Tour of Sofia 

Last week, we were given the opportunity to take a tour of the downtown parts of the city, which was given by a former student.  She graduated from ACS last year and is taking a year off to study opera with a teacher.  She was absolutely lovely, and was so excited to talk about her city to us!  We learned how to take the bus, she coached us through ordering bus tickets, saw some beautiful landmarks and buildings, and had a delicious lunch at this wonderful restaurant, MOTO (maybe MOTTO?) Anyways, I took some nice pictures of the city too, which are below with captions.  I love the downtown area, and I am sure I will be spending some time there during the year.  It is too bad it is not a little closer (about 3 miles from campus, which is not completely walkable so you have to bus/drive to get there).

This building is the Cultural center, which was built during the Communist reign  and was meant to house all the major venues, etc.  The square it was built on was supposed to be the largest public square, and that large (kind of ugly, but still kind of cool) statue was built to represent the Bulgarian independence from the Communist government.  I dont know if you can see from the picture, but it has fallen into some disrepair (as a lot of things around the city) and is behind a wall for reconstruction, although who knows if anyone is working on it.  Oh, the quirks of Sofia...

Some city views...

            

This is the National Theater, named and built after Ivan Bezov, a famous Bulgarian writer, poet, playwright.  The building was painted red, not because of the Communist ruling, but because red was Ivan's favorite color.  

       

 

This is the Russian Orthodox church.  All the other churches in Sofia are Bulgarian Orthodox, which is different from the Russian Orthodox tradition.  I guess there was a Russian diplomat/representative who visited the city, but wanted his own church to go to.  So this was built.  We didn't go in because I guess Bulgarians are not allowed, at least Mimi wouldn't be allowed, she said.  So, we had coffee at this great little shop right across the street.  Delicious espresso!!

This is the Hagia Sofia Church, built after St. Sofia, and the namesake of the city.  It was built in the 6th century, and has survived the centuries of war and invasions because it is protected by St. Sofia's powers.  It is a beautiful church.  On the side of the building is the Everlasting Flame, symbolizing Bulgarian independence, as well as the lions statue, symbolizing bravery and strength in numbers, as Bulgarians were the underdogs in many wars and struggles, but have come out victorious.

Pictures of the Nevsky cathedral, probably one of the more famous attractions in Sofia.  The inside of the cathedral is spectacular...but no pictures are allowed. 

      

A woman selling flowers outside the cathedral...

The following pictures are a smattering of different things: the Bulgarian Parliament, a political protest in front of the president's office, and other things on our way back to the bus stop. 

     

          

There is really cool graffiti all over the city.  It is neat seeing something that you are used to seeing, but only in another language...

     

And of course, evidence of the Americanization of other countries, a McDonalds, right down the street from the school...

Some Pictures of School

This is a view of the "quad" area outside my house, as viewed from my room:

My room being unpacked (and the middle drawer to my dresser that keeps falling forward on its own) 

Our kitchen/dining table:

Our HUGE living room, with a nice fireplace:

The other side of the living room as you keep looking towards the front of the house: 

Our house is pretty nice and has great open rooms.  One of the ladies that works in the office and has been taking us around (us being the new hire teachers) said that "The Pink House (as mine is better known as) is well know for its parties!  So, I know it is a lot of pressure, but once Erin and Meghann get back, I expect there to be a party in a week or so!"  I just laughed, but our house is nice and large for gatherings... :)  I expect there will be a few!

Some views of the outside of our home.  So cute!! 

Now, I am not sure why the first picture is in sideways, but my room is the two windows on the top floor kind of above the front door stoop; I am in the top front corner of the house. (You can see where my room is more easily in the first picture-  I am the two open windows on the second floor...)

I took a little walk around the campus tonight before we had dinner at the presidents house, and took some pictures of the buildings, and different places around grounds (it is going to be a challenge getting used to calling it "campus" and not "grounds"... silly UVA and its traditions...)  Anyways, my favorite spot is in this garden, called Dafina Garden, that was built in memory of this girl, a student, who was killed in a car accident right outside the gates to ACS.  Her parents were huge artists and so they were able to build this garden with the support of many artists around the area, who donated structures and different work to the space.  The garden is absolutely beautiful, and I think it will become my favorite spot on the grounds.  Tom, on our tour, said it is a popular hang out spot for a lot of the students, which I thought was great.  Here are a few pictures of the garden and its beautiful art and sculptures.  I will save the rest of the pics of grounds for a later post.  

