A Few Other Notes...

The food in Bulgaria is absolutely the best... especially the fruit, it's awesome. And the coffee, it's espresso that you can put cream and sugar in if you want. It's just awesome. I'm loving it food-wise here.

Sofia from the airplane

Tryavna

This is the Sokolski Monastery. We took a day trip there on Saturday. It is extremely beautiful. This particular day also happened to be a "name day" (Bulgarians celebrate name days like we celebrate birthdays) for everyone who has the name Maria (I hope this is accurate...) in honor of the Virgin Mary.


















With friends at Sokolski Monastery


I really like this picture. It's around the center of town in Tryavna. Bob, this one's dedicated to you, because of course as you know, "there's no color in Bulgaria."

A Great First Week

Well, I am finally getting to write in this blog. I will try to keep it short. I arrived in Bulgaria safely on Sunday afternoon. I faced a bunch of hard things at first - insecurity, homesickness, stomach sickness, realizing that I don't particularly like flying... but I have also experienced some of the most amazing things. I'm glad I'm here. There is no doubt in my mind that this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm honestly having the time of my life.

I've been here for a week now and things are going really well. I'm at this 2 week international school called FISI which is held at a hotel in Tryavna, Bulgaria. The hotel kind of overlooks the town of Tryavna, which is like a tourist village with the stone streets and everything, and it really is a beautiful place. The people here who I've met have been amazing, Bulgarians and Russians and Belgians and people from all over the place. I feel like in one week I've made some good friends. But, on Saturday the school ends and it's back into the great unknown :) Most everyone here will go either back to their home countries or to Sofia (the capital city of Bulgaria) to settle for the year. I'll take a train to Bourgas (on the other side of the country on the Black Sea Coast) to meet Nina, another school teacher there who has very kindly offered all kinds of help to me, showing me the city and helping me look for a place to live. Actually, she thinks she may have already found a flat for me to live in for a good price and I plan to look at it when I get there. It's extremely nice of her to help me so much. As far as I know, I'll begin my work at the English language school in Bourgas on the first day of the school year in Bulgaria, September 15th, and then take a break for the 24-25th to travel back to Sofia for Fulbright Orientation.

So, there you have it, I hope everyone is well at home. Keep in touch and I'll write again soon!

One of my first sights off the airplane - a giant

rainbow in the sky over Sofia. This was taken

on the bus with the group from Sofia airport to

FISI in Tryavna.