Safe and Sound.

We are here in cold, wet, rainy Raleigh!

So far we've eaten bagels, smoked salmon, chai and white mochas and lots and lots of berries and yummy salads. I just can't get enough berries.

The next few weeks are filled with BFF's wedding, our yard sale and packing up for Boston. We have so many errands to run in the next few days!

Also, my Uncle Steve broke his back a few days ago, so prayers for him would be greatly appreciated as we wait to find out what his situation holds.

And remember, if you want to follow our adventures, we'll be over at BFFs in Boston from now on. It is much more mundane but, hey, we weren't cut out to be life-long world travelers. What I can promise is that we will always have fun.

*The link to the new blog is the words "BFFS in Boston" above.

Packed.

4 episodes of The Hills, Season One

...

2 pieces of pink luggage

...

1 pieces of black luggage

...

1 piece of red luggage

...

1 black carry-on bag

...
1 brown leather tote

...

We are packed. See you States-side!

Loose Ends

Nathan and I are about to walk out the door to collect signatures, pay the $150 we apparently owe the University and say goodbye to Blago.

We're coming back here tonight to pack, take pictures of everything we put in our suitcases*, and hopefully we some semblance of a good night's sleep before we depart verrrrry early tomorrow morning. We take a taxi to the bus station, a bus to Sofia, another cab to the airport, a plane to London, another plane to JFK, have an overnight layover in the States (!), call in to BFF Bev's Bachelorette Bash, drink a chai, hopefully have a smoothie of some sort and then fly home to Raleigh!

I'm hoping to take a picture of me in my traveling outfit (black yoga pants, Lilly-inspired AXiD shirt, Chacos, Red Sox hat with a french braid) to compare to my fabulous Bridesmaids' Luncheon outfit on Sunday (I'm thinking polka dots or Vineyard Vines).

So check back here tomorrow morning...and then on Monday for the second outfit. After that, all the magic happens at BFFs in Boston!

*You should always take pictures of EVERYTHING you check. If your luggage every gets lost, then you have time-stamped proof of all the things that we in there so that you can fill out your form in very detailed way. I'm always super nervous about luggage getting lost--especially with such complicated international travel (3 countries, 2 airlines).

One Down, One To Go

I just finished my Bulgarian exam. I'm so glad that's over!

Poor Nathan had to stay up all night to get his Bulgarian projects done and he still has a bit of math to finish. He's been doing math non-stop for the past few weeks. He's doing some independent research, studying for the Math GREs and trying to finish his regular schoolwork. That's hardcore.

It's all paying off though--yesterday he Linear Algebra professor complemented him by pointing out that Nathan proved something much more elegantly (and harder!) than the professor himself did. Way to go!

I still have to take my Byzantine History exam in an hour, so what am I doing as a good little student? Reading Byzantine Empire articles on Wikipedia (Hey--I already read two scholarly general histories! This is just a refresher.) and then reading Glamour because I love reading free Glamour and I love how the AUBG library smells like my elementary school library.

Tomorrow is all about packing and getting a crazy number of signatures on paperwork so AUBG will release our transcripts. Seriously, you have to get the signatures in order and the offices are about a kilometer apart! We have to walk from Main Building to Skapto to Main Building to Skapto! I'm not looking forward to it.

So this is it, kids. By 1:00 today I'll be donedonedone with college. Saturday morning we fly back to the States. Sunday afternoon kicks off BFF's wedding week and from there on out it is a blur of busyness until we move into the new apartment of June 1st. Still no jobs, but I've now applied to over 60 positions! Come on!

Oh, Bulgaria.

Did you know I love rainy days? I really do--as long as no driving is involved. A lot of really great things happened last night (that I can't discuss right now) and I woke up this morning to the sound of rain and I really knew it was going to be okay and that my prayers were being answered. Rain speaks to me.

After our exams this morning, Nathan had a meeting with his math professor so I got to walk home by myself in the rain. I had dressed for the occasion--cuffed jeans, long sleeve tee, navy blue Mary Jane style Crocs and Vera Bradley apple green umbrella. I love how walking in the rain can clear your head. Since we fly home Saturday and we start packing tomorrow, I've obviously been thinking a lot about Bulgaria. I got to talk to my best friend for hours yesterday and it was amazing. While talking to her, I came to number of conclusions about things Bulgaria has taught me and how I've changed and things I'm going to miss.

