Different in the similarities: from Razlog to Bristol and from Bristol to Razlog

This post was first published in Nepolitkorektno in Bulgarian. I advise everyone who can read the Bulgarian version to do so 😀 

The trip from Bristol to London, the capital of the United Kingdom, is 3 hours by bus. The trip from Razlog to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is 3 hours by bus.  

I spent the last year in one of the two universities in Bristol. On the other side, each summer I’m spending at least a week in Razlog. This year the week was cut down to two days and a half, but they were enough to see the Pirin area in a completely new way.

Razlog is situated in the valley of Razlog and is surrounded by the mountains Rila and Pirin. The nature is impressive and the mountain trips are just a matter of choice. Bristol is also a green city. It is even chosen for the European Green Capital for 2015. This “green”, however, is different from the one in Bulgaria (which refers just to the nature and the variety of flora and fauna) is connected with different investments and environmental plans. The planned investments in Razlog are not for ecology, but for building a new ski complex and destroying a forest.

Bristol City Council wants to make the streets in the city center as tiny, as possible, so that less vehicles are being used and the traffic is limited. It is obvious that in Razlog (which, again, is situated in the poorest country in the EU) some of the cars are much more expensive than those in the English city. This raises a lot of questions, including where do the money for those cars come from and is the most important thing showing off with a new car, when you hardly have enough money to pay your bills. Moreover, Bristol is the second home of thousand of young people, studying in its two universities. After they graduate from one of the local high schools, teenagers in Razlog have to choose whether they want to go (and probably study) in Sofia or another bigger city in Bulgaria. Some choose to leave the country

.

But let’s take a look at the brighter holidays that will give us a livelier picture of the two cities. Each New Year is an enormous event in

Razlog – everybody gathers on the square. They wear traditional dresses or imitate politicians, stars or just freaks. People believe that this will scary away the bad forces and the beginning of the new year will be good. All this is accompanied by a lot of rakia (a traditional alcoholic drink), kapama (a dish with different kinds of meat) and sweet banitca (a traditional pastry). And this repeats every ye
The St. Pauls carnival takes place in Bristol during the summer. For a day or two the city forgets about its everyday problems and rainy weather and gathers together. There have been years when the festival hasn’t taken place (and this happens in one of the richest countries in the EU).ar, regardless of how hard the previous year was.

The differences in the similarities don’t end here – groups like Massive Attack and Portishead come from Bristol and “Perun” comes from Razlog. Bristol is the home city of the graffiti artist Banksy. Some years ago a group of school children painted some recycling bins in Razlog and I was at least as impressed, as when I saw Bristol’s Stokes Croft for the first time. Moreover, Bristolians and Razlozhani are famous for their strange accents/dialects.

Bath is situated next to Bristol and is well-known for its Roman baths.

Banya is situated next to Razlog and is well-known for its Roman baths.

The baths in Bath are a nicely developed tourist attraction which stimulates the economy of the city. It is fascinating how long the tour guides spend on each single stone and how they manage to take the best out of every corner of the city.

In Banya there are SPA hotels. That’s it.

However, the biggest difference between Razlog and Bristol is the atmosphere – Razlog, for me, has always been a peaceful and energizing place. Bristol is much more dynamic, more multicultural and modern. Undoubtedly, if Mr. Ferguson who is the first democratically elected major of Bristol and Mr. Gerchev who is the next (questionably) democratically elected major of Razlog, decide to swear a brotherhood between the two cities, we will witness a really interesting partnership.

Razlog definitely can learn a lot from Bristol – what is entrepreneur spirit; what is punctuality and how to diminish the dependency from the capital. However, I am not quite sure if Bristol can easily learn the lessons from Razlog in the fields of cr

eativity (not in terms of graffiti, but when it comes to the art of making the ends meet); hospitality; cooking and living outside your smart phone. Probably some Britons will say that this is an unnecessary move towards the past, but I met one who has married a woman from Razlog and he is in love not only with her, but with Razlog, as well.

