Museums in Vienna

I’ve been in Vienna since Monday afternoon.  It’s a great city.  We took the Orange bus from Budapest to Vienna.  It was easy, quick and they serve coffee on board the bus.  (I don’t know of any trains in Eastern Europe that do this!)
The rest of the week has been devoted to getting to know [...]

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Seasons Greetings

Hello everyone!
Unlike past years where I’ve gotten my act together and mailed my friends and family Christmas cards, this year I recorded you a video message.  I know, I know… I did the same thing for Thanksgiving.   But I have to say that it’s quick and easy to do.  It’s actually taking longer for me [...]

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Post office adventures!

The post office in Sofia is a catch all.  It’s like the drawer in your kitchen that is officially the junk-drawer.  But it’s a junk-drawer in a good way.  You know, you go there to grab a pair of scissors, or a rubber band, a piece of string or a postage stamp.  The problem is [...]

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Rila Monastery: Bulgaria

I went to Rila Monastery today with my friend Kate who’s visiting and my friend from high school Matty and his girlfriend.  I think that a group of four was the perfect size to make the trip to Rila Monastery.  Also, I was happy to have Matty along.  His Bulgarian is much better than mine [...]

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Fulbright Presentation and Christmas Party

Today I got up early and headed over to the Fulbright office to make a presentation for the “100 Days in Bulgaria” celebration. I did a little math sitting there before the program started and (gasp!) I think I’ve been here for 135 days. My presentation was cut short by a power outage [...]

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Starbucks Opened in Sofia, Bulgaria

It’s official.  Starbucks opened in Sofia.  It’s located at the corner of Levski and Gen. Y. V. Gurko.  I guess that there used to be a Pizza Hut in the present day location of the Starbucks but it closed and in it’s placed opened another American symbol.
As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I don’t really [...]

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Christmas season in Sofia

I didn’t think that it was going to be a very busy Christmas for me but it turns out that is wrong. So I have a hunch over
the next three weeks, my posts will be a little bit shorter. Don’t worry though I’ll post as much as I can and the best stories [...]

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Students’ Day: Bulgaria

Yesterday was Students’ Day in Bulgaria.  The university students have their own holiday.  They don’t go to class and instead escape into the mountain resorts or the Sofia bars and clubs to celebrate their holiday.  Yes, it’s a big drinking day.
A couple of google searches revealed that Students’ Day had it’s inception in 1903.  It [...]

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My Odyssey Year (a-la David Brooks)

Recently, I’ve found myself thinking about the fact that here in Bulgaria I have more guy friends than girl friends.  This is the first time in my life that this has been the case.  In college, I joined a sorority and after college I worked on a MA in English–neither of these are institutions that [...]

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Daily Life

Well it happened again.  I woke up early, went to school, taught three 80 minute classes, filled out some more paperwork and at 2:30pm my way home bought a piece of street-food roasted pumpkin.  At home, I made a grilled cheese sandwich to go with the roast pumpkin.  It’s a great combo–part food of my [...]

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