Just two short years ago, I was packing for a four-month adventure to Bulgaria. Never would I have expected my study abroad experience to have shaped my thought process as much as it has. It’s also been great to exchange travel stories with friends, family and colleagues. (“WAIT, WHAT?! You’ve been where?!,” “Where is that!?” and “They don’t speak English?!” have been reoccurring questions since my return, usually asked with a combination of disbelief and amazement).

Last May, I was reunited with several of my study abroad friends in Greeley, Colo. It provided us the opportunity to catch up and share how our semester abroad has shaped us. In some ways, it was like we hadn’t been separated for a year; our friendships just snapped back into place. It was amazing to know that our new perspectives and shared experiences had connected us not only for those four months, but for a lifetime.

As I recently traveled to New York City for the New Era Pinstripe Bowl with the Iowa State Marching Band, I was acutely aware of the different cultures coming together in one of the world’s largest cities. Hearing a variety of languages reminded me of my time abroad and led me to reflect on how much you can learn through interacting with people who have different ideas than yourself.

Now setting forth in 2012, I am beginning my last semester at Iowa State University. It’s an interesting crossroads to be at: knowing I still need to be focused on my education, yet thinking about the future and where I hope to be. Beginning a new job is yet another adventure that I fully look forward to! In many ways, a new job will provide similar opportunities to be pushed to think in new ways and interact with people who have different perspectives. So while I’m thoroughly looking forward to the last few months in my college career, I also look forward to the new opportunities that will happen in the next chapter!

Friday, May 7th was the last evening many of us spent together, as people left throughout the night and the next day. We had a barbecue, a sangria party and some time out on the town. I stayed up throughout the whole night, since I had to leave on a bus around 7 a.m. and didn’t want to miss anything. I watched people go and others had to watch me leave (I remember feeling fortunate that I was one of the first to leave out of my group of friends, so I didn’t have to watch them leave). I tried to hold in the tears, but it was not possible. I cried throughout part of the bus ride to Sofia and at the airport waiting for my flight. I just couldn’t imagine leaving the place I’d called home for the last four months.

Readjusting to being back in the States was difficult at first, as I didn’t feel that anybody truly understood my experience abroad. Luckily, I was able to see a few of my friends who had studied abroad. Telling them all of my stories was very helpful. But I started a new internship a week later and got back into a new routine, while still keeping in contact with my friends from abroad. Now, I’m in another semester of school, and while I will always miss being abroad, I realize I can have new adventures here, too!

I love looking back on these stories from my time abroad. But I also love seeing the progress I made in trying to understand other people’s perspectives. And I must say, I’m quite proud! I know there is so much more to learn about the world, but I’m extremely thankful to have spent those four months starting the process. I couldn’t be luckier to have had this experience and wouldn’t change a single moment of my time abroad. Receiving postcards from around the world makes me extremely happy and reminds me that those memories will never be changed! In one of my earlier posts, I quoted St. Augustine, saying “The World is a book, and those who do not travel only read a page!” And now I can happily say I have flipped through a few more pages.

On Friday, April 16th, AUBG held its 13th Annual More Honors. This event is a mockery of the University’s Honors Convocation and students vote for such categories as “Future Leader,” “Lick-a-Fessor” and “Alcohol Friendly.” Most of the student population attends this event and there is a lot of organization related to the event. At the same time, our friend Pau had two of his Spanish friends, Ruben and Kike, visit. They had studied abroad at AUBG last year through an Erasmus exchange, just as Pau is currently doing. It was neat to see how their connections were still strong with so many of the students and hopefully I’ll be able to visit before all of my friends graduate.

On that Tuesday, I attended a concert put on by the AUBG Choir, with performances also put on by Blagoevgrad’s children’s choir. Although the music was in Bulgarian, it proved to me again that music is about the emotion felt, not simply the words.

I left on Friday, April 23rd for Berlin, to see my friends Mackenzie (who was mentioned before as a foreign exchange student in Germany) and Ben (who is studying in Ireland)!

Upon arrival, I met with Mackenzie and we went and hung out with some of her friends with her program. It’s always great meeting students who’ve had the opportunity to study abroad, because we all have so many stories and insights on different places. On Saturday, I walked around the hostel for a while and then Mackenzie took me to KaDeWe, a large well-known shopping mall, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was bombed during WWII and left standing as is to serve as a reminder of what can happen, as well as what has happened.