So, in no particular order....
I'm going to miss 2 leva bills. Seriously, they are such a good idea.

I'm going to miss ATMs that will give you 10s instead of just 20s.

I'm going to miss how I often catch smells in the air that remind me of my grandmothers.

I'm going to miss how you don't have to constantly hear cars here. There are no cars in the city center. None. Zip. It's wonderful. You're downtown and you hear birds and old men playing violin.

I'm going to miss how it is perfectly okay here to sit an outdoor cafe and talk with friends and family. Most college students have this kinds of luxuries, but here it is not limited to students. Everyone can have some leisure in the day.

I'm going to miss the wicker furniture of outdoor cafes. Easily some of the most stylish things in my life I've seen at cafes.

I love all the things that Bulgaria has taught me. I eat a lot less now and while I wish I was mostly eating fruits and vegetables, it is still a useful thing to have picked up. And the fruits and vegetables are waiting for me in Raleigh!

I love that here I took up jogging. I can do a 5K now and I truly couldn't have done that a few months ago.

I love that Bulgaria has taught me that I don't need "stuff." Never once in our time here have we missed the stuff. Never. Never ever. It's true that I might miss scented bath products that I left at home, but I don't truly miss them. Here, we own things--they don't own us. I have never really gone shopping here. I don't need to. I'm so glad Bulgaria taught me this lesson.

I'm very excited to get back to some of the things I left at home (particularly all of the wedding presents we have yet to use), but I don't need those things. They are wonderful to have, but everything I truly need I already have.

I love all the time Bulgaria gave me to sit quietly with my thoughts or talk to Nathan. Without this time, I'd probably be headed to graduate school in the fall about to get involved in something that is not following my bliss.

I love that the unexpected travel surprises I've encountered here have calmed me down a lot. My patience has increased about a hundred fold.

Ah...rainy days. They really are the best.

Sighted in Blagoevgrad

I had all intentions of taking pictures of falafel and duners when Nathan and I took a study break today. (Side note--yes, we actually studied!)

I really, really wish I hadn't forgotten my camera because we passed quite the sight in the city center.

There were two guys, dressed up in super-stereotypical Sioux costumes (think: those guys on the side of the road in Cherokee, NC) playing drums and selling dreamcatchers!

It was bizarre.

Hapy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Today is Baby Girl #2's birthday. I was taking finals the day she was born and didn't get to meet her until a week later. Here's some pictures from the last few years (but no current ones)....

One week

So...only one week before I see my parents, my cat and my complete BFFs. This time next week I'll be poolside in a Vineyard Vines skirt, getting ready to eat some Bali Hai and soaking in some NC heat.

I.Can't.Wait.

Here's a list of things I will definitely miss about Bulgaria:
1. Falafel wraps (and Nathan will miss duners more than I can tell you)
2. Gelato stands
3. Being less than a 2 kilometer walk from everything
4. Cirene
5. Banitsa (especially yabulka (apple) banitsa)
6. Old stuff
7. Raspberry and pistachio frozen yogurt
8. Salt bake rolls
9. People resolving issues by saying "Dobre, dobre"
10. Cheap food and currency that's weaker than the dollar

Intl Food Court

Since we'll be spending about 10 hours in the JFK airport next Saturday (seriously--can we not just get home!), we decided to check out what the food offerings might be. You see, our first pivotal meals, our first meals back States-side are now going to be in an airport. Gag me!

Thankfully, my mother gave us each $15US before we left to spend on food coming back. This is great because our choices include:
Chile's
Mex and the City
Wok and Roll
Dunkin' Donuts
American Bagel Company

I'm not going to lie, I hope I get sushi. Or a vegetarian wrap of some sort. Or queso and chips.

Gracious, I hope we don't gain back 100 million pounds by having to eat processed American food again. One bowl of queso won't kill us, right?

