Searching for the lost son

The last weeks have been time consuming (tests, homework assignments) Nevertheless I was looking forward to the short visit of my parents this weekend. Although they just spent 2 nights in Blago, we were able to visit Rila + Monastery, Bankso, Sofia as well as Blagoevgrad. Thus it was my first time outside of Blagoevgrad after the trip to Rila Monastary during the Introduction Week. Although I decided after our initial cab-ride from Sofia Airport to Blago that I’m not willing to drive in Bulgaria, I rented a car to accomplish all these trips, and guess what I wasn’t as scary to drive as I thought it would be.

The fact that I have to drive in a foreign country with barely knowledge of the national language did not make me more confident when we fetched the car. (We means that Preslav, one of my room mates, helped me to overcome the language barriers at the rent-a-car-office….) Before I left Blago to pick up my parents at Sofia Airport on Friday 8:30 p.m., we went to the supermarket and I was happy to convince Prosper to be my co-driver and navigator. Therefore I felt much more confident to get to the airport in Sofia. Even though it was not so easy to find the way from the centre of Sofia to the airport because you barely find street signs. But we finally made it. I wonder if I would have found the airport without the incredible assistance of Prosper.

A resume of the driving experience: After 700 km in 2.5 days I perceive that Bulgarians overall are defensive and careful drivers, as well as I have to make an exception for a few of them which seem to be “a bit” risk taking, not to say that they are weary of live. I mean overtaking in unclear curves, in two-ways traffic-tunnels, both with double solid lines. As it becomes in Austria more common to neglect to use turn signal, I could keep track of the same approach here.

What are you most scared of?

Probably speaking in front of numerous strangers? Crossing a street in Bulgaria? Or it could be to forget to lock the toilet door. The latter could be critical in Bulgaria as it is not always possible to lock these doors….

As usually some impressions from the last day (click to enlarge)....

I might have become addicted to panos, I hope that does not bother you

Austrian bread in BG


Care package with some of the best "Austrian" product


Bansko:










Blagoevgrad:









Rila Monastery:










Sofia:

Tell me why? I don’t like Monday.

According to Murphy’s law if anything bad can happen, it probably will and at the worst point in time.

In my case it was last Monday. While studying nearly the whole weekend in order to be prepared for my first two exams - Accounting and Corporate Finance. Monday is normally my busiest day of the week with four courses and a tutorial. This Monday there should have been a sixth appointment, my accounting exam, as mentioned. In our lecture on the same day our teacher was very happy and told us that we postpone the exam because he forgot to book the auditorium….very nice (I could have had a relaxed time that weekend and focusing on the CF exam) In the afternoon I received an e-mails. I was notified that I have to write an academical paper for a course in Austria, which I’m not able to attend because they have preponed it from the 6^th to the 5^th semester. In my humbled opinion really fair because my colleges just have to attend classes and sleep, there won’t be an exam, presentation or anything else. As well as some other stuff which I received that day...

The right frequency for Blagoevgrad.... http://bit.ly/8empW

The rest of the week turned out to be much better…

I have my hair cut today, 7.5 Lev (< € 4) and since then I'm looking like a young, 15 years old scallywag......(no pictures, oh)

And a picture from the kitchen on the fourth floor

(click)

First light experiments

Sometimes when you do not want to study....some things occure....










Maybe we try to right in Cyrillic the next time ;)



Mr. T was also present...















Of course a pano at the end....

Studying, Election Day, Austrian Cuisine.....

It was a lovely Wednesday when I received a note from the University that a parcel for me arrived. The procedure to pick it up is a bit different. First you have to go the University and get a “pick up ticket” which you need to get the parcel at the post office. Not only the pick up ticket is a constraint to get the parcel, you also have to find the post office.…. I thought that I know where the post office is but it turned out that I just knew the building where it should be. I went to the wrong wing of the building, where all P.O. Boxes are. As mentioned in previous posts Bulgarian as not likely to speak English. Surprisingly an nearly 70 year old lady was “able” to communicate in English (a few phrases) and was so kind to guide me to the post office…..

Some might say that you are not learning/studying while being abroad. To my regrets this is not true for Christopher and me e.g. on Thursday I finished my homework for Accounting, which took me 10 hours or 34 pages as well as a lot of other assignments and pre-readings. It seems more likely that we have more to do for our courses than people who are permanently studying at AUBG. Normally it is and should be inverse. In my humble opinion we are not only here to spend 10 hours per day studying in our room and just to leave it for classes. In this case would it really make sense to go abroad? I venture to doubt that…

Earlier as expected a letter arrived....(last Friday)

In order to carry out my duties as an Austrian citizen, I received a letter from the municipal office of my hometown. I requested this letter to be able to take part in the upcoming elections. I had to cast my vote for the next major and the municipal council as well as for the Upper Austrian state government. Easy procedure….as you might realize from the photos below.

A short introduction how you to cast one's vote while you are studying abroad.