We then met up with my friend Ben and we all went again to hang out with Mackenzie’s friends. On Sunday, Mackenzie had to head back to her internship and Ben and I met with two of his friends (both named Erin) from his program. We spent the day with them and went on a three-hour walking tour around Berlin, during which we saw the Brandenburg Gate, the bunker where Adolf Hitler committed suicide, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, and numerous other buildings ranging from churches to Humboldt University. We attended mass that evening at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral and then went to supper.

Sunday evening was definitely the most interesting evening, as we found ourselves in the company of four German guys: Andy, Claudius, Philip and Dierk. They asked us (Ben, the Erins and myself)  to join them at a table and so we spent the evening talking with them about a variety of things, ranging from school to culture. They were very entertaining and it was a great opportunity to meet with locals and learn about so many different things.

On Monday, the four of us spent a large majority of the day at the Jüdisches (Jewish) Museum Berlin. We spent about three hours in the museum, as it was extremely interactive and there was a lot of history included, not just the history of the Holocaust. The layout of the museum is very unique: there are three axis, and you follow each one to get to a different part of the museum. You’re supposed to interpret the layout as you like; there are no “right” answers. This is the same as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, located near the Brandenburg Gate. Essentially, the architects hope that you will talk about why they designed them as they did, so there will still be  conversations about the horrible events, rather than denial.

That evening we went to a restaurant suggested by a couple of local men in the museum and it was delicious. Then, I flew back to Sofia on Tuesday. This weekend was a wonderful refresher from school and also a great reminder that when I return home, my friends will still be my friends. It was great to be reunited with good friends, meet people they’ve been studying with and meet locals!  Berlin was a very interesting city, especially in the way they try to make buildings look older than they are (due to bombings during WWII).

With less than a week left in Bulgaria, I’m becoming very aware of the connections I’ve made here and how difficult it is going to be to leave the place I’ve lived for the past four months. I’m excited to come back someday and see this country, and hopefully it will be soon enough that I can meet up with friends. Now I just have to survive finals week, and then I’ll be on my way back to Iowa. Needless to say, saying good-bye will be difficult.

We arrived in Istanbul at 6:30 a.m. and headed off to find our hostel. Unfortunately, between ten of us, we only had five Turkish lira (the currency) and needed to find an ATM, but none could be found in the bus area. So, we hopped on public transportation, which ended up being interesting. We offered Euro, but they didn’t want to take that and so I offered a U.S. Dollar, and fortunately they took that. I later found out that because they trade with Russia, they primarily use the U.S. Dollar and prefer to use that over the Euro.

After finding our hostel, we ate breakfast and then walked down toward the water and saw several mosques. We then walked on the bridge over the Golden Horn (the first division of water that separates two parts of Istanbul), and went through the Grand Bazaar, where they try to sell you everything imaginable. After that we went into the Blue Mosque and continued to walk around town.

The next morning, we woke up and headed first to the Basilica Cistern, which is underground, and is host to two medusa heads. Next we went  to Ayasofya, one of the most well-known spots in Istanbul. This building was formerly a mosque and at one point was also a church. In 1935, they changed the building into a museum. We then walked through an amazing park and saw the outside of the palace.

After going through the Grand Bazaar again, we went to see the Galata Tower, from which you can get a panoramic view of the city if you climb it. We then grabbed supper… at Pizza Hut. Claudia and I had been craving good pizza since we saw a Pizza Hut advertisement. Bulgarian pizza often doesn’t have tomato sauce and if it does, it is very little. It was quite amazing to get some  greasy pizza! Plus, İstiklal street lit up at night looked really neat.

On Sunday morning, two of our friends decided to go to church and we met them there after the service. As we were waiting, suddenly a parade started. A van came down the road with many media personnel on top and people making a lot of noise. It was the 165th Anniversary of the Police Organization and the parade lasted quite a long time. At one point, they carried a banner that had the Turkish flag on it that passed by us for about ten or 15 minutes.

Following the parade, we continued walking on İstiklal street to see the stores and decided that since we were in Turkey, it was necessary to try to smoke some nargile from a water pipe. We sat in a place that had a water fountain inside and relaxed throughout the afternoon. We then collected our belongings from the hostel, grabbed supper and headed to the bus station for our trip back.

