Zwei Lauser in Blagoevgrad

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The End. It's not Black and White?!

“It will never be like somewhere else”

"Wer nicht fortgeht, kommt nie heim" /

"Who never walks away, will never come home“

The world is not black and white. Some might say life is not fair. I don’t know. But I know that I already miss Bulgaria, AUBG and especially „the people“. I feel a part of my heart is still in Bulgaria. Going abroad was one of the best decisions and some might know that I made a few bad decisions the semester before I left (SS 2009).

Some experience that they have changed during their exchange semester. Maybe I’ve too, but I guess not that much. I think a change already happened before I left because of my behaviour during the summer semester which I completely regret. At least my perception of valuing things and especially time has changed. I believe even more that we should use the time we have, not questioning ourselves if it is worth because we just have a few days, weeks or months. Life is too short and the moments we miss to valuable.

I would like to thank all of you for the amazingly great time we had in Blago. It was a pleasure to meet all of you! I’ll really miss the time in Bulgaria – it is among the best times in my live… I hope to come back soon.

If you are visiting Austria one day , do not hesitate to contact me (FB, Skype whatever).

All the best, great holidays and an even better year 2010.

Маркус

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Midterms etc.

After the last time-consuming week, there is just one thing likely to happen. Midterm exams of course. This also means that we are half way and now just 8 weeks ahead of us. But before we enjoyed “one week”, the so called Fall break. Even though I would have had enough to study I decided to leave this things behind me and go with some AUBG friends to Istanbul.

Istanbul is a very exciting, breath-taking city, the only one which is situated on two continents (Europe and Asia) and without any doubt the most fascinating city I have been to so far. We took 3 days off to explore the city but before we have “enjoyed” a 13h travel by train from Blagoevgrad to Sofia and by bus from Sofia to Istanbul. After a few pit stops in Plovdiv, the Bulgarian and Turkish boarder (including Visa stuff and Burger King), we arrived at 5:30 a.m. in Constantinople. As we haven’t booked an accommodation beforehand, our first goal was to find one to rest a bit and then to explore the city, culture, food….

The latter lead us to kind of mixed feeling. We experienced really good Turkish food such as Mercimek Corbasi, a really tasty and spicy Turkish soup, Turkish bread, meat, delights etc. as well as some worse-tasting Dönner in between some really delicious ones. We made a boat roundtrips, visited museums and palaces of former Sultans, the grand bazaar, the spice marked as well as a few mosques. The Turkish bath was one of the most exciting things. At the beginning some of us where a bit sceptical if it is worth it but afterwards everyone knew that it definitely was worth it. I firmly recommend to go to a Turkish bath if you have the chance. It is really awesome and a great experience and mix of sauna, washing and massage….
Well, as I’m not really motivated to write I suggest you get our own picture while watching the numerous pictures.