About the passion, the love and the memories

Story by: Nevena Pashova
Country of Origin: Bulgaria
Country of Destination: America

nevena1My name is Nevena, 25 years old studying Law and doing my Master in International Journalism. Since 2008 I’m in this magic NGO world of happiness, interesting meetings, new ideas, possibilities and awesome people all around the world! I have travelled a lot in my life but this time I knew it would be different. It was my first visit in USA. It wasn’t my top priority to visit this country before but I wanted to see why everybody is talking about “The American dream”… I’ve heard about the program for Professional Fellows from C.E.G.A. Foundation and from my friends Emil Metodiev and Vladislav Petkov who took part in it. And that was it, I’ve applied and I was chosen to go – 45 days in the USA. I left Europe on 18th of April. I was with so mixed feelings. I was expecting everything and nothing in the same time. It was a live time experience and changed me a lot. US gave me a lot, made me think a lot about my future and my life in general. And of course it changed my opinion about USA and “the American dream”.

nevena2I’ve fallen in love with a city – “The big apple NYC” and with the Dominican culture that I’ve expected with my new friends from USA.

In July I came back in Bulgaria motivated more than ever and I’ve continue working on my action plan – creating an youth center in my hometown. Now the dream came true – we have Youth center “Teen spirit” in Chepelare and amazing group of young people full of ideas and willing to change “the grey everyday”. It’s unbelievable to see how you can work with people for themselves and to use all the knowledge that I have from my experience before USA and especially from the USA. I saw new opportunities and I created awesome friendships across the ocean and in Bulgaria – my colleague Kiki who was with me there, we traveled together, we grow up there together and we are still together.

nevenaI would warmly recommend the program to everybody but not only this program. There are a lot of opportunities for mobility in different countries. It’s not just some touristic traveling; it’s a whole new world of places, people, culture and changes -GO AND EXPERIENCE IT!

In my personal life I realized that the happiness will be on your side if you are ready for it, that the love won’t disappear after a month or two and that the passion is the “sugar” of your work! Open your eyes and ears and be ready to learn a lot about yourself and to change yourself!