Istanbul tomorrow? Sure, why not!

Spur of the moment trip. We had no plans for this weekend. Kind of thought "let's get out of Bulgaria and go see the freaking world!" So we bought our tickets for the overnight bus this afternoon and are being shipped out of here tomorrow night!

Istanbul, show me a good time.

Plovdiv: A Jem

Once again, Bulgaria has surprised me with its beauty, and I mean really. Plovdiv really is one of Europe's hidden jems.

After catching a very early morning bus and a four hour bus ride, which I slept through most of, a group of seven of us arrived in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. After a bit of confusion about where in the world our hostel was located in the city, we finally found the Plovdiv Guesthouse, and boy, were we surprised. When I hear the word hostel, usually I am not expecting too much, but we got lucky. We were staying right in the Old Town of Plovdiv, with beautiful cobblestone streets and all the sights, and our hostel was very pretty.

Our hostel



mmm my delicious dessert!

 After throwing our bags down in our room real quick, we went out to explore the city. First stop: food! We were all starving for lunch so we had a delicious meal at a traditional Bulgarian mehana. The food was incredible, but my dessert was especially phenomenal. Once we were all completely satisfied, we wandered out into the streets, visited a gorgeous Eastern Orthodox Church, at which we found our friend Tiger (a dog) who followed us around for the next hour or so. We found the Memorial House for Hristo G. Danov, the founder of contemporary book publishing in Bulgaria, saw an old printing press, and wandered up the hill farther to a beautiful view of Plovdiv.



Djumaya Mosque



We then walked toward the center of Old Town, saw Djumaya Mosque, one of the biggest and oldest mosques in Bulgaria, and explored the square that was built on top of a 2^nd century Roman stadium. Eventually, we made our way to another hill where we finally came across the site we had all been anticipating: the beautiful Roman Amphitheater built in the 2^nd century. The seven of us looked like a group of kids at recess, climbing all over and exploring the gorgeous ruins. We spent a good hour just sitting in the stands, the sun pouring in. It was unreal to be sitting upon such an ancient site. That night, we ate out at a Mexican restaurant, ordered some mojito’s and enchiladas, and went dancing for a bit.



The next morning, Saturday, after our free breakfast by our hostel, we went back out into the city and explored the sites we hadn’t seen the previous day: St. Constantine & St. Helena Church, the National Geographic Ethnographic Museum, and Hissar Kapiya (the best preserved gateway of the six-meter-tall fortress walls, built around the 2^nd century). We then climbed the Nebet Tepe hill atop which lies the ruins of a Thracian settlement from around 3000 BC. It also provided a breaktaking view of all of Plovdiv. Again, a sort of magical site.

After we rounded out our sightseeing, we went into town for a cup of coffee on a cute balcony overlooking the main square. The weather was beautiful the whole weekend, so it was nice to sit and relax in the sun. For dinner that night, we decided to try Italian, and boy, did we hit the jackpot. We all ate a bit too much, but for less than $15, it was definitely worth it. Sunday morning was an early one, as we had to catch a 7:30am bus back to Blagoevgrad. I slept a little bit, but I wanted to enjoy the scenery that I had missed on the way there. The landscape was amazing. One minute we’re driving through gorgeous green plains, and the next we’re in snow-covered mountains. It made me appreciate Bulgaria even more.



2nd Century Roman Amphitheater



Plovdiv is without a doubt a place I would love to return to. It made me feel even more indebted to this area of the world. Ask a typical westerner and Plovdiv will strike no gold, but Eastern Europe has hidden jems like this place all over, waiting to be discovered, but in the meantime, the value and enjoyment they offer grows exponentially.

A few more snapshots from Plovdiv!

Courtney, Erin, and I with Plovdiv in the background



2nd Century Roman Theater with the city square built on top



Disbelief at the beauty



Beautiful architecture



Thracian ruins/modern Plovdiv



The world is my playground

As I mentioned previously, my friends and I had originally planned to escape to Thessoliniki, Greece this coming weekend. Well, after taking a look at the weather, we decided to push our weekend trips to Greece to a later date in the semester when we can completely enjoy everything the warm climate and beautiful place has to offer. So, at 6:50am on Friday morning, we will be on a bus to Plovdiv! It is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, about a four hour bus ride from Blago, and its history dates back about 6000 years. Being an anthropology major, this is one of the exact reasons why I chose to study for a semester in Eastern Europe. It has some of the greatest, oldest, and most beautiful sites in the world. Plovdiv, here we come.

More exciting news. Spring break - booked! Since a few of my friends have their spring breaks planned out with visiting family members and friends, it will be four of us girls enjoying the 10 day break from the stressful part of college life! We will be flying first to Barcelona and spending three days there basking in the warm weather and seeing the sights. Then we are off to tour Italy! We fly into Rome, will spend a few days there, take a train up the coast to Florence and a couple other sights, and then end up in Milan for our final day where we will catch our flight back to Sofia! Now let's just hope I don't burn through my bank account. I have gotten completely used to the great value of the American dollar here in Bulgaria.

And now I get a little philosophical... oh boy. The world is my playground (as you may have noticed my title of this post). I'm one of those crazy people that believe that the world does not belong to us as humans, and in a way, we as a species have made this planet so much worse than it was before our existence. But I have to say, that as of right now, I'd have to agree with this saying a little bit. I am getting these amazing opportunities to see and experience places many people only dream of going to... and I have to admit, what I have seen so far does reassure me that there is good in people and what we are doing. We just have to watch out for the bad because we will regret it if we don't.