At the Bazaar, it was extremely interesting to see how the sellers interacted with potential customers. Some tried to be sweet, while others were pushy and rude, but there was always a fast-paced, urgent feel. One thing we realized was that if you act disinterested or not completely sure in something you actually want, then you’ll likely be able to bargain with them. There was a scarf that I really wanted, so I decided to try to bargain for it. I asked how much it was, and our conversation went something like this: “24 lira.” “No, thanks then.” “How much are you willing to pay for it?” “15 lira.” “Not 15, not 24, but 22.” “No, 15.” “18″ “No, 15,” “17.” “No.” “Ok, 15. Where are you from?’ “The States.” “Ah, very good deal.” So overall, I was happy that I tried the bartering system. I wish I would have started lower than 15, but I felt good about not accepting the price offered.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed my experience in Istanbul and wish I could have stayed a few more days to see more of the city. The Turkish lifestyle seemed very interesting to me and was definitely different of the lifestyle we experience in Bulgaria. Time is running down quickly here and so I hope to make the best use of my time left!

My friend Jill arrived- all the way from Iowa- on Thursday, March 11th in Sofia. I met her at the airport, after learning to navigate Sofia’s public transportation and then we took the two-hour bus ride back to town. Upon her arrival, we decided it was appropriate to show her the nightlife and so we celebrated her arrival! On Saturday, the 13th, my friend Erin came to visit me from her own study abroad in Italy.

Throughout the week and weekend, we had various birthday parties to celebrate as well as St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday, the last day of Jill’s visit. But I also wanted them to experience some of the Bulgarian lifestyle I see each day. Therefore, I showed them Varosha, the old part of Blagoevgrad, and Bachinovo, the path that leads to the so-called lake at the end of the path in the mountain. This lake is rather a cement slab as it’s not filled with water, but in the past, it’s been used for paddle-boating. Also, we went to the movies, where they got to experience Bulgarian sub-titles, and to the bowling center. They saw the Main Building and experienced many Bulgarian foods, such as banitsa and the food at Mehana Milano (the mehanas are the traditional Bulgarian restaurants with live music). The girls found a love for kartofi cec cirene (potatoes with cheese)!

Jill left on Thursday morning, while Erin left Friday morning. It was a great experience to get to have two of my closest friends come visit the place I am living and studying and show off my town and all of things I’ve discovered!

After a week of studying and being productive, I was able to take a weekend trip this past weekend. We left Saturday morning for the town of Gotse Delchev, where we visited a museum and ate lunch. It was neat to see the town, as it is the hometown of one of my friends at AUBG. After that, we traveled up the mountain into the historical village Kovachevitsa, where the architecture has been preserved. We explored this village for a couple of hours and headed for our final destination, Bansko.

Bansko used to be a more traditional Bulgarian town, but in the past few years has become a much more touristy city, as the ski resorts in this city have become very popular. We walked around the town for a bit and ate at a mehana. The food was good, but unfortunately over-priced. Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel, where me met a couple new friends who wanted to explore nightlife in Bansko. So we agreed to meet them to go to a different mehana where there was a DJ throwing a party and later to a club. It was a lot of fun meeting new friends and enjoying relaxing after a day of exploring. The next morning, we took the bus back to Blagoevgrad. And can you imagine that it was snowing after a day where it had been about 60 degrees Farenheit!

Last night, I had the opportunity to drive up the mountain and look over Blagoevgrad in the night. I hadn’t yet seen the city from this view and it’s amazing how your perspective can change based on what you know! I enjoyed seeing this side of Blagoevgrad I hadn’t yet observed: the sight of the city from above, with the noises of loud Roma (the proper term for gypsies) music, as they celebrated at a party. The night all-in-all made me realize that you can think you know a lot about where you are, but that there is always more to see and learn. I hope to keep exploring throughout my life, as it’s so wonderful to learn a new perspective. Next stop? Istanbul!

We took off from AUBG on Thursday, February 25th to stay overnight in Sofia to catch our early morning flight on Friday. After we took the two-hour bus ride, we checked in at Hostel Mostel and were given directions to a variety of restaurants. So we wandered the city and came across a wonderful Bulgarian restaurant Pri Yafata. The server was friendly and excited to learn about why Americans were in Bulgaria and the food was delicious. After the meal, we headed back to the hostel to try to get a good night’s rest (though that was made difficult by a man in our mixed dorm who kept mumbling in his sleep and scratching his arms loudly).

