Life in Skopje

Greetings;

I wanted to give you relevant information about Skopje as a Turkish student who came here for education purposes and then establishes his own business here. The writing will be long, but I still recommend you read it all.

Although as a city it is not as beautiful as other European cities. Especially those who travel for the first time abroad will see some churches, some Roman architecture, many sculptures, the possibility of seeing beautiful girls and blonde men on the street that in Turkey you can see only on the podium. There are different languages spoken there (you will see that many people speak and understand Turkish). Since phones and cars are cheaper, they will make you feel that you are abroad. To have a 200 € salary is a great welcome for Skopje. It seems that Skopje is divided into two parts with a river valley flowing in the middle. And you will quickly understand the difference between the Islamic side and the Christian side. The Islamic side is more like Bursa or Eskişehir in the 90's (I can not say that the Vardar river is much better than the old Porsuk river). On the other hand, the Christian side, is slightly more European because of the difference in architecture and the way people live. In the country where the currency is the Macedonian Denar (MKD), it makes 1€ = 61. 4 MKD. In the country where you can buy bread for 20-40 MKD, it will be possible for you to notice that the whole trade is turning over 100 MKD. Although our cultures are similar to each other, there are some differences. e. g food culture. For example, do not be surprised when you see that only a bean portion of dried bean is served. In fact, it will be bean itself rather than the kurusasulye you eat.

Also döner, köfte... etc. If I will give an example about myself, for instance, I ate pizza with "ayran". Consumed by the Macedonian people, it's like a yogurt, a liquid drink, but more watery consistency. But it is not too much related to Ayran. Usually, they eat Börek in the morning for breakfast. Especially, you will see that they eat a lot of Börek + Yoghurt.

Even though cars are cheap, the prices of renting a car are very high and absolutely ridiculous in this country. If an Erasmus student wants to rent a car to travel, it will be an annoying situation for him. 1. 2 Palio 30 € per day, 1. 6 Ford Focus 45 € per day like with numbers is very natural to encounter. But do not be sad. It is possible to find appropriate prices if you search well.

Meat prices are cheap compared to my country, one of my favorite things in this country. If you think that a good meat is about 20 TL and a little greasy, you can get it here for 14-15 TL/KG fiyata meat. But sausages, salami-like side-products are behind those in Turkey.

As a student coming from Turkey, I do not have any problems with Albanians or Macedonians. We can easily enter and go everywhere in the country. There are benefits of being a Turk in this country. For example, even if the Macedonians and the Albanian people have problems with each other, Turks do not have any with them.

You will come across many people who speak Turkish and you will even forget that you have been abroad for a long time. You will look at a sermon in a mosque and read it in Turkish, you are praying, if you go to a coffee shop or a cafe, everyone speaks Turkish. You will often see people moving on the street talking in Turkish and you will get used to it after a while. In short, you won't even realise that you are actually abroad.

I will update my article by adding new helpful information... That's all for now.