Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon

Hello all-

Sorry that it's been awhile since my last post. This one's going to be a short one, too. I'll throw in some random pictures to make it more interesting

It's absolutely beautiful outside here. Today I had class at 9am, then nothing until my night class later, so I took a nap then after lunch I hung out outside for awhile. It's like sixty degrees and sunny, so we took a blanket and just hung out for a hour or two. I tried to do some reading, but instead I mainly just ended up laying in the sun like a cat or something. I'm in such a good mood, now, though.

Yesterday consisted of a couple classes (E.E. history and Philosophy), then we had to watch this documentary for my other history class. It was called "Beyond Hitler's Grasp" and it told the story of the Jews in Bulgaria during World War II. During the war, Bulgaria was actually an ally of Nazi Germany, but King Boris III of Bulgaria refused Hitler's demand to ship the Jewish population of Bulgaria to death camps in Poland. There's obviously a lot more to the story than that, and the documentary about it was fascinating. It showed some of the different layers to what happened, including the involvement of different Bulgarian politicians and Christian Orthodox leaders.

My brother said that he likes the food pictures,
so I figured I'd keep 'em coming

I had a relatively uneventful weekend as well. On Thursday night, some of my friends and I went out for a drink with my two roommates (Sonya and Gergana) and one of my suitemates (Toni). This is one of the first times that they've gone out, and it was really fun to hang out with them. On Friday, during the day I hung out and did some reading (I am perpetually behind on reading here; well, not really ever behind, but always in need of reading to keep up). Friday night, we went back to our favorite restaurant, which is called Kuklite (The Puppets). It's the traditional bulgarian restaurant up on the top of this hill in the Old Town (I think that I've mentioned it before). This time, we had a Bulgarian friend with us, which helped facilitate things since this is one of the places where they speak no English. One of the catch phrases or mottos that comes up constantly here is "Take a Bulgarian," which basically means that it's some task (like going to the post office or calling somewhere) that will be incredibly difficult to complete without someone who actually speaks Bulgarian. Luckily, we've made enough friends by now that "Take a Bulgarian" isn't too difficult; we can always find someone to help us.

Speaking of Bulgarian helpers, the good Samaritan from our Plovdiv trip, Kristina, the girl who helped us get a taxi, is actually in my Bulgarian Folk Music class. I was happy to see her in class then after that weekend because we didn't really get a chance to thank her enough and we didn't know if we would meet her again. Also, I'm all about making friends in that class, since we're only going to have a final exam and no other grades. Plus, it takes an army to decipher our professor sometimes. Last week, I was talking before the lecture with two Bulgarian guys who sit by me about how hard it is to understand him. One of them said that he had friends who had had the professor for choir and that he was always telling them to "Be more precious," when he actually meant "precise." Once the lecture started, within five minutes the professor actually used the word "precious" in place of "precise," and I was glad to have had the warning (although it was very difficult not to laugh since we had just talked about it). Plus, I've been using that class to practice my cyrillic by writing the names of the songs and musicians in cyrillic and the people who sit around me check it for me to make sure that it's right.

On Friday, we went to a rock show at a local bar. It was actually a band made up of AUBG students and they were really good. I love live music, and they were good performers. They played all in English, and it was all recognizable songs (my favorites were one by the Arctic Monkeys and a cool rock version of Hey Ya). After that, I'm going to try to keep my eyes peeled for more live music around Blagoevgrad.

More food...tarator and half-eaten shopska

Saturday afternoon I did something very out of character- I had a massage. There's a spa right by the main building and we heard that it was good, so we decided to check it out. I got a back massage, and I actually liked it, despite my aversions to strangers and being touched. I decided that I'm too young to be so set in my ways, since my ways can't possibly have been around for that long, so I'm going to try new things even if it's a little out of my comfort zone. And this time, I was pleasantly surprised. Massages here are cheaper than in the States (or so my friends said...I don't really know spa prices in the U.S.). It was a little intimidating due to the ever-present language barrier, but the receptionist at the desk spoke English, so at least we knew what we were ordering. But the massage was really nice and relaxing and I may even get one again sometime.

I should probably stop writing this since I have my first exam here tomorrow (in Environmental Science) and I haven't started studying yet. Other things to briefly report: I almost joined a women's choral group that a girl from my Philosophy class is in, but one afternoon taught me that I am vastly under-qualified. I think that Abby might stick with it, though, and I probably go to their concert in a few months because I'm sure it will be amazing. I do think that I might join the newspaper here (not to write, just to proofread) but I'll have more info on that if I actually do it.

And, the most exciting news to report: this weekend I'm going to Belgrade! I am so excited. We just booked our hostel and we're having someone help us book bus tickets tomorrow. We'll be leaving on Friday at dawn and then heading from Sofia to Belgrade. I should get back on Sunday night. I literally cannot wait. If it weren't for this pesky exam I'd be completely over the moon, but for now I need to take things one at a time until the weekend.

Sorry if this post was sort of scattered; there are just too many things on my mind for me to properly report everything. I'll check back in once I get back from Belgrade.