And, if for some reason none of my dreams come true and I have neither a bagel or a bagel roll (mmm---sushi), then my dear BFFs are bringing me a bowl from Bali Hai to enjoy the next day since I'll be missing BFF Bev's Bachelorette Bash as I'll be stuck in the JFK airport just wanting to be home and eating a cold egg bagel and sipping a ginormous (seriously--16 oz is too much!) sugary chai from Starbucks.

One week!

Addict.

So here's the dealio. I got a little bit addicted to writing this. Since our adventures are not over yet, I've started a new blog to chronicle our transition to becoming full-blown Bostonians.

Word of warning, I plan on using the new blog for more personal, frivilous, silly stuff. I'll still post about our lives, but I'm also planning to post anything that tickles my fancy--my current hair product or movie reviews. I guess what I'm trying to say is that for many of you it won't be nearly as interesting as reading about our travels. I promise to not take it personally if you don't read.

Blogging is totally narcissistic anyway, but it sure is fun!

Anyway, the Princess and the Environmental Cop call our current blog "BFFs in Bulgaria." As a side note, my father calls it "Together in Bulgaria." Since Boston also starts with a B, the new blog is:
BFFs in Boston!

Whew...

So yesterday, our friend Tanya threw a pancake party to celebrate the graduation of another friend of ours, Oscar.

I went early to help her chop up fruit for fruit salad and Nathan came later (around 9 pm)--meals happen really late around here.

We ate pancakes with cinnamon syrup, fruit salad and eggs. Us silly non-Balkaners (me, Tanya, Nathan and Oscar) dug into our pancakes before the eggs were cooked. Apparently we violated some serious food rules. You always have to eat in the order of savory-->salty-->sweet. Who knew? So it was a big deal that we ate sweet pancakes before salty eggs.

Also, Oscar brought some crazy topping with him to eat pancakes with. He's superinternational having grown up in Mexico, the States and somewhere in Africa and now living in Bulgaria. He has a crazy accent! Anyway, I tried this Mexican topping. I was wary because the ingredients list named both goat's milk and white wine. It tasted like Nutella mixed with caramel apple dip. Ugh.

Anyway, after dinner we decided to head out to karaoke where Kostadin, Oscar, Tanya and I were planning on performing the Britney Spears' great "Hit Me Baby One More Time" while Nathan took pictures. Unfortunately, they wanted a 2 Leva cover charge and it was standing room only. Good thing Tanya and I sang every pop hit from our middle school years on the way to the Piano Bar.

After giving up there, we stopped for Nathan and Maria to get midnight duners and then we jumped over to Underground and stayed there for way too long. Needless to say, Nathan and I didn't go to sleep until 5 am!

So that's that. We fly home one week from tomorrow--whoa!

Donezo.

Um. I'm done with college.

Falafel

Yesterday a friend of mine told me about a dooner place in Blago that has falafel! We went today and it was amazing. I can finally eat street food with everyone else!

Also, today Nathan had his last undergraduate class ever (my last class is tomorrow).

It's a beautiful day!

Today's been great so far. Nathan and I have both gotten emails concerning our job search. No interviews (yet!), but things are really looking up.

We got plane tickets to go to the Princess and Environmental Cop's wedding.

I found out that my thesis won a hefty prize. Oh, and you can read it online if you are so inclined. Click here!
Mine is at the top of the list--skunk is in the title! It's a .rtf so you can open it if you have a Mac or a PC.

Oh, and I got to have coffee today with Oscar and Tanya and people watch and drink it beautiful Bulgaria.

And now Nathan is making pineapple salsa. Love it.

Happy Easter!

First off, before we discuss Easter, can we talk about how discussing Keanu Reeves brings anonymous comments to the blog? I'm sorry I don't love the guy and I'm very appreciative of the anonymous comment about which Keanu Reeves movies I should watch to see him at his best. It's really sweet, but, honestly, his movies and I just don't jive. I truly am a Drive Me Crazy or John Tucker Must Die kind of girl. I have a university degree and a husband. I don't have to be smart and/or a grown-up when it comes to my movie choices.