This is a clear sign that somewhere there in this remote British city, there are people ready to understand Bulgaria and the region of Razlog the way they are – without otiose hotels, cut down forests and cheap alcohol. They just need somebody to show them round.

And when this happens, we can’t be sure if the Bulgarians will “flood” the UK or the Britons will flood Bulgaria!

One world in one word

Have you ever heard about Bulgaria?

I Like.Bulgaria and I was wondering how can I describe the country to anyone willing to understand more about it. “Bulgaria is not Sunny Beach – we have great nature and much more than cheap alcohol” was quite obvious, so hopefully this list would help. During my time home I was constantly thinking about these 4 words – they should give you a feeling of what it is to live in Bulgaria, or at least how I see it an year after I left it.

I was in Sofia for a month. For this time I did a placement in Gateway EUROPE and I was involved in the great project “We are the ideas 2.” Coordinating the team for social policies was unforgettable – I learnt a lot and worked with great people. For the last week I had 15 hours of sleep all together and 3 of them were in the bus from London to Bristol. This gives you an idea of how intensive everything was! However, I will be more than happy to repeat the experience, as these people gave me energy for the next few months!

My 4 words are:

1. Спокойствие /calmness/. The inner feeling of being with your family and friends. The joy of meeting people you haven’t seen for ages on the street. Home.
   

   Pirin mountain

2. Безпомощност /helplessness/*. This refers to  the attitude of most of the people towards the inadequacy of the governments (at least) since I was born. Many don’t believe anything can change – not in terms of people getting in politics and keeping up to their promises.
3. Енергичност /energy/*. Meeting tens of bright young people a day. All of them have realistic and optimistic ideas about their own future and that of their country. They are not afraid to work.
4. Хоро /horo – a typical Bulgarian dance/. Knowing that there is something that keeps the whole nation together for many, many centuries; being part of the whole, but not getting lost in the crowd.

Horo during the Oratnica concert in Sofia

*Words 2 and 3 are in total contrast, but that’s the best part about Bulgaria – there is so much that can be done in the country that working there is much more interesting than working in a country where everything is in order and you never get the chance to change anything on your own. It’s a great place for anyone eager to accept the challenge and make obvious improvements of the world around him. You won’t start from scratch, as Bulgaria is not a third-world country (it is indeed in the EU), but you always have the opportunity to develop yourself further and to bring the work of others (who probably lost faith) to an end and to prove the world that people should never ever give up!

Article in Bristol Globe: Emily Nisbet destroys prejudices with her dances

You can find my article about Emily Nisbet and her Balkan Dance House on page 17  of the newest edition of Bristol Globe.

 

The 3 categories of people abroad (Or “Don’t talk with strangers”)

