More Impressions, Part 2

So week 1 of so-called "math camp" is over and we are turning to the more social activities--Princeton bar-hopping:) Will report back on that over the weekend. Somehow I doubt that it could beat Bulgarian nightlife, but I guess as anyone who is from or has been to Bulgaria can attest, once you've been there, the bar for going out and having fun is pretty high. The one fabulous thing about the graduate student dorms on campus though is that we have our very own bar in the basement, pool and fussball tables and all, and, of course, subsidized beer. Guess I can't really complain:)

A few things about the US that I was pleasantly reminded of:

1) Everything is so well organized and smoothly run. It was simply mind-boggling at first. I guess what is even more amazing to me is how quickly one gets used to a different type of reality (such as the BG one for me) and forgets about other realities that were part of one's recent past. I guess you could call this culture shock, but certainly for someone who has spent 9 years in the US, you would think I was beyond culture shock at this point. But, in the end, when I really think about it, this way it keeps things interesting.

2) Related to point #1: everyone is so polite. I have heard more greetings, "thank you's", and "you are welcome's" in the past 4 days than I probably had in the past 4 months in BG. I must say it is very refreshing to have that. Although to some degree I will miss the frowning faces of marshrutka drivers in Sofia.

3) One other thing my Albanian classmate pointed out was the concept of "personal space", which really doesn't seem to exist in Bulgaria (especially not in any kind of public transportation!). He was joking that there must be something wrong with him if people were sitting one seat away from him in class. He also seems to think that people in the US speak louder than people in Europe...I have to ponder that point...can't really say whether I agree or not. If any of you have any observations on that point or any of the others, please let me know.

4) And last but not least. I just love the fact that everyone here is so social. We haven't met each other previously but already everyone is exchanging numbers, planning to get together, and helping each other out with homework and car rides. I think Bulgarians in general are a lot more suspicious of strangers at first...not that that's necessarily always a bad thing. Sometimes Americans can seem a bit too fake, but in certain situations (such as this one) it definitely helps to have people be more open and friendly.

So I plan to explore more of campus and the town tomorrow given that I am not familiar with either at all yet, apart from knowing that Princeton is probably the only university town in the US with a Ralph Lauren store in it. A fact that cracked me up when I first saw it. (Yes, this does sort of go back to my labels story.)