My visit to Lviv, European Youth Capital 2025
“Why?” was the first question my family asked me after I told them that I would be travelling to Lviv in September. I don’t think I convinced them by saying it was because I was invited to a festival, but they still responded with “Stay safe”.
The reason behind my invitation was the fact that I’m a social activist from Lublin, which held the title of European Youth Capital (EYC) in 2023. Now, Lviv is the European Youth Capital 2025 and, on a couple different occasions, I got to meet the team behind Lviv EYC – most notably, in Rome, where they organised a side event to the Ukraine Recovery Conference. It was at this event that I was invited to come to one of their bigger events and check out how youth engagement looks in their city. I opted to take part in Molodvizh – a festival on 6 September that I knew little about, but had heard good opinions.
Going into this journey, I didn’t really know what to expect and how to prepare. So, I spent a good amount of time researching travel regulations between Poland and Ukraine, looked into insurance and registered in a system called “Odysseus” (pl. “Odyseusz”), where Polish citizens can register their travel abroad for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have the traveller’s contact information in case of an emergency.
I began my trip on 5 September, at 2am from Katowice, where I had spent the previous couple of days on a national networking event. What awaited me was a nine-hour journey by bus, including a two-hour wait at the border crossing, where I had a short interview with a border officer and got my passport checked two or three times. Still, with less than a moderate amount of sleep, I arrived in Lviv.
I was happily surprised when I found out I wasn’t the only international guest at Molodvizh. Our delegation consisted of six people – apart from me, there were representatives from Britain, Italy, Germany and Moldova. And even though the festival only lasted for a day, we had a whole weekend planned for us. After arrival and checking into the hotel, we all met for lunch, where I had my first ever Ukrainian borscht. We got to know each other a bit which pleasantly began my weekend-long stay.
On Saturday, it was time to participate in Moldovizh. What impressed me from the second we entered was the venue, ‘FESTrepublic’ which offered attractions both outdoors and indoors. In the open air, stalls of NGOs as well as food and craft vendors were ready to show what they have to offer. Inside the building, different sessions were held with some having English live translations available, which I was grateful for. What I remember in particular is that I got to hear an expert from Stanford University explain mechanisms behind AI and its impact. Apart from that, I also participated in a discussion with a representative of UNICEF and took part in a speed-friending session where I got to chat with Ukrainian participants about youth participation. In the afternoon, I took the opportunity to walk around the city centre and then meet with others for dinner. It felt so refreshing to be in a new place, walk around and experience new things with no expectations of what’s to come.
The next day, on Sunday, I started the day of my departure by being woken up by an air alert at 6am, which, I didn’t know it at the time, warned me of one of the biggest drone attacks on Ukraine. Yet, for Lviv it passed quickly and I proceeded with my day as planned; packed my things and went on with the group for our last activity on the programme – a visit to the Lviv Open Lab youth space. This space was unlike any other youth spaces I have come across, even with Lublin having eight of them, as it was focused on STEAM (Science, Technology, Arts, Engineering, and Mathematics). Young students can come and make use of rooms with equipment needed for woodwork or 3D printing. One room was even turned into a professional laboratory, where we went through a simple chemistry lesson from two university students who volunteer at Lviv Open Lab to share their love for science to youngsters.
And with that visit, our planned activities came to an end and it was time for my departure. After another journey by bus, which took a little bit less time, around seven and a half hours, I was back in Lublin, my hometown.Thanks to this trip I feel even more respect towards Lviv and their efforts as the European Youth Capital – seeing their hard work and focus to give opportunities and hope for young people is admirable, even more so when they face daily challenges and setbacks. I wish the message Lviv promotes could be universally known among today’s youth; that it is not easy, but you can always move forward and make the most out of your current situation – the only thing stopping you is your own willingness to take action.