Friday morning, we checked out of our hostel at 4:45 a.m. and took a taxi to the airport, where we took our plane to Rome Fiumicino airport. From there we took a shuttle across town to Pensione Ottviano, our hostel for our nights in Roma! Since we hadn’t eaten breakfast, we went to a cafe, where my friend Kelli was blown a kiss by the middle-aged waiter and called beautiful, which we found hilarious considering we’d been in Rome for about an hour and a half. Our hostel was a five-minute walk to Vatican City, so we began our adventures there! We just walked outside there and enjoyed the beauty and decided to go inside another day. After grabbing pizza, we went to the castle, and then further down to the sacred ruins near the Colosseum, as well as visited Vittoriano, which is one of the newer museums. For supper, we had pasta and enjoyed our first Italian gelato!

On Saturday, we woke up at 7:30 a.m. and walked again to the Vatican, where we went in. St. Peter’s Basilica is gorgeous and completely indescribable. It was humbling to be there and realize how lucky I am to have such great friends and family and this study abroad opportunity. While there, I ran into an Iowa State student, Angie, who lived in Linden Hall with me this fall! It really is a small world after all! We then grabbed pizza for lunch and walked to the Colosseum, which is about a 40 minute walk from the Vatican. After a guided tour of both the Colosseum and Palentine, we enjoyed supper at Hard Rock Cafe. This was also our first day using the metro in Rome and found it to be quite convenient after a long day of walking!

On Sunday, we walked to the Vatican again to see the crowds. On the fourth Sunday of every month, the Vatican museum is open to the public for free. The line stretched as far as we could see, so we opted to continue on our way. We took a walk off the touristy path to see the daily life of Italians and it was wonderful to avoid some tourists for the time. After that, we walked through Circus Maximus, where the chariot races were formerly held, and went to buy train tickets for Naples. Later that afternoon, we relaxed by the Trevi Fountain.

Monday, March 1st is a Bulgarian holiday “chestita baba marta,” which means happy grandmother March. To celebrate, Bulgarians exchange martenitsas (bracelets) with their friends, which you are to hang up on trees when you see the first sign of spring during the month. So we began our day by exchanging our martenitsas, and then barely caught our train to Naples. Upon arrival in Naples, we grabbed food in the food court and took the Circumvesuviana (Naples’ metro system) to Pompeii, the city that was covered by the volcano eruption from Mt. Vesuvius. It was perfect weather, warm with a slightly cool breeze, and we enjoyed the city of ruins for a few hours before heading back. In Naples, we walked around downtown for approximately an hour, but were slightly scared for our safety, so we made our way back and caught the train back to Roma for our last night in the hostel.

A flight to Venice began our Tuesday, followed by checking into our hostel and wandering around the city. Basically Tuesday was our relaxing day, and we enjoyed looking in shops and seeing the water that surrounded us! On Wednesday, we woke up and walked to San Marco Square and saw the Basilica there. Venice is a wonderful place to relax and just enjoy the sights, however after our first day, the weather was much cooler.

On Thursday, we boated to the islands of Murano and Burano. Murano is known for its glass-blowing and Burano is known for its beautiful houses of different colors and its homemade lace. That evening, my roommate Erin from Iowa State met us in Venice to join us for the weekend. She is studying a couple hours north of Venice and it was wonderful to catch up with her! We went out for supper and enjoyed an early night in.

The next morning, we enjoyed walking around the city again, and went back to San Marco’s Square, as well as walked a little further down the path near the Adriatic Sea. Though there is no nightlife in Venice, we decided to see if we could find something to do that evening. So we went to the Campo Santa Margherita, where many college-aged students go. We went to a small bar called Orange and enjoyed appetizers and a couple of drinks, but this “nightlife” is much different from typical nightlife we have experienced in Europe; it was much more relaxing. We headed back to the hostel around 10 p.m. for one last night staying in the hostel in Venice.

The next morning we took a two-hour and twenty-minute train ride to Milan. After checking in to our hostel, we went to a cafe that served us delicious food. It was nice because they spoke only Italian and we hadn’t really had this happen to us yet. After enjoying our time there, we found the place where we could take a bus in the morning for our flight home. We then went to the Duomo and walked around, enjoying the live music and gelato. We then went to Sforza Castle and by luck happened to walk through it to find a carnival! There, we enjoyed cotton candy and fried bread and Kelli and I went on a ride (similar to the Sidewinder at Adventureland, for those of you who are familiar with that).

