Back from the Long Weekend (or Why I Love Being in Bulgaria)

Before the long weekend approached (May 24-27), I had decided I was going to spend it in Sofia. Given that I had been away from Sofia most of the previous 4-5 weekends, I wanted to spend some "quality time" at home. Well, that lasted all of one day. On Thursday, a friend called me up and asked me whether I would like to go to her AUBG reunion in Blagoevgrad (a city an hour and a half south of Sofia by car; AUBG=American University in Bulgaria). So on Friday we took the bus and off we were. The following 2 days were fantastic and I am so thankful that she dragged me along!

I hadn't been to Blagoevgrad in 10 years... a lot has changed since that last time. The town is cleaner and more developed. My first impression was how lively and cheerful and packed with young people the city center was (which I guess is no surprise, given that this is a university town). By now, as I have previously mentioned, I have gotten used to meeting old acquaintances in random places, this is Bulgaria after all :) and as a friend once said, "Well, there is only 8 million of you, so what do you expect?" This reunion was the perfect setting to do lots of "random acquaintance meeting"--people from high school, people from Mojito, friends of friends, etc. I even met someone whose New Year's party I had been to 9 years ago... it took us a while to figure that out though. We both had that "I-know-this-person-from-somewhere" feeling, but couldn't quite place the time and location of our last rendezvous... and slowly the memories started resurfacing. It was an interesting process. From initially looking only vaguely familiar, I started remembering the name, the place, the conversations, the people who were part of that same evening.

From there, the rest of the weekend was spent with a group of people (some old, some new acquaintances) eating, drinking, dancing at Underground (the all-time favorite club/bar for AUBG-ers), walking around. I didn't really know these people or not very well at least, but it was as if we were old friends. Connections were immediately made; you know someone who they know, etc. and in that way it's like you know each other. On Saturday night, as I sat watching a play put on by AUBG alumni, surrounded by people laughing, it occurred to me: This is why I love Bulgaria... this is why I am very very happy that I came back here. For moments and times such as these. Even when you don't really know the people who surround you, you know that you are connected to them somehow, through someone, and you feel close to them regardless ... like in that theatre. You feel in your place.