We should never judge a book by its cover: this phrase best describes what Sliven represents. A beautiful and welcoming city that has a lot to offer to those who want to visit it. Built around the huge, majestic and beautiful millennial Elm, situated in the center and symbol of the city -one of the few remains of the great Bulgarian Forest, which has covered the whole area between the Rhodope Mountains and the Black Sea- Sliven is famous for its fresh air, clean water, meek winter and cool summer. 

The unique rocky massif Sinite Kamani (Blue Rocks), the associated national park and the mineral springs offer diverse opportunities for leisure and tourism. Despite the problems that Sliven certainly has, as indeed every other city of Bulgaria and the rest of the world, it is incredibly pleasant to walk through its streets, visit its bazaar and walk to the Russian monument in the park “Hamambair” from which everyone can enjoy a splendid view over the whole city.

In this context, on Monday 11th December, The(Y) Volunteers team had the opportunity to visit the volunteers of the project Radio E-volution – Matteo, Loredana, Daniele and Ludovic – and participate in their morning programme “Snooze Up” to talk about Bulgaria, volunteering and, of course, our youth media project. We also interviewed Rosen Rusev, manager of the radio and chairperson of the organization “Dream of romance, flowers and space”.

A morning at Radio E-volution

Our adventure in Sliven began in the morning. After a two-hour trip, we arrived at the station where Matteo and Rosen welcomed us and took us to the office where the activities of the organization take place. “Dream of romance, flowers and space” is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 to give to the young people in Sliven more opportunities for personal development, learning and entertainment.

Radio E-volution, started in 2015, is just one of the projects that the organization runs under the Erasmus+ program. The idea from which everything start is of an online media for music, festivals, events, youth, culture, travels, society that can be interesting for everyone in Bulgaria and outside the country. Its main goal is “to catch the pulse of the day”. In this space where there are “no limits and borders for the thoughts”, “creativity, originality and self-motivation” are the principles that lead the team at Radio E-volution. They keep Sliven company with music of every genre, having in the meantime, 3 weekly radio programs: Snooze Up! (From Monday to Friday at 11:00), What the News! (Every Thursday at 17:30), No noise in the channel / BG (Every Thursday at 20:00).

Sharon and Belinda interviewed Rosen about the history of the organization, his experience with youth media and his interesting point of view on this field. In the meantime, Matteo showed Junio the studio and all the systems they use to broadcast their programs. With the arrival of Loredana, we prepared us for “Snooze up” choosing the music playlist and discussing briefly what to talk about during the program. We focused on our youth media project, other initiatives, and then moved on our experience here in Bulgaria, the places visited and the volunteers -now friends- we met.

We shared our expectations for post-EVS, what we will do, what we like most in Bulgaria and what we like least. The 1-hour program was a very interesting and beautiful experience. Afterwards, together with Matteo and Loredana, we went for a walk in the direction of the Sliven Bazaar to have lunch. We spent our time together until early afternoon when we parted.

Our special thanks to Rosen Rusev and the volunteer team of the organization “Dream of romance, flowers and space”, for giving us this opportunity on the radio and for this work that we did together.