On Sunday morning, we took a 5:35 a.m. bus to the airport, and flew from Milan back to Sofia. We then took a taxi to the bus station and caught the bus back to Blagoevgrad. By the end of this amazing trip we were extremely exhausted and couldn’t believe how much we’d seen in just one week.

I think probably one of the most interesting parts of this vacation to me was the language. Upon arrival, we kept saying “da” or “ne” for yes and no, rather than “si” and “no.” But by the end of the trip we were answering in the correct langauge and it has slipped into our lives back in Bulgaria. For instance, at the airport, I told the taxi attendant “avtogara,” which is the Bulgarian word for bus station. He then asked if we wanted the central bus station. My response was “si.” Also, it was interesting to be able to read a language written in the Latin alphabet again, and because of our high school Spanish courses, we were able to comprehend some of the text when needed. However, in Bulgaria, we can read Cyrillic fairly well now, but often that doesn’t help because we still don’t know the meaning behind the words, unless we get lucky with certain words that are foreign words just written in Cyrillic- such as taxi and apartment.

Overall, this spring break was more than I could’ve ever asked for. I was able to travel with two of my new friends, as well as see my roommate from back home, and see so many beautiful things. Personally, Pompeii was my favorite simply because it’s amazing how much excavation has went into that project and the weather was perfect. Also, I realized that these cities can’t be compared because they are all beautiful in their own way and that makes me very excited to continue to travel throughout the world!

In the last week, I’ve made taken a little more effort to jump outside of the group of exchange students and spend time with full-time students. This past Friday I was invited by my Bulgarian friend to join his group of friends who were going to sit outside and chat and play guitar. So I jumped right in to my greatest diversity evening so far! At the beginning of the evening, there were people from Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro and by the end of the evening there were about 20 students from many countries.

The reason that this evening was so special was that the friends took turn playing the guitar and singing songs from their own countries. It was so cool to just sit there and listen to the different music being played and feel the emotion of the music without understanding  a single word. Also, it was neat because their languages are Slavic they understand much of what one another is saying. And luckily enough, I had a friend kind enough to translate the jokes and conservations for me. There were Serbian snacks shared throughout the night and it was peaceful as we listened to the Bistrica River flow in the background of the music being played for us. And during many of the songs, the whole group would join in and they also played a couple American songs too.

Each day, I’m beginning to appreciate this diversity more and more and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. As I spend more time outside of my group of exchange friends, I learn more about the culture created by full-time students here too. It’s great to be able to see meet so many different people and learn different things about the world, both from exchange and full-time students.

On Monday in my Ethnicity and Culture Conflict course, we watched a PBS video “A Class Divided” about the Iowan teacher Jane Elliott who did an exercise with her 3rd grade students shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. She separated them by blue-eyed and brown-eyed students and for one day each they were the “superior” students. At the end of the exercise, the students all realized how it felt to be discriminated. They as a class decided right then that it was wrong to judge people based on any outer reason, but rather they must get to know a person before judging them.

It was an interesting exercise that reminded of my life in Iowa, as I realized that even now there is not much diversity in rural Iowa communities. Yes, there is diversity at the universities, but it is not necessarily the same integrated diversity that occurs naturally at AUBG. Friday was probably the first time I’ve ever felt even in the slightest way in the minority and although there were times I couldn’t understand anything going on, I was able to enjoy the company and experience a variety of new cultures.

I am so happy to have this study abroad experience in such a diverse setting and am looking forward to all there is to learn from my newly found Bulgarian friends, as well as all the exchange students and any other students I can befriend while I’m here. And hopefully I’ll go back to the States with a greater worldview than upon my arrival!

All in all, there were ten of us who visited Lili in Sofia this past weekend: one Macedonian, one Belarussian, one German, two Spaniards and five Americans. After arrival in the city, we made a run to the mall’s food court so we could enjoy McDonald’s, Burger King and/ or KFC and then went on to Lili’s home. In Bulgaria, most families live in flats situated throughout different neighborhoods. They are often small and many of the buildings are worn and torn from the many years of being inhabited. Lili’s family lives in one of the newer, nicer buildings in her neighborhood. Their apartment consisted of three bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen and living area. One of the most surprising parts was that for her one apartment, the levels beneath there are three apartments that fit in the same area.

