"It's not easy to get in, it's impossible to forget." A schoolgirl from Liozno shared her impressions of participating in the Memory Train project

It was a great honor for Yulia Somova, a student of the Lioznenskaya Secondary School named after M.V.Oktyabrskaya, to be a participant in the patriotic youth project "Memory Train". She told BelTA how she passed the regional selection last year, who she still keeps in touch with and what this landmark trip has become for her.

Only two people from the Lioznensky district were applicants for participation in the project, and Yulia, who was well prepared by her mentors, was sure that she would go on a regional tour. And so the schoolgirl had to worry about it, because the rivals were worthy. In her competitive essay, she talked about the significance of Victory Day for her family and how her ancestors survived those terrible years. Her great-grandfather was taken to forced labor in Germany. He didn't talk much about what he had suffered, only fragments of his memories remained: how he starved, worked hard and had little rest, that they treated prisoners worse than stray dogs, not counting Slavs for people. And also - how long and stubbornly he returned to his native lands, not wanting to stay in a foreign land after liberation. For a long time, great-grandfather tried to hide all thoughts of cruel trials deeper, because for many more years, people like him were considered traitors. The young resident Liozno keeps the memory of her ancestor to this day and wants to pass it on to her children and grandchildren. Perhaps it is because of the difficult history of her native person that the schoolgirl perceives the war as a series of sufferings and hardships and believes that there should always be peace, tranquility and creativity on our earth.

Participation in the project initiated by the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus and the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia brought Yulia Somova a lot of positive emotions. With the companions in the compartment where she was traveling, the girl became friends immediately. Her fellow travelers were schoolgirls from Kaliningrad and Armenia. One guest from a southern country did not speak Russian very well, and the girls communicated with each other in English, so everyone had a good language practice during their communication.

"The most vivid impression of the Memory Train is the moment of departure. The orchestra was playing a military song, my parents were worried, I was worried - it was all very vividly imprinted in my memory. We had a lot of fun along the way, the events were intense and cool. When we arrived at the Brest Fortress, we were shown a theatrical reconstruction of the first days of the war, and we were all greatly affected by it. I remember that the girls from Armenia were very impressed. As it turned out, they don't know the history of the Great Patriotic War as well as we do, and one of my fellow travelers even cried when she watched this performance," Yulia said.

St. Petersburg became another city that conquered her heart. A resident of Liozno plans to come there for a few days at the first opportunity to visit Peterhof once again, walk through the streets of the city on the Neva River, plunge into the romance of white nights and see how bridges are being built.

Julia advises the girls who will go on the same trip this year to bring more trousers and skirts, because the project participants will be given enough T-shirts. "There is definitely no need to take food, because we were fed very well - both on the train and in the cities where we came. I remember when we were at the Tolstoy Museum-estate, where lunch was served in a restaurant. And there was also Belarusian bread on the tables - so delicious that we ate it just like that, without any dishes or additives. When I arrived home and got on the scales, I was even upset because I gained weight, because it was impossible to refuse many goodies," the girl shared.

Now the schoolgirl is taking exams, although she already knows that she entered her chosen specialty as the winner of the subject Olympiad. Julia has devoted her whole life to sports, most of all she likes skiing. In the future, she plans to become a physical education teacher.

The resident of Liozno shares her successes and achievements with friends from different parts of Belarus and Russia, whom she found on the project. They often correspond, call each other via video link. Yulia maintains a close relationship with a student of the Vitebsk Cadet School, she often sees each other, especially at competitions. "This project is a bright period in my life that I will never be able to forget. I would like to thank everyone involved in it for being able to bring us all together, so different, so different, to rally, to make friends. Now it is so important to be together and understand each other, despite the language differences," Yulia Somova summed up.

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