1. Request the necessary documents and hope they will arrive on time.

2. Open them, sign the ballot (Wahlkarte)

3. Cast your vote for the major, municipal council and state government.

4. Put the ballot in the correct envelope (violet for major and municipal council and grey for the state government) and give both envelopes in the big envelope in order to assure secret voting and seal the envelope.

5. Send it back.

What you should NOT do:

Drink the night before........

Finally we were capable to cook for the first time in the dorms. The mission was clear, it should be something traditional, Austrian cuisine as well. We decided to make Wiener Schnitzel....(see picture)

What Mr Wikipedia tells us about it: “Wiener Schnitzel (Wiener Schnitzel in German, where Schnitzel means a cutlet without bones) is a traditional Austrian dish and is a popular part of Viennese and Austrian cuisine, consisting of a thin slice of veal coated in breadcrumbs and fried. In Austria the dish is traditionally served with a lemon slice, lingoberry jam and either potato salad or potatoes with parsley and butter. While the traditional Wiener Schnitzel is made of veal, it is now sometimes made of pork, though in that case it is often called Schnitzel Wiener Art (Germany) or Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein (Austria) to differentiate it from the original. In Austria, the term Wiener Schnitzel is protected by law, and any schnitzel called by that name has to be made from veal.

Well we made it with veal and pork as well. It turned out that the veal was not the best quality and it tasted more like a breaded chewing gum...but the one with pork was really good.

Language, Fast Food, Swine flue...

It is not so easy for us to practise our Bulgarian skills, because we just know a few phrases and expressions so far but also it is not very common to communicate with other students in Bulgarian. Even not with Bulgarian students (as mentioned more than 60 % are non-Bulgarian students). If you greet someone in Bulgarian it is very likely that he/she responds in English…

In the dorms I have to share my room with two other guys, Теодор (Teodor) and Преслав (Preslav). I knew Teodor before I came to Bulgaria, because he did his exchange semester in Salzburg last summer. Both are really nice guys and we have a lot of fun, especially when we are introducing ourselves to eating and drinking habits of our countries. Today we had some “Russen” (wheat beer with sprite). Nevertheless I would prefer to have an single room for my own, more private sphere and a quite place to study….

The city Blagoevgrad has about 75,000 inhabitants and two universities. Thus it is a bit strange that they do not have american fast food restaurant. Even my hometown with approximetaly 18,000 inhabitant has a McDonald’s. That does not mean I want to go to one, I prefer дюнер питка (Dönner pitka). This is like a Kebap in Austria but they also put French fries in it, very delicious and cheap (€ 1.20). But I really miss an Ikea store . In the whole country they do not have an Ikea right now. My room mates informed me that they will start to build one in Sofa soon.

I read that swine flue is an big issue at Isabella’s university in South Korea. At AUBG it is also an issue as the number of infected students is growing. Up to now there are 7 confirmed cases but a few are not clarified yet.

In order to be informed about things going on at home I tried to watch Austrian newscast (ZIB on Demand) or listen to Austiran radio stations via web stream (Ö1 and fm4, the latter offers some broadcasts in English).

Finally again some picture…


Finally my parcel arraived after 3 weeks with some stuff, which I was not able to take with me by plane. (limit of 20kg...)



The New Academic Building on a nice day...




View from the Main Building, 4th floor

Pizza Party, Going out...

I might stress this very often but we really have a great time here. We are busy most of the time because of the university, numerous leisure activities as well as going out 3-4 times per week etc. In Austria it would be really possible to go out that often or at least it would not be possible to consume the same amount of drinks. It would not be affordable. I mentioned differences in the price levels between Austria and Bulgaria, here are some more

• Beer € 1
• Tequila shot € 1
• Cocktails € 2.5 - € 5
• Kebap € 1.3

There is one thing, which I do not like concerning going out. In my opinion it is a pity that there are no restrictions to smoke in bars, restaurant etc. Thus it is same procedure here in BG as in Austria. By any chance the EU will be able to regulate that…hopefully soon.

Interesting enough it is not that cheap to buy food in supermarkets, therefore it is visible that labour is very cheap and therefore students are more likely to go out for lunch and dinner than cooking at the dormitories as mentioned.

Apropos money, after some problems with our Erasmus contract (caused by the Austrian Erasmus agency) we already have received the first amount our Erasmus scholarship. Furthermore I realised that banks charge you a lot when you withdrawal money from your foreign ATM card (approximately € 2). Thus I’m looking forward to get my Bulgarian ATM card not only because my Austrian ATM card is nearly broken….

Finally some picture of the “Pizza Party” on Thursday. Thank you Anthony for the invitation.

We were starving, but finally the pizzas arrived.




Two hot guys....





Differences in size (Kate and Goran)


People in motion:







Marta, me and Ania





Before Soundbar


Joseph, Kate and Ivan


1/2 Chris, Katarzyna, Ania and me
sorry Chris, your are to big for the camera ;)