Upon greeting her mother and sitting down in the living room area, we were immediately given a plate of salami and one of kushkaval (a type of cheese) and were offered drinks. As standard practice in Bulgaria, you are to present your host with a gift, usually a box of chocolates, a bottle of wine or an odd number of flowers (even numbers are for funerals). We presented two  boxes of chocolates and throughout the evening they kept offering us the chocolates we had offered them, though we insisted the chocolates were for them.

After sitting around for a while and playing card games and chatting, we went to a restaurant called Happy. It was delicious food and two of our friends met us there, as they had caught a later bus. After the meal, we went back to Lili’s apartment and were greeted by her father, who wanted to share with us his numerous bottles of homemade alcohol, including wine and a traditional Bulgarian whiskey called rakia. Then, we went out to explore the town at night. It was a great bonding experience for all of us and we thoroughly enjoyed our random fun! Some of those entertaining moments include: doing the air guitar while laying on the floor of a dance club, random Bulgarians who joined in dancing with us and coming home to see that there was homemade chicken and potatoes that the family had eaten for supper and sitting in a circle, eating ravenously, as though we hadn’t eaten in years.

In the morning, we were greeted by fresh, homemade banitsa, which is a traditional Bulgarian bread with feta cheese inside. It was delicious and we were all excited to get homemade food after our long evening out. Again, Lili’s mom and sister insisted on serving us coffee, tea and water. We all told Lili how awful we felt that they treated us so nicely and she responded, “You’re in a Bulgarian household; that’s the way we do things.” After breakfast, we packed up our belongings, took a few pictures on their balcony and headed out.

On the bus that took us to the main bus station, a thought struck me as interesting. I was sitting there, talking to my friends in English, but also listening to the Bulgarian being spoken around me. Although I am beginning to pick up a few words that help us get around town, the language itself still sounds mostly like gibberish to me. I then wondered if that’s how the Bulgarians hear us speak English. It’s just an interesting thought and falls along the same line as when I speak, I know I must slow down so non-native speakers here understand me, just as when I’m learning Bulgarian I must hear it spoken slowly.

The hospitality we experienced this weekend was wonderful, especially because of the large numbers that crashed into the home of my roommate. It was great to visit a truly Bulgarian household and learn the customs within their culture and I’m beginning to see even further that studying abroad is much more than just studying, but about absorbing the culture around me.

Firstly, I will begin by saying that one of the most obvious observations I have made is that most Americans are ignorant. Everyday, I sit in class, listening to the professors and students engage in conversations that make me wonder to myself  “Why do I not know any background to this topic?” or “How do all of these students know so much about America when I know so little about other countries?” Part of this reason, I personally believe, is that American media focuses on American and not international news, other than perhaps our endeavors in those countries. Also, other countries study America and their interaction with America, whereas we learn very little of this, other than in some history classes. One neat thing that happens here is that my American professors are worldly and are able to both learn from students, while also providing an American outlook, in order for the students to understand many sides (as students here have different viewpoints from each of their respective countries, not just the Bulgarian outlook or an American outlook).

Secondly, the Bulgarian culture is in contrast to the States. Although everyone is nice here, their language is more abrupt, so they may appear rude at times. They are always willing to help, especially if they realize you speak English and there is nobody else around who can translate for you. Having only been apart from the Soviets for 20 years and only in the European Union since 2007, there are often times signs of still trying to rebuild their economy. Thus far, I have only really been able to explore my city, Blagoevgrad, and see Sofia, the capital, but upon passing through villages, you can see that life there is still fairly primative. Also, stray dogs and cats are left to roam the streets, though they do look rather well-fed and are spayed/ neutered and tagged. We have taken to one of the dogs especially, named Mama Dog, who will walk the 15 minutes downtown with us to make sure we are safe. There are also Roma throughout Bulgaria, but from my experiences they are harmless.

One of the most exciting elements of being abroad is communication. Most of the Bulgarians from older generations do not speak English, as they learned German when they were growing up. Therefore, we must resort to the few Bulgarian phrases we do know, as well as a lot of pointing and nodding. Also, their nonverbal communication is different than ours; for yes, they nod side to side and say “da,” while they say no by nodding up and down and saying “ne.” Not to mention that they use the Cyrillic alphabet, so we must also try to read many symbols that we aren’t sure of (note: all of the words in my blog are what I believe the Latin version of the word would sound like).

