Man's best friend, indeed
Laura Butterbrodt
Multimedia Journalist
Bulgaria Week 5
February 12-18, 2018
Wednesday, February 14
10:30 p.m.
Happy AUBG International Week! I am sorry to say I am not being a very active participant, although Monday night I did go to a presentation about "What to Expect if you Date Someone From..." It was interesting to learn about cultural differences, and most of the students' presentations were really funny!
A bunch of the exchange students are planning a trip to Plovdiv this weekend, so that is one of the only things getting me motivated to finish the week. I am so excited for it!
I have been getting really bad with my eating habits here. I eat so much unhealthy food, and in giant portions! I told my parents they might have to book a second seat for my flight home to fit all the extra weight I will have gained by then if I keep this up. I have been passing it off by saying I'm gaining weight from all the knowledge I have gained, but I think I need to get my life together!!
Speaking of food, tonight Lea, Eliza, Ana, Alli, Laury and I ordered burgers from Mark's American Diner and had them delivered to my room. Such great service! And they have a Juicy Lucy here.... Uff Da! Minnesota's influence is GLOBAL!!! We had our little "Galentines Day" celebration together. Apparently Valentine's Day in Bulgaria is a celebration of St. Trifon Zarezen, which is basically a celebration of wine. So if anyone had too much wine on Valentine's Day, (I did not, for the record) you can just say you were celebrating the Bulgarian way. Basically if you ever have too much to drink, you can say you were celebrating the Bulgarian way!
We celebrated the exchange student Bruno from Portugal's birthday last night, and although I didn't go out to the clubs after the pre-party, I'm sure it was celebrated the Bulgarian way.
Bday boy Bruno
Thursday: Sangria party hosted by Spanish exchange students
Cyriane, Lea, Eddie, Ana, Eliza, me, Piotr.
Sunday, February 18
9:30 p.m.
I'm exhausted writing this after my weekend in Plovdiv! We left at 4 p.m. on Friday, and after a stop in Sofia, arrived in Plovdiv around 10. I stayed at an Airbnb with Lea, Ana, Eliza, Hugues, Kevin and Quentin. It was a pretty nice place, but the bathroom was not the most practical and the whole apartment was freezing! We just stayed in for the night when we got there, but it was still a fun night.
On Saturday we explored the city for a while and found some lunch before we went on a free walking tour of the city. On our way to the tour, we found a bunch of cultural dancers who were celebrating St. Trifon Zarezan day. We got a free glass of wine to celebrate accordingly! Such a Bulgaria thing.
Lea making friends
Plovdiv
The walking tour taught me many things, including:
-Plovdiv is 8,000 years old and has been continuously inhabited for 6,000 years.
-There is a stadium underneath one of the main pedestrian streets that has only been partially uncovered.
-There is a neighborhood that is like a maze because there were no city regulations when it was built and it burned down due to the lack of regulation.
-There is a statue of the village crazy man/Casanova Milyo, who was everyone's favorite even though he was partially deaf and just walked around all day singing. Apparently he was very popular among the ladies and sleeping with him brought them good luck. So naturally they built a statue after him.
-Some seats at the Roman stadium are engraved with the names of the original ticket holders, so some people had season tickets for not just life, but the afterlife as well.
-Roughly 8 percent of Plovdiv is Muslim and there are two mosques in the city.
-A two hour walking tour is a little bit too long for our attention span.
At the stadium (that is partially underground still)
Ana, me, Lea, Eliza, Quentin, Hugues, Kevin
Statue of Milyo the Crazy. Rubbing his knees will bring you luck in your love life... Ana might have missed the part about KNEES...
Ancient stadium
Our guide Pavel in front of one of the mosques
Details at a church
After the tour, we were all DYING for some caffeine. We went to a coffee shop called Central Perk (yes, it was based on FRIENDS). We were so excited about this cute, hipster coffee shop... but it had probably the worst coffee ever. The only good part about it was there was a speaker BLASTING One Direction. It was so loud we couldn't even talk! They also played a lot of Ed Sheeran. Overall though, very disappointing. 2/10 would not recommend.
For supper, we went to A MEXICAN RESTAURANT!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such a spectacular time for me. It wasn't the best Mexican food I've ever had, but it helped fill the void of my Mexican food cravings. I got veggie burritos (extra spicy) and two strawberry margaritas. SO GOOD!!!!! It was such a happy time. Maddie, Alli, Laury, Aarya, Raj and Aarya's friend from Nepal were also in Plovdiv this weekend, so we all ate together.
Since we had such a big apartment, we had everyone over after supper. We played a lot of card games, which seems to be a pretty typical nighttime activity for us. We spent quite a long time playing games, and after we were feeling pretty good we decided to try out Plovdiv's club scene. It was a really fun night! I don't think the No Sense bar was ready for the AUBG exchange crowd, but we sure did know how to have a great time!! The club had really great music, but nothing could top the screamo versions of Shape of You and Hotline Bling. We were so HYPE!!!!!! Hugues and Quentin got really glammed up before we went out, and at one point we lifted Kevin in the air. My friends are so fun!!!!
(For those of you studying to learn everyone's names) Front row: Aarya, Isha, Lea. Back row: Kevin, Eliza, Raj, me, Laury, Alli, Maddie, Quentin, Hugues, Ana.
Can you feel the love tonight?
One day in Plovdiv was definitely not enough. We plan to go back again later this semester for another weekend! And when we do, I am already planning to go back to the Mexican restaurant. It might be my only chance! This weekend was one of my favorites so far of this trip. As always, thanks for following me on my journey! I hope everyone's days are filled with as much laughter as mine have been this week, even though we are typically laughing at the stupidest things (and usually I am one of those stupid things).
Love from Bulgaria,
Laura
Quality edit by Ana with her sweaties
Slav Squat