Last week I spent 3 amazing days in London.
I’ll leave aside the joy of meeting people you know from home in a foreign country (I love the “Meet you in front of Big Ben/Victoria” moments!) and I won’t even try to describe the beauty of sunny London, seen from the London eye. Surprisingly, these few days in the English capital allowed me to understand better the Bulgarians.
Bristol, which happens to be my city in the last few months, is the second home of only 200-300 Bulgarians. London, on the other hand, is much more cosmopolitan and with the 300 languages spoken there, you can hear Bulgarian more often.
I was quite lucky, because it I was staying in Stratford – a neighbourhood where there are more Bulgarians than usual. Every time I heard someone talking Bulgarian, I couldn’t hide my surprise. Of course, as speaking my own language with someone live is more than a holiday for me in the last months; I couldn’t help, but talk with some of the Bulgarians I met.
The funniest moment was when a guy was about to start swearing me, because I tripped over. He said in Bulgarian: “You could at least have said “Sorry!”” and was ready to continue his thought, when I stopped him and started talking Bulgarian. He was so shocked! So was his 17-year-old wife.
Apart from him, all the other were really nice to me. And all of them warned me “not to deal with Bulgarians abroad”. I’ve heard this before, but I thought it was just a myth.
It wasn’t until I asked two boys in the underground for the directions that I realised that this is not exactly a myth. Don’t get me wrong, they didn’t abduct me!
The guys were really nice and we spend a couple of hours walking around London and talking about life. Thanks to these talks I found out the reason for the “don’t deal with Bulgarians abroad” attitude – in the everyday struggle in a foreign country it’s easier than ever to ask for help a fellow Bulgarian. It is also quite tempting to put yourself in front of him. It might not be something so big – just a couple of everyday situations, but when they start occurring more often, it might turn into a problem.
I came up with three categories of Bulgarians abroad. I believe that they apply to every nationality living abroad, as my German friends are behaving exactly in the same way:
1. The ones that communicate only with fellow Bulgarians and fail to explore the new culture.
2. Those who are open to all: people from their country, locals and people from the rest of the world.
3. The ones that try to avoid talking with people from their own country and sometimes “forget” their mother language.
I fit in the second group, but I know people from various nationalities, fitting in all three of them. However, neither the first nor the third categories are a behaviour I can pursue at the moment. But one never knows what will happen in the future 😀
As for the two guys with whom I explored London at night… even they told me that it’s dangerous to talk with them. It appears to be not normal to stop someone in the underground and accept their invitation to show you London. Surprisingly, I knew that. But I just listened to my intuition and it said that they are good boys.
My intuition never lies.

400 UKBA additional interviews for Bulgarians and Romanians

The Bulgarian embassy in London announced that the UKBA is launching 400 additional interviews for Bulgarians and Romanians who need a work permit.

Each nation will have 200 from them between the 4th of March and the 2nd of May. The Boarder Agency will have 10 additional interviews with Bulgarians every day (according to the site of the Bulgarian embassy), in comparison to the seven interviews a day for both nations until now. How to book one of this appointments? (alternatively, if you are from Romania, visit the site of your embassy)

The development follows after a long debate between the Bulgarian ambassador Mr Konstantin Dimitrov and the Boarder Agency. The campaign For equal student work rights for Bulgarian and Romanian students, however, will continue running, as this is not the best solution.

Do not forget to sign and share the petition: Show your support for the Bulgarian and Romanian students in the UK.

Finally, if you are waiting for more than six months for your work permit, follow these steps. 

The pleasures in life

I have Internet at home! 😀 Not really, but I bought a GiffGaff goody bag and I transferred the Internet to my laptop, so I’m really satisfied!

Apart from that, I should point out that I got 76% on my Newsgathering module, which is a 1st. At first I was so disappointed, because I was comparing it with a 76% on an English test at my elementary school (the last time I got a mark with percentage), but eventually I found out it is quite a good mark for a university here. So I am glad : )

In contrast to my previous posts that had such a clear topic and wanted to make you aware of the problems of Bulgarian and Romanian students in the UK, this one won’t be well-structured, if structured at all. I just want to write. In the end, this was the purpose of the blog – a place for me to write randomly. Because writing is one of the best pleasures in life 🙂

During our first day in the studio in the uni

 

Reading is another pleasure. Right now I am reading one of the best books ever – East of the West. The author is a Bulgarian who is living in the USA. His name is Miroslav Penkov and the book can be found on various languages. I recommend it to all of you living somewhere abroad and searching the answer of the question where do I belong? 

Today I heard somewhere that if you aren’t following your passion, you don’t have anything to lose. Interestingly, I was listing what I have to do in the next days and here are some of the points to be covered: prepare for my radio show (soon more info); think of a topic for the Bulgarian magazine I’m starting to write for from this month; go to the parliament in London, etc…. so definitely, I’m following my passion : )

On the other hand, I have what a friend called “the poison” – Bulgarian rakia (traditional Bulgarian alcohol drink) and I am more than trilled to share it with everyone here who is brave enough for it!

