Georgia: Stories told by a foreigner

By Iga Kowalska

Impressive old buildings, churches, amazing landscapes and very good alcohol - Georgia can be fascinating, interesting and beautiful. Many Polish people spend there holidays here, it’s much more tourist place than Armenia.

I spent a week in that place and I realized how unexpected and sometimes dangerous country it can be. Especially for people from abroad: we have to be very, very careful.

First thing that happened in Georgia: a taxi driver drove my friends and me to the wrong place in the middle of the night and wanted more money than we agreed before. The last trouble was when a bus driver drove us to the border, not to Yerevan, as previously agreed. But the magic was in between.

There were good and bad surprises in Georgia. I can’t deny Tbilisi looks like a great European capital city: nature is amazing, food is delicious (khinkali, khachapuri) and people are usually very nice. But at the same time you can see many beggars in the streets, especially small children, sleeping on the sun. And it is happening in the main streets of the city. It’s hard to look at it, and even harder to bear the thought that police doesn’t do anything about it. And people just stare...

I have to say, that I really like Batumi, even more than Tbilisi. The city is always alive, I spent great time there, but it was much more expensive than I thought, especially when I compare it to Armenia. I was also in Mccheta (near Tbilisi) and in Makhuntseti, near the Turkish border the waterfalls and nature is really amazing and fish is delicious.

During my trip to Georgia I had so many adventures, so many times I wanted to laugh and sometimes even to cry. This country is full of contradictions for me, unexpected and completely different from Armenia.

Iga Kowalska, 21, is a volunteer who came to Armenia within the framework of AIESEC exchange program.