My favorite sculpture is this tree with the heart in the center of the branches.  I think it is absolutely beautiful.  I am bummed I cannot seem to figure out how to rotate the picture and get it to appear rotated on the blog (bc it looks the way I want on the computer)

   

There is also a zen garden, which is in need of some weeding, but is also really nice.  Maybe I will take on a weeding task in some of my free time ;) We will see how that goes.  (also, sorry again for the rotated picture)

This is my first home made lunch in Bulgaria :)  Herbed cheese spread, salami, apples, on bread.  yummm

Paperwork, Money Exchange, and I still need an alarm clock...

Today I woke up in a frenzy because I had slept longer than the alarm that I had set on my phone.  I had plans to clean, put away more stuff, etc, however, I could only get up, shower, and respond to a couple emails I had received.  We met at Sanders Hall to fill out paperwork to get our Bulgarian ID's and then received a walking tour of campus from Tom, the president of ACS.  

They are doing a ton of renovations this summer, and there will be even more next summer, or so Tom said.  They are currently working on Sanders Hall, and the building where the science classes are held  They are also going to start working on the other two faculty villas to turn them into apartments inside each, as opposed to the shared spaces, like my house.  We have our own rooms and bathrooms, but we share a kitchen, living room, basically the whole downstairs.  I like it, but I can see how it would be difficult to live like that as a married couple...

After our walking tour, we piled into the school van, and Ivo and Tanya took us to the bank to exchange some money, which was in the Sofia Business Park.  The park also houses a really large nice movie theater, as well as a bunch of businesses, some stores.  I got to wander around a technology/appliance store, which was pretty fun--browsing DVD titles in Bulgarian :)  We then went to HIT which is a grocery store/other things store. They had all food and produce, wine, but also home goods, kitchen stuff, school supplies, candles, etc.  I had meant to look for an alarm clock today, to avoid any sort of timing issues with my phone .  However, I will just have to go out on my own later.  

I am the only one in the new hires who is living on campus.  I guess the apartments are pretty nice, but it has been hard to find reasonably priced electronics,  cookie sheets and so it has been interesting for some of them to get their places together.  

And another thing that has been a bit of a challenge, is that there are no plugs in the bathroom.  I have yet to find a good place to dry my hair, since I also only have one electrical plug in my room. 

I made myself lunch today-- quite tasty.  Some sort of salami-like meat, with a herb cheese spread on bread, and some sliced apple.  The school had bought me some food when I first got in, which was really nice of them.  I thought I would be cute and take a picture of my first homemade lunch in Bulgaria  :)

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Ciao! 

Just got back from dinner, which was actually at this nice Italian-esque restaurant on the top of this shopping mall.  Very nice being able to sit up in the warm weather and enjoy the city turning from day to night.  Mt. Vytosha was right in the backdrop of the cityscape, so it was very beautiful.  

I will have to take some pictures the next time I go out like that, so I can post them on here! 

I did take some pictures of us flying into Sofia, which seems to be nestled in this valley between a few mountains.  Very pretty, although the sky was a little hazy, so I am not so sure about the clarity of the images...

  These are on our approach into the Sofia Airport.  It looks like they are doing some sort of control burns on the fields.  However it has been unusually hot here, so it could just be from that. 

  

And then, in the airport, waiting for my baggage to come on the carousel:  Sofia Airport!  I am finally here!

So, it is happening.  It has been a whirlwind past few weeks, getting my life together, and I am finally here.  

My journey began last night, in Boston.  I flew out of Boston, to Zurich, where I enjoyed the joys of people watching in an international airport.  Lots of beautiful people!  After a brief layover, I continued on my journey to Sofia.  All of my luggage made it, and as far as I can tell from my unpacking, everything in the bags is still intact.  I am in the middle of setting up my room, unpacking my things, and making this house my place too. 

The house is really quaint!  It is white with red trim, and looks like something from Hansel and Gretel... It is pretty spartan inside, but it is really nice.  There was a bottle of wine and some other groceries awaiting my arrival, which certainly was nice :)  I hear the wine is pretty good here, so I am excited to try it out! 

Well, I am off now to get ready for dinner.  Some of the other teachers are supposed to meet for dinner in the city somewhere.  

I am going to use this blog to keep everyone here and away updated with my experience here in Sofia and at the American College.  Please keep in touch!! 

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