I also brought so many presents from friends and family that now my room looks much better. It’s incredible how a small gift can make you feel so special…

To sum up, January is going on quite well. And don’t forget to sign our petition 😀

Stop the panic attack! Or how is everything going on : )

There are more than 1,290 signs in our petition.

It seems that we’re getting closer to achieving our goal. I can proudly say that our government supports us. Yesterday, our Minister of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Minister, responsible for the EU issues in the UK, urging him to support us. Luckily, our government also doesn’t agree that even 6 months are a “normal” period for you waiting for a work permit, while being an EU-citizen.

Today, I went to a cafe with a friend and I was so glad to hear that the people on the next table were talking about our campaign. And they were really supportive.

This is due to the fact that we’re receiving quite a lot of media attention right now. One of the biggest newspapers is following the topic closely. Yuliyan Popov, a Bulgarian journalist, based in London, wrote an encouraging article and ensured me how important everything is. He supports us & we might ask him for help in the future.

I have to mention that I love how unite we are. It may sound as a cliche, but this is the best of all. In the beginning of our twenties (I even haven’t turned them yet :D), we see how much we can achieve. This is quite a good sign, as it means that when (and not IF) we return to Bulgaria in some years, we will be able to achieve even more and I’m positive that we can change the country and make it more attractive to all.

Bulgaria is a wonderful place, indeed!

P.S. An article by Ivan Krastev for the Guardian, explaining why should the panic attack, caused by the thought of millions of Bulgarians and Romanians coming to the UK, be stopped.    

Big things and normal people

Late yesterday I saw that the Boarder Agency has changed that particular sentence which we all were looking at – “This week we are working on cases that were received in July 2012. ” The day before it said “February 2012”.

This shows, I believe, that things are going in the right direction! (And I’m more than happy, because it means that they’re coming closer to my documents which were sent in October.)

But let’s leave this whole thing aside for a while…

I just want to say I feel so happy right now.

People usually don’t write when they feel happy. How many songs or novels were written when the author was happy? Not that many. The reason is because when you’re happy you don’t feel the need to write. But of course, you can write so that you can later come to that moment of joy when you’re down. And that’s what I’m doing.

Why I’m happy? 

I love Sofia! Meeting random people on the street; going out to see a friend and ending up with 10 other people; drinking coffee, real coffee; the underground (no, I’m not thanking our prime minister with that, I just missed how convenient it is, while I was in Bristol)… Sofia’s spirit as a whole ❤

On the other hand, January for me has always been a month of realizations and this makes me feel, as if I’m flying high in the sky.

A friend yesterday told me that when she was younger, she didn’t believe she can do anything big. “But now I see big things around me every day.  And I love it!”, she added. She undoubtedly has right!

Big things are all around us and each of us can do something big and good! Help a stranger today! Just to brake the habit of ignoring the world around.

Or be brave enough to change something!

If each of us changes something that is not so productive, sooner than expected we will notice such a positive transformation around us. But if the world seems too scaring, try changing yourself first and living in peace with you. It’s more than enough.

I met the author of this film the day before. He has a Hollywood prize and lives in peace with himseld.

 

P.S. My long interview by Milen Milenkov.

The power of the media

Since the article was published in The Independent, interesting things had happen.

To begin with, in less than 6 hours it was translated and started circulating in all Bulgarian sites for news and in the online editions of different newspapers. In the same night there were 10 pages with result in Google with the same title. To be honest, this is not such a surprise, as every time something is written somewhere about a Bulgarian, our media reacts like this. We are a small country, in the end.

More interestingly, my grandma called yesterday night to ask why haven’t I told her that I won’t continue my studies. Can you imagine they have said this on TV? It was so ridiculous! I haven’t taken such a decision. It’s just a possibility and I hope that it won’t be the case and I will get my work permit soon.

(One more lesson how you should do journalism! Not to scary my grandma! 😀 )

After this family issues, I received a letter from Kerry McCarthy MP. It starts:

“Dear Ms Kosharevska,
Thank you for your email regarding the treatment of people coming to study in the UK from outside the EU.”