Oh, shoutout to everyone back home... stay warm, Connecticut, and it's okay to be jealous of the 50⁰F weather I'm having :)

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!

Bansko!

So my friends and I have our first travel adventure under our belts! For our first trip, we decided to stay close to home, so we ventured to Bansko, Bulgaria for the weekend, a cozy ski town about 40 minutes from our university in Blagoevgrad. Apparently, Bansko is one of the largest ski destinations in Eastern Europe, and even though we chose not to ski, we were still able to have an amazing weekend and experience the beauty of the mountains. We were picked up by the hotel transport on Friday afternoon, and shortly later, were shortly checking into our hotel, which was a quiet, quaint place set off the main road in Bansko.

Our hotel

Quickly dropping our things off, we were excited to explore the town, which we spent the rest of the afternoon doing, choosing where to eat dinner and picking up some authentic Bulgarian candies that were out of this world.

For dinner that night, we went to a Mehana, which is a traditional Bulgarian restaurant. We spent about three hours there, slowly making our way through the different courses and finally ending up with amazing desserts. I had the greatest baklava I've ever had.

The Mehana we ate at, Cardaka Tavern

Baklava!

The following morning, after a delicious breakfast at the Mehana in our hotel, we were driven to the base of the mountain by Carl, our hotel driver, receptionist, and probably owner, who was most likely pretty sick of us by the time we left. Although the weather was cloudy, we took the gondola as far up the mountain as we could and spent the early part of the day in the ski lodge, drinking hot cocoa, eating Bulgarian chocolate, and people watching. After a bit, we made our way back down the mountain and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sauna and steam room in our hotel.

Being that none of my friends or I have a birthday while we are here in Bulgaria, we decided we had to have some special celebrations somehow! So Saturday night, our reason to celebrate was my half birthday. Yes I know, such an important event. We went out to a place called the Lion’s Pub and ordered the traditional Mexican we’d all been craving since we got here! After a few margaritas, the Lion’s Pub was quickly becoming our favorite place!

Delicious nachos with beans done the Bulgarian way!

On Sunday morning, we woke up to a clear, beautiful day in Bansko! We could see the mountains from our balcony for the first time all weekend! After breakfast, we browsed the souvenir shops one last time, and walked up the road to the base of the ski mountain to get a clearer view of the gorgeous peaks that were literally surrounding us by 360 degrees. We made one last stop at a cute coffee shop, then headed back to the hotel to catch our ride back to Blago! The scenery on our way out of the mountains was equally as gorgeous, riding through snow-covered forests and eventually back into the city of Blago, which we were all surprised to see had gotten some snow while we were gone!

Although we had an incredibly fun time in Bansko, my friends and I all agree that we are ready for our next trip to a place with a bit of a warmer climate: Thessoliniki, Greece in two weekends! And if all goes well, we will be booking that one tomorrow!

Picture Perfect

So since my American friends and I arrived here in Blagoevgrad almost a full week before the start of classes, we had plenty of time to explore the city. Here's a few pictures of beautiful Blago!

The park I cross through everyday to get to the Main Building

The beautiful mountains I get to look at everyday

Bistrica River

Varosha - the old quarters of Blagoevgrad

Outdoor art gallery in Varosha

Another shot of campus along the Bistrica River

Adventure [noun] – an exciting or very unusual experience; participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises; a bold, usually risky undertaking.

Well, I have arrived.  After what seemed like a long  two days of traveling, I was dropped off in front of my dorm at the American University in Bulgaria on Tuesday night, the 11^th.  After saying goodbye to my family late Monday afternoon, two flights and one shuttle ride later, I had my first encounter with the place I am calling home for the next four months.  My first great adventure that Tuesday night was a trip to the nearby Kaufland’s (a pretty well-stocked supermarket a 5-minute walk across a field from campus), and “adventure” doesn’t do it justice, as my close-knit group of American exchange students and I would later find out, we will be making many trips there over the next four months.


Yes, homesickness kicked in the moment I took off in New York, and the first night alone in a dorm room in the middle of Bulgaria, I thought over and over to myself, “What the hell are you doing here, Sarah?”  The next morning though, that all changed.  A chat with my fellow American exchange students left me knowing I was not alone in that feeling and only had me looking forward to the amazing adventures that I am going to have the chance to experience during my time here in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.


The next few days, as orientation began and I grew closer and closer with the American girls, anticipation kicked in.  Exploring the city of Blagoevgrad, which I am quickly falling in love with, I’ve realized how lucky I am for this opportunity.  The AUBG campus is set up with the Main Building a 10-minute walk through the city from the three brand new dorm buildings and the Balkanski Academic Center, which are picturesquely situated along the Bistrica River, which runs through Blagoevgrad.

AUBG campus dorm

View from campus across the Bistrica River into the city of Blagoevgrad

Coming to Bulgaria, I was prepared for fairly cold weather, but have been greeted with quite pleasant temperatures that have hovered in the 50’s since I’ve arrived.  Apparently, because Blagoevgrad is surrounded my skyscraping snow-capped mountains, spring comes earlier in this region, which made me a very happy girl.  As much as I love winter, warm weather will be a great change from the chilly winter my family and friends are experiencing back home in Connecticut.


As excited as I am to explore Bulgaria more and get to experience the Bulgarian culture, I am ecstatic knowing that over the next four months I will be traveling to a handful of different countries and regions and experiencing those cultures as well.  Let’s just hope the bank account can allow this to happen to the extent I hope it will!

Beautiful Blagoevgrad hillside