vodno Mountain, where some of us climbed the mountain to reach the top, while others took the cableway. The view from the top was incredible, and it was one of the greatest experience I have ever had in my life.
Then we joined a workshop about Orthodox Christmas. The organisers offered us some Rakija and a typical cake and showed us some pictures. One of the traditions is a bread which has a coin hidden inside, and the one who finds the coin will have a lucky year. After that, we went to the city centre to play to an alcoholic treasure hunt. We were separated in different teams, each one with a team leader. We had to execute some tasks to have clues and each task earned you some points. Imagine what inhabitants could have been thinking seeing a group of more than 30 AEGEEans running around in the city centre of Skopje. The following day we changed location and we moved to Bulgaria, in Bansko. The journey was quite long so we just had the time to accommodate in our rooms and enjoy the first part of the European Night.
On the 3rd and 4th of January some of us took the chance to ski down the incredible Pirin Mountain, or to enjoy the beautiful Bansko and the Hotel SPA; while part of the group went to Sofia to spend the day there instead. We also enjoyed European Night part 2 and 3, since AEGEE-Skopje’s crew decided to separate the European Night in three different nights. I think that this was a smart decision, because we could appreciate more the alcohol without getting totally drunk and I have noticed that we put more passion in the presentation of our countries. 
Monika Borovcanska, one of the organisers, told me that the decision to split the European night in three parts was made “so that we would have three special nights. The result was amazing. In this way we avoided food/drinks leftovers and it was more exciting for everyone. Those who were supposed to present their countries put a lot of effort into doing it in the best way. All of them had the possibility to be better heard by everyone, since the whole concept was like a Treasure Hunt. There were five groups and five rooms with different presenters. All of the presenters had around five minutes to present their countries to the groups, that were coming one after another”.
On the last day, the 5th of January the group split in two; some of us went back to Skopje, while the others went to Sofia, because we had our flights back home from there. Organising an event in two different countries might seem difficult, but it was a desire that Monika had for some time now: “Organising an event in another country is always a challenge. However, skiing in Bansko is something that I have been doing for the last ten years, so I can say that it was easy to get in touch with some contacts.
The Bulgarian language is close to the Macedonian, so the communication was not a problem. An event in there has been my wish for some time and finally it happened”.
I have seen a lot of amazing things during this event, like the beautiful monuments in both Skopje and Sofia and, finally, real snow.
I come from an island settled in the Mediterranean sea, so for me it was surreal to be in a winter wonderland. But I have also learned a lot through the workshops and talking with people who have different cultures than mine. In the end, I can say that this event was really deluxe, they treated us like princes and princesses, we slept in real beds during the whole event -and for an AEGEE event is not that bad-, we ate a lot of delicious typical things and the social programme was insane. We definitely perceived the passion and committment that the organiser put into this event.
Written by Paola Letizia Murru, AEGEE-Cagliari