I hope this is just a typing mistake, because Bulgaria and Romania are in the EU. However, she is really supportive and:

“On your behalf, I have written to the Minister of State for immigration, Mark Harper MP, to express your concerns. In particular, have asked the Minister to address your concern regarding the employment restrictions placed on Romanian and Bulgarian students, while they are studying in the UK.”

I’m really positive that she will help us and I’m looking forward to the trip to the parliament, organised by UWE.

Apart form this, my “Other” inbox in Facebook got quite crowded with people congratulating us and giving ideas. (Good for Facebook that they are now visible – before some months they weren’t and I missed important messages about our fundraising campaign.) I really appreciate this, but of course I don’t expect only positive reactions – a short look in the comments in The Independent and the Bulgarian translations will show that I’m right 😀 However, this is a risk worth taking.

The petition is going on and I would like to ask each of you to sign it. An open letter is being prepared and will be send to the authorities.

Yesterday I gave a long interview to a Bulgarian media and today it should appear. It feels so awkward to be the one who answers the questions and not the one who asks them. 😀

As a conclusion, I can say that the most important thing at the moment is that all Bulgarian and Romanian students stick together. If each of us starts doing something alone and doesn’t keep in mind the whole picture, we won’t succeed.

New Year and newspapers

“Yuliya Kosharevska, a first year Bulgarian student in Bristol is passionate about her studies, but she has one big concern. It’s not the workload, it’s the fact that she feels trapped as bureaucratic dithering prevents her from getting a job.”

Madalina Ciobanu for The Independent

This is a part from the article of my friend Madalina (the Romanian girl, I met on the airport, if you are following me :D) that was published today. You can read the whole article here.

I really appreciate the fact that people in England are open to hear about our problems and that they join our petition. (You can do it, too… and don’t be afraid to tell your friends about what is going on).

Apart from that today The Acwri Weekly also published my appeal to sign up the petition –

Now the holidays are over, I hope more MPs, MEPs and universities will support us.

That reminds me to wish you all a happy new year! One of my wishes this year is to work in the UK! Fingers crossed : ))

Keep calm and….

The yellow card project.

http://www.facebook.com/TheYellowCardProject 

We can change the situation, if we stick together! : )

For the first time since I started this blog, I have some great news for all Bulgarian and Romanian students in the UK.

But as with many things in life, for now only the possibility that things will change in a good direction exists. It is up to us to make this happen, to prove them wrong and to be equal to the rest of the world.

Maybe you are not aware of the fact that the only 2 countries out of 193 that face so strong work restrictions are Bulgaria and Romania – ironically, they both are indeed EU countries. Even non-EU students that come to study in the UK can work for 20 hours a week, once they have their visa. Only Bulgarian and Romanian students should pray to get a work permit. At the moment this takes 10 months on average. As a result not only are many Bulgarian and Romanian students missing their placements that are part of their degrees, but even more are facing serious difficulties to survive, because their families can’t support them financially.

This all not only sounds hilarious, but it appears to be illegal.

You might have seen the picture I posted some weeks ago:

A couple of days afterwards I found out the Facebook group from where it was taken and some days later I even met one of the organizers, almost by a chance.

To sum up what all that guys have come up to: we can change the current situation of the Bulgarian and Romanian students, because we, as students, classify as highly-skilled individuals and this means that we should get our registration certificate immediately. According to the UK-law immediately means up to 20 days. So the very fact that they say that we should get our yellow cards for 6 months is an infringement, what’s left for the current situation, where we are facing delays of 10 months?

Now we all have to change the situation and this is possible! Just follow the 4 easy steps below!

What each of us has to do is to:

1. Join the Facebook group, to keep updated.

2. Sign the petition, so that we can prove how important the change is.

3. Write to your own MP. You need just to type your post code. The sample letters are to be found in the group.

4. Write to your university – the International office and other departments that are responsible for financial issues for example should be able to help. Again, there are sample letters.

And this is all!

