We arrived around the first weekend of August in Blagoevgrad and were first just overwhelmed by the extremely high temperatures. Additionally, the first look of our apartment was a little bit shocking because of its very Soviet-looking style inside. We were especially surprised by the cooker standing on the balcony and the shower being completely integrated into the bathroom with no separation. As we learned later, both are quite common in Bulgaria. Despite the first look, we probably will get along with the “features” of our apartment at some point.
In the first days, we went to the office and started working on our introduction videos, you can find them on this website. In our free time, we were going out, explored the city and met our mentor, who is a former volunteer too. But after the first few days, we were longing for more people of our age. That’s why, we went to the chatclub, a weekly event where volunteers can meet and present different topics. Again, we were a little bit overwhelmed by the number of volunteers we met. But after all, it was just really refreshing to meet more people. Everyone was so kind to us, we exchanged a few numbers and went out eating with some of the volunteers afterwards.
In the next week, the number of social events with the other volunteers increased dramatically and so we are beginning to feel more and more welcomed in Blagoevgrad. About our first trip together to the Rila-Monastery we´ve already written a post, which you can also find on this website. Despite the fact that a new beginning is always difficult, we are doing quite good and can´t wait to learn more about Bulgaria and its people.