It’s fun to have little break- throughs in our daily lives. For instance, last night we got into a taxi after watching a 3- on- 3 basketball tournament that our friends were participating in. We were a large group, so we had to split in to multiple cabs, leaving us without a Bulgarian speaker. We said our destination “Skaptopara edno” and our taxi driver replied with a Bulgarian phrase. I replied, “Ne razviram b’lgarski,” meaning we don’t understand Bulgarian. He then asked, “Otkidesi?,” meaning where are we from. We were able to answer than and he then said “Super Sasht!” (Sasht being the word for the United States). Upon arrival back, we were so excited that we had pulled off this short conversation without forgetting everything we learned and told our group of friends! Even the little events make studying abroad exciting- you get to explore the world, not only through sight, but by interaction with people.

A few other observations: smoking is a social norm here, and you are allowed to smoke in most restaurants and bars; drinking is also a social norm, as the legal age here is 18 and often times there is alcohol at student government events and can be found in most dorm rooms on campus; women especially find it  important to dress up at all times, including boots and scarves- you will hardly ever see students in their pajamas even in the lobby or computer lab; Americans get mixed reviews- at times people can be annoyed that you don’t understand their viewpoint or don’t know their language, while other times they find us amazing and interesting; and finally, the regular dramas of daily life happen anywhere, whether you are in the States or abroad, there are those who cause drama and those who choose to ignore it.

I’d be happy to answer any specific questions that you have throughout my experience and will continue to post my observations, as well as my travel experiences!  ~”The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”  ~St. Augustine

And so we went…

Luckily enough, we’d met a friend named Goran just the day before and found out he was from Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. He was able to guide us in our decisions and made it possible to plan a weekend trip just a couple of days.

We (six of us) left on Saturday morning at 10:00 by cabs and we arrived in Skopje around 12:30 Macedonia time (they are an hour behind Blagoevgrad). Surprisingly enough it was cheaper to cab there and saved about four hours it would’ve added if we’d had to have switched buses. Upon arrival, we stopped in the McDonald’s to use the restroom and grab a snack. That cheeseburger and fries was glorious! We don’t have McDonald’s in Blagoevgrad, though they do have one in Sofia when we travel to the capital.

After checking in to our hotel, we crossed the old stone bridge, which withstood a major earthquake in the late 60′s, when much of Skopje was ruined. We walked across the bridge into the Turkish neighborhood, which was very neat to explore. We purchased some baclava and roamed the streets for a little while, then walked across the road to the fortress, which is dated to the Ottoman Empire. While we were there, we heard the singing over the intercoms coming from the various mosques in the Turkish community.

We crossed back into the main square of Skopje and grabbed a quick drink at a little cafe in the mall. We walked down the main street (conveniently called Macedonia Street, just as the main square is called Macedonia Square), and saw the birthplace of Mother Teresa, which has a plaque and then is marked to show how small her birth-house was. We then continued down the road to Ramstore Mall to buy souvenirs, followed by supper at a Mexican restaurant called Amigos. We had delicious food and margaritas, accompanied by tequila shots on the house. The culture in general in this region is very laid back when it comes to dining, so we took about two and a half hours to eat and then headed back to the hotel for the evening.

On Sunday morning, we woke up and checked out and decided to see what was open. As expected, there weren’t many places open, but we were able to see a couple really neat things. There is a Mother Teresa Museum there that is very interesting. They have many artifacts, including things she had written. Also, there was a chapel-like area and it was just humbling to see all of the things they’d collected. The museum itself wasn’t a place where she’d lived, but just a modern building. We also went to the Museum of Skopje, which wasn’t horribly interesting, although the clock on the tower of the museum is permanently set to the time when the earthquake hit all those years ago. We finished our visit to Skopje with another large, amazing meal, this time at the Pelister, which serves Macedonian-styled food. It was a delicious end to our Skopje adventure.

On the way back, our cab driver offered to show us a large, beautiful monastery St. Joachim Osogovski which is located in the mountains in a village called Kriva Palanka. It was gorgeous and the sun was setting, so I was happy to get to experience that. Unfortunately, the border police were slow that evening and there was a large charter bus just in front of us, so it took us longer to get back, but the experience was totally worth it.

I can hardly believe I’ve been here for two weeks and I’ve already been able to travel to another country! It’s so great to be able to explore everything. From Iowa, that drive would’ve gotten me to Omaha, so to be able to say, “Oh, I just went over to Macedonia for the weekend,” is unbelievable. My friend Mackenzie is visiting this weekend from her own study abroad to Germany and I hope to take her to the Rila Monastery, so I hope to have more stories to tell!