It won’t take more than 20 minutes, but each single email is really important, because together we are stronger. And remember that you don’t have to be a Bulgarian or Romanian student to sign the petition.  You can support us regardless of your background. Maybe you know someone in this position and you feel sympathetic about them or maybe you just value the human rights… it doesn’t really matter, the only important thing is that you care! In this way we will furthermore help all Croatian students that will face the same restrictions for at least 3 years, once they join the EU (this information is already on the site of the Boarder Agency).

Thank you very much for the support on the behalf of the 10,000 Bulgarian and Romanian students in the UK and their families and all the Croatian citizen that will decide to study in the UK, when they join the EU!

And have great last days of 2012,

Yuliya

xx

Life’s exams: TAKEN

2012 is almost gone, we’re obviously alive and like most people now and then I look back to see what has changed in the last 12 months, how I and the people around me have changed.

I should start with the most significant change: I moved to a new country and I live quite an exciting uni life. Apart from the things I’ve learned about journalism, apart from all the people from around the world that I got to know, I learned that I can cope alone. To be honest it wasn’t such a surprise, but still it gives you a great sense of relief and enthusiasm to go on and do what you think is important in life.

The “Goodbye” party

Back home I left wonderful people – friends and family, classmates and a lot more. Many of them are now across the world – England, Germany, Holland, Russia… But here there will always be a special feeling of  home, which will bring us together at least for the holidays. The world is so specious when you have friends at a distance!

Meine neue Jungen 😀 ❤

When I went to England, I thought that I’ll completely forget German, as I’ll be speaking only English. This not only didn’t happen, but I improved my German quite a lot – I met so many Germans and with some of them I get along really well.

The completely unknown Romanian girl I met on the airport! We share the same English destiny ❤

I found out how close we stay to Romanians  and that I understand Romanian, although it has nothing to do with Bulgarian. The Balkan peninsula is a magical place that you have to visit, in order to understand it. Culturally we are different from the rest of the world, but we’re close to one another and you can feel that when you meet other Balkan people abroad.

I learned that I can’t live in two places at one and the same time.  And I’m trying to accept it.

I saw how discriminating the English politic towards Bulgarian and Romanian students is. And I’m happy to say that this may end sooner than we all have expected. Keep your fingers crossed!

The journalism crew from the conference where I met all that great people

I met some great young Bulgarians, studying around the world. They all have the same goal: to make Bulgaria a better place. More than 150 students gathered in Sofia in the beginning of September to discus what should be changed and how. Now they are working on their projects – they are introducing menus for blind people across the country, they are making the education in Bulgaria better and more up to date and they are going to show the world what a beautiful country Bulgaria is (www.oib.bg). Now while I’m at home, I’m more than happy to meet them all! They are really inspiring and hardworking. Luckily, many are planning to come back to Bulgaria after they finish their education and that are great news for our country.

Danny during one of the concerts

This would have been a fantastic year, if it wasn’t for one lost. I lost a dear friend. He was just 18 and he fought for his life for 5 years. He had leukemia. The last 6 months of his battle were really intense – we had to find 216 000 Euro for around a month. This is a lot and it’s even more in Bulgaria. However, we did it! He traveled to Germany to have a transplantation. It was one of the moments when you show the world that miracles do happen, if we all stick together. I will never ever be able to say enough of “Thank you”-s to all the artist that took part in our concerts; to the organizers – most of them teenagers; to the people who donated and supported us in every possible way; to my friends who were next to me all the time. The operation, however, was unsuccessful. My friend came back and a month after that he passed away (just a week after my birthday).

It’s funny how someone who you knew for less than a year can take such a large part in your life. I will never forget that and I’ll keep trying to fight, as he did, and to appreciate the little things in life, as he did. Furthermore, as a journalist, I’ll know forever that when you know something for sure and when you see how someone (our lovely government, in the case) tries to change the focus and to draw dividends from something so pure as someone’s fight for life, you should not go with the flow and keep quite of what is going on. We were on the other side and it hurts to see yourself on the first page and to feel as a PR-tool.

