The third day of this unique field trip started with a visit to the Institute of Geography at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University. Two students came from the University to guide us. Together with colleagues, students and our instructors, I took off from the hotel quite early in the morning; around 07:30. During our walk we got to share our impressions about what we had seen and experienced in the city. We were concerned about our possible meetings regarding our research themes.
After a long walk, we got to the University around 8:10 o´ clock. Professor Mihailo Zikov, Head of the Institute for Geography welcomed us. He and his colleagues were dressed very nicely and prepared sharply. Professor Mihailo made a presentation about the historical background of the University and the Institute. He made his presentation in his native language and a young Macedonian researcher helped him with the translation. I really enjoyed listening to him in his own language, Macedonian language sounds very different and very exotic of course.
After his presentation, his colleague, Professor Nikola Panov took the floor and told about the tourism potential of the city of Skopje. He gave some important information about the cultural heritage. Then, another colleague from the Institute of Geography (unfortunately, I could not catch his name) made a presentation about the regions and how they were divided. It seemed quite complicated to me, but at the end, he placed emphasis on the economic potential of the regions and said that division was made according to this criteria.
When we had our break, we went downstairs for having a cup of tea. At the cafeteria, we met a lecturer, young fresh PhD graduate, Mr. Ivica Milevski who told us about the geopolitical importance of Macedonia and also the current situation that the country was in. He said he heard about our visit and was very interested to join the session. He came up to the lecture hall with us and participated in the session.
When Merja and I got to the lecture hall, we noticed that we happened to be the only ones from our group since everyone had to rush out to catch up with their appointments with their contacts for their group task. Merja and I were supposed to meet with Mr. Per Arne quite late in the afternoon, so continued participating in the session.
Prof Gunnel Forsberg, made a presentation about the higher education system in Sweden. Then she received some questions from the professors and from other colleagues. It was such a nice atmosphere, everyone was full of potential and really open to exchange of information and cooperation. I enjoyed it very much.
When presentations were finished, we thanked to the professors, received their contact information via their cards. Mr. Ivica Milevski, gave us his contact information as well, and said that he would be very happy to help us in every possible way. Merja and I thanked him and headed to the city centre.
Merja and I had lunch at the Old Bazaar. Whenever we pass through that area, my emotions got high. It is such a nice place with a strong spirit. Dating back to the Ottoman Empire, one could see the influence of that period everywhere. All those small houses and shops, simply beautiful…Of course everything needed to be renovated according to their original form but it seemed like nothing has been done there in order to have them preserved in a nice way.

After our lunch, we headed to the other side of the city passing through the Stone Bridge. While passing through the bridge, you really feel like another way of living or form of life is taking place on the other side, really interesting.
We walked around the Balkan Square and then went in to the café Delfuf to meet Mr. Per Arne from regarding our research subject. He was having lunch with another colleague, Ms. Leyla Hadzic from the organization CHWB (Cultural Heritage without Borders). She is working as a regional coordinator within the same organization. She was also very interested in our subject and promised us to send some background information. Mr. Per Arne and Ms. Leyla told us that they were not specialized in the cultural heritage but gave us a name from an organization called ICOMOS (International Council of Monuments and Sites). They said that he was an expert on cultural heritage in Macedonia, and would like to be happy to help us. After a nice chat with them, we thanked for their cooperation and left the place. We immediately called the person from ICOMOS as we were overexcited with the fact that soon we would be meeting with an expert on our research theme.

The person from ICOMOS told us that he would be leaving for Paris on 7th of March. But he made an appointment as to meet us on 6th of March to see how he could be of help. We were so happy to reserve him as his contributions to our research would definitely mean a lot to us.