Classes, Rila, and Hiking

Well, another week has gone by here in Bulgaria, and I am loving being here more and more each day.  I now have two weeks of classes over and done with, and I am thoroughly enjoying them, to say the least.  I am taking a Bulgarian language course, which is proving to be more and more helpful every day.  This class also gives some insight into traditional Bulgarian culture, past and present.  I am also taking a Bulgarian history course and an Eastern European course, which, being the history geek that I am, I love.  Back in the States, it is very odd for a European history class to cover specifically the eastern states of Europe.  It’s typical for American students to know crazy amounts about Western history, but the eastern part of our world has so much to offer and is too often left out of the picture.  Lastly, I have an environmental science course I am absolutely in love with, the environment being one of my passions.  I have not had too much work piled on me yet, just the normal reading that I had back in the States, but there are upcoming papers, interviews, presentations and such planned throughout the semester, so those will be keeping me busy for sure!


So this past weekend, we spent at home (meaning Blago, don’t worry Mom & Dad, it’s still not “home”, if you know what I mean!).  We had a great weekend, relaxing and seeing some sights.  On Friday, we took a chance on cooking our own meal in the kitchen in our building: Mexican!  It was delicious and we’d all been craving it since we got here.  I may have eaten a bit too much, but it was definitely worth it!  On Saturday, we took a daytrip to the Rila Mountains, about 45 minutes from Blagoevgrad, and spent a couple of hours touring the Rila Monastery.  It was breathtakingly stunning.  We were surrounded by mountains, and there was snow everywhere.  We took a tour of the museum, learning about the history.  It was founded by the students of St. Ivan of Rila in the 10^th century, and is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria.

Quick history of Rila Monastery

After the museum, we took a tour of the inside of the church, and unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs, although a picture would not have been able to capture the stunning beauty.  It was unlike any church I’ve ever seen before, everything covered in pure gold and beautiful murals aligning the walls and ceilings.  After all the oooing and ahhing was done, we walked right outside of the monastery grounds to a little shop selling Bulgarian donuts, so we grabbed a few of those and went to a café for some hot drinks and soup.  After sitting by the fire warming our feet for an hour, we ventured back outside, browsed the souvenir shops, snapped some more pictures and headed back to Blagoevgrad.

Lemon tea and bean soup...mmm!

Sunday, my friends and I hiked a mountain a 10 minute walk from campus.  It was a beautiful walk, and the mountain peaks just kept going.  Eventually, we stopped and looked around us.  We could see the entire city of Blagoevgrad and the mountains in the distance.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the clearest of days, so pictures don’t do justice to the amazing views we saw, but nevertheless, we decided we’d be making many trips back there on weekends that we’re not traveling!

Blagoevgrad from the mountains

Mountains in the distance...hard to capture on camera!

That’s all for now!  Off to another week of classes, although I must say, having no Friday classes makes the weeks fly by and has me looking forward to the many weekend adventures we have planned for the rest of the semester!