– Is there an impenetrable fog? Is this why I can’t see you?

– No, there is no fog….

The black earth has hidden me.

I watered the green grass with my blood

and now I’m hidden from all the enemies. *

Now this doesn’t matter that much. If the outcome of the operation was different, everything would have been different… but right now all that matters to me is that I know that miracles do happen, but so do bad things. Sometimes we can’t do anything about them. We have to accept them. It’s hard, but that’s life.

That’s why my new year resolution is to try not to take control over everything and everyone. It’s impossible to control the world – sometimes things happen without asking for your permission; sometimes your phone rings in the most unexpected time of the day and you just don’t know how to react to what you hear… and you hope it’s a joke; sometimes things go totally wrong and you need months to recover from the inside.

I don’t want to leave anyone who has made it through the end of this post with a bitter taste. I want to wish you a fantastic new year – don’t underestimate the people around you, smile every morning and appreciate all you have! Be brave! And let 2013 be healthy for you and let it bring you all that what you really wish to have in life!

**

*This song was emblematic for me and some of my friends in the days after Danny died. And will be emblematic forever.

**A really special song! This is enough for now.

TO: Anyone planing to live abroad

Dear people, planing to live away from home,

I want to warn you about something. It might sound obvious, but it is not. Not in the moments when you are planning how you will move away (even abroad) and you will keep in touch with your friends back home. You imagine the lovely holidays at home (after hard exams for example) when everything is the same, don’t you?

Well, this unfortunately is a mistake!

I just found out something and I feel that I should tell you, so that you are prepared.

It is impossible to live in two places at one and the same time! 

Don’t get me wrong! Normally I am the person who can convince anyone that everything is possible. Anyone.

And I did believe this is the case whit living abroad. “It’s just a matter of good organisation and time management”, the immature me said.

However, it is not. Despite my good organisation and time management, I saw it is impossible to have the same contact with everyone as you did before. It is impossible to live so far away and to take the same place in someone’s live, as you did before. Even if you talk every single day on Skype. It’s just not the same as real life, as real people that surround you every day.

If someone is to prove me wrong, I’ll be more than happy to hear it! However now it’ll sound rather as a fairly tail.

But good news, guys! I heard about someone who traveled between two countries every week (4 days in country A, 3 days in country B) and I’m almost sure that his case was different! So if you don’t mind having your luggage constantly ready and giving quite a lot money for tickets, then maybe this is the way to live in two places at the same time!

Every cloud has a silver lining : )

 

P.S. And just to add some more tension, my essay wasn’t recorded as handed in. And now I’m waiting the mistake to be corrected, because I did hand it in!

3 months later…

Time has stopped. So have people here.

That is how it feels to be at home.

In the plane, with the other Bulgarian students that were going home for the first time after 3 months or so, we were wondering what would it be like. We (or at least I) expected an enormous change. In the last months everything was new for us, so for some reason we expected that new things were going on here. No, not at all. People here haven’t faced something that big and new, as we have. That’s why they are almost the same.

Of course, we’ve missed the last parties, but it still feels that we’ve been in a holiday for a week and we’ve came back to tell everyone what is it in the new place.

We have probably grown apart the everyday problems here. But we have faced our own obstacles. Those obstacles bring us (the students from abroad) closer to one another and it’s interesting to compare the differences across the UK and the other parts of the world.

On the other hand, the snow here is so beautiful that it can definitively make you forget about the essays that you have to write. And it’s interesting to find how the city has (not) changed.

Sofia is an amazing city. The buildings are from different ages. However, they fit nicely together and you have the feeling that you are in a place with an incredible history and even  brighter future. And so is it! Especially for the history part!

I will soon write an article about Sofia, so do follow me on twitter (@Yuliya_K_BG), if you are interested in coming to Bulgaria. Apart from that I have some other interesting plans for writing, but we’ll see if they will work! Fingers crossed! : )