Speaking of movies, yesterday we went to the movies twice. I know, right! We have an 11-day break from classes (well--I have 2 class meetings and Nathan has one so it counts as a break) and we're desperately trying to fill the time. So yesterday we went to see 27 Dresses and Vantage Point. 27 Dresses was everything you expect it to be--there's a great dance-on-the-bar-and-sing-Elton-John scene, the guy gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after. In short, I loved it. I also really liked Vantage Point, but I was curled up in a ball the entire movie because it was so tense. It's really fast-paced, but you also have to watch the assassination and the bomb go off eight times, so you know it's coming and start dreading it. Other people told me they thought the movie was trite and predictable--I guess I don't watch enough movies about terrorist attacks. Oh well. That's fine by me.

So anyway, last night was the Easter celebration. Hardly anyone we've met in Bulgaria attends church regularly, but the whole town comes out for Easter. It's a big deal. We gathered in the square outside the church at around 11:00 pm. We bought our candles (all of the church candles are made of beeswax and it smells soooooo good) and waited. Nathan decided to go inside to better hear the liturgy while Tanya, Kim and I waited outside. Soon, the three of us saw the priests (decked out in beaded clothes) process out of the church followed by lots of singing patrons. We hoped that Nathan had somehow wound up in the procession and he had! He got to light his candle from the center one the priests had and then he broke formation and came over to us. Here's Nathan with his candle:
And here's Nathan lighting Kim's candle:
There were candles everywhere. We'd been warned to be careful about hair catching on fire and it is seriously a hazard! People were clamoring over Nathan to light their candles off the priest's and Nathan's jacket is covered in wax.

Also, people improvised with contraptions to keep their candles from dripping. Putting candles in yogurt cups or water bottles was very popular--I'm sure we inhaled a lot of melting plastic fumes.

The priests walk seven times around the church singing the liturgy and then at midnight the bells ring, everyone says "Happy Easter!" or "Christ is risen!" and then everyone plays the egg cracking game. Dyeing eggs is a seriously big deal here and everyone brings eggs to the church. At midnight, you crack your eggs against everyone else's and whoever has a cracked egg first has to give it up to the person whose egg cracked it.

Then, the entire town goes back home and you have to keep your candle lit the entire way. If yours goes out, you have to re-light it from someone else's candle. I'm pleased to announce that between the four of us, we kept one candle lit all the way back to Skapto! Hurrah!

This is the entire town in the church courtyard:
Happy Easter!

Oh, and two weeks from today we land in Raleigh! And then I get to go chill with some lovely ladies pool-side in honor of BFF's wedding! I'm.So.Excited. You have no idea.

Also, today I'm craving raw green pepper dipped in hummus, the blackened tofu wrap from Greenlife and unsweetened herbal iced tea. Yum.

Response

I love that the last comment elicited two rather surprising comments.

First, Ice-T is my mother's man. Love it.

Second, some anonymous person wants me to know that Keanu Reeves is hotter than me. I deleted their comment, but really?

My 100th Post, or Why I Think Keanu Reeves is the Worst.Actor.Ever.

I feel somewhat like I am wasting my 100th post. This is a blog about Bulgaria and travels, right? This is also a blog where I discuss newlywedish things. And I wanted to do something fun for the 100th, but I just can't bring myself to. Why? Because people need to know about the horrible, horrible, terribly Keanu Reeves movie we watched last night.

The evening started out all right. Nathan made salsa. I was knitting. We watched Drive Me Crazy. I had forgotten how much I loved this movie. Perfect.Teen.Movie.

Example of witty teen movie dialogue:

Boy: I didn't expect you to fall in love.
Girl: I didn't expect you to fall into the Gap.
Things went quickly downhill when we put Johnny Mnemonic into BabyMac for our supposed viewing pleasure. This movie was so horrible that it was funny. Laugh out loud funny. I think it can be best described like this:
Some high schoolers wanted to make a movie. They had a budget of $500, the TheatreUNCA design department to make their sets and no sense of editing or restriction. Brainstorming was never pared down for these brave young filmmakers--this movie had it all. We pictured them sitting at their kitchen table saying:
Old Hong Kong style Kung Fu movies! Oh! Oh! And the wet-wired brain guy has to fall in love with his bodyguard! Oh! And subtitles, man! Someone will speak Japanese with subtitles! We gotta have Ice-T, man! And exploding dumpsters! And rants against technology!

