expectations.

greetings from Sofia! One of my favorite cities yet

 

What haaaave I been up to lately?  Well, today after my run we had our meeting at the center for democracy research, which was in the old north korean embassy (the epitome of communist architecture) in the old furniture from the DDR, hahaha.  After a cheesecake latte (WHAT? — yeah the Sofians try to be MORE western than american) our second meeting for the day was all about economic development in Bulgaria – THE poorest EU member state.

This past week has been a whirlwind of different cultures.  We started in greece, in the most fabulous tiny hotel with a rooftop terrace with a view, of the acropolis. Okay, more than a view, we were actually just at the base of it. amazing.  But, in between greek wine, tzaziki, 2.50 euro Gyros (ahaha) and galloping across the ruins of the agora, we did visit the center for international relations (learning about the economic crisis), the greek foreign ministry (covering every relevant aspect of EU policies in greece), and the Athens center for a history of greek/turkish relations lecture… i HOPE you all know what the issue with cyprus is!

From Athens we flew to Bucharest at night and got delivered right to our hotel (http://www.rembrandt.ro/) which was AMAZING. I think IES felt bad that we paid to go to Romania (silly people) and decided to compensate with an only 3 star magnificent hotel with amazing beds, bathroom, and best of all, from our 5th story window a view at the Romanian National Bank. We were right in the center of old town, which was a tad bit under construction, but still fun.  the food was. meh. the people, not the rudest, not the friendliest, mainly just confused as to why we were there i think.  We got a lot, of “where are you from?” “whyyyyyyyy are you here?” — but more later, the pictures tell enough and I’d love to do a great reflection.

Now, Sofia… I had NO expectations and good thing because I’ve been blown away. Compared to the quiet romanians the bulgarians here are FULL of life and are so excited to talk to me, all the time!  Even the crazy man at the mineral water fountains where everyone fills their jugs of water.  – also, more later.

We have a farewell dinner for our trip in a half hour and I must ready myself now, but I can’t believe this amazing opportunity and sadly, my interests are only spreading east

Be back in Freiburg tomorrow night on International Roma Day! Go kiss a gypsy for me

and last but CERTAINLY NOT LEAST…

a happy happy birthday to my lovely biggest sister katy!!!!!

then.

 

& now.

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