And they did have it all. The sets were some sort of a mash-up of welding and West Side Story. I kid you not that TheatreUNCA designed them. I'm sure the designer used too many disconnected images to describe his vision, as all designers too. "We're going to mash the love of West Side Story with desperate welding and combine that with the soft harshness of trash on city streets." I hate the way designers (and this includes sets, lighting, clothing, costumes, some performance artists) talk about their work. Just let it be. Anyway.

There was a talking head projected on television screens. There was a mechanical dolphin. There was a murderous priest using blatant religious imagery over and over again ad nauseum. Keanu Reeves wore this ridiculous get-up:

And, truly, Ice-T was the BEST actor in the movie. Except for maybe that dolphin.

Warning: Graduation Whining

Yesterday evening I spent a good chunk of time whining about graduation. Nathan and I aren't walking because we're here in Bulgaria and when we made that decision last spring it didn't bother me very much. I'm getting increasingly bothered though. As a note, Nathan could still care less about walking, but then again, he's getting about a million more degrees before he's done.

It's not such a big deal and it would be really expensive to fly home and walk in December, but we'll see. The point is, all of this graduation whining is really just a symptom of larger problems in my head right now. After talking this out with Nathan, I realized that I'm mostly upset with how we don't really belong anywhere right now. We no longer belong in Asheville or Raleigh, we've never really belonged here (having only been here a few months) and we don't yet belong in Boston. It's the same anxieties that strike most graduates, but I still don't feel so hot about it.

Nathan's solution to this problem was beautiful. It certainly didn't cure the problem (that came today), but he helped alleviate the symptoms. It's quite like taking cold medicine--it doesn't cure you, but you feel a lot better afterwards.

He bought strawberry frozen yogurt and rented Drive Me Crazy. You remember Drive Me Crazy, right? Melissa Joan Hart and that guy who is now on Entourage? Britney Spears did the soundtrack. You know, my favorite bad teen movie.

Love that boy.

So anyway, like I said above, the actual problem was somewhat helped today. I had lunch with my friend Kostadin who might be transferring to Dartmouth a mere 3 hour bus ride away. Nathan reminded me that the overly enthusiastic LA-born friend of ours (side note--I love giving people internet anonymous names) is staying with us in July while she's in Boston and Boston gets to become our city as fast as we want. We'll make ourselves belong to it.

Also, I'm considerably less sniffly today, we had our last Bulgarian class and the sun is shining and I ate delicious tomatoes for lunch in the sun. It was awesome and I generally feel so much happier.

Fun side notes:
1. This is my 99th post. I want to do something exciting for my 100th but I don't know what!

2. The Princess got a job! AND...she only has to wear shoes for half of her time at work! And she's awesome and has been applying for a mad woman for months now and finally a company realized that she is so awesome that they can't not employ her. I'm so excited for her!

3. BFF's wedding is only 3 weeks away! I'm getting so excited and I just can't hide it!

4. Summer time means the switching of the perfume. Does anyone else wear seasonal scents or am I the only one completely sucked in by the marketing professionals? In the fall and winter my everyday scent is Origins Ginger Essence. For special occasions I wear Fresh Geranium Pepper. In spring and summer I wear Origins Ginger with a Twist (the same scent but with lime top notes). For special summer occasions (see: BFF's wedding above) I wear Burberry Brit. I love summer perfume!

Drainage

I promise I have things to tell you, but my nose won't stop running. Runny noses are in my Top 10 "Most Disgusting Things That Can Happen To Me" so I hope you won't mind if I don't feel up to letting you know what's going on here.

I promise a real update soon. Also, today's BBC Day in Pictures has a picture of Bulgaria. Check it out!

Also, can we talk about the use of the word obliterate? I mean, really? Did she really just say that?

When Allergies Attack...

It got really warm and beautiful outside-->we opened our windows-->pollen came inside.

I've never exposed to some of these pollens before-->I'm a sneezy, runny nose, sore throat, coughing mess. Ugh.

Still though it is way, way beautiful here.