The third transnational meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria

1^st to 5^th October 2018

We started our first day of the exchange with meeting up early in the morning in the Bulgarian school. There we were represented with the traditional dances and songs of Bulgaria. The stunts and dances were amazing as they were performed by students of the Bulgarian school. After that we had lunch. It was modest (in comparison to our lunches) but very tasty.  Shortly after lunch we headed towards the nearest tram station and got onto a tram which drove us straight to the city centre. We got off in front of the monastery church of St. Aleksander Nevski. We took group pictures there and then had a guided tour of Sofia. The tour was very interesting as we got to see the beautiful architecture and listen to the guide as she told us about the remarkable history of the town. After the tour we all went separate ways. We had a free afternoon to bond and get to know our hosts and their habits.

On Tuesday we went to one of the oldest cities in the world called Plovdiv. It is a beautiful city with old buildings. First we went to big stone wall, from where we could see the whole town and 7 hills which are one of the symbols of Plovdiv. After this we went to the Ethnographic museum. There were a lot of old pictures, furniture, clothes and other historical artefacts. Then our guide showed us a big Roman period arena and the old part of the city. There was one long main street which was full of small shops and bars and a lot of small side streets where you can quickly get lost. We had 2 hours free so we could have our lunch and saw all the streets and shops. I think that Plovdiv is a really old and beautiful city and I loved those small shops and bars there.

On Wednesday we had to be in school at 8:30. My friend, my host and I took a bus and tram to school. In the morning, we had Olympic games. First, there was some kind of an opening ceremony. We were waiting for a long time before anything happened, but we went through it and the games could start. We were able to choose between football, basketball, table tennis and volleyball. Most of the games went well, except for the table tennis tournament and the volleyball. At the table tennis there was really no winner, because the organization was very bad and no one knew who got into the next round, so after the second round everything got really confusing and we just played for fun. With volleyball the problem was that a few of the students participating in Erasmus + project weren’t able to play, because some students that weren’t on the Erasmus team took their spots. In the end, everyone got a medal for every sport they participated in. There were no winners, which was a little bit strange, because the point of the real Olympics is to compete with each other and see who is best in which sport. After the games, we had lunch and then we had our presentations about Bulgaria. In the evening, we had a dinner with traditional Bulgarian food. There were mostly banitsas and a few plates of sarmi which, in my opinion, weren’t very good, but that’s probably because I’m so used to Slovenian sarma. The banitsas and the desserts that were also there were good. The dinner ended at about 9:30 pm. I think Wednesday was the day Slovenian and Spanish people really became friends, especially at the dinner, where we sat in a circle and talked to each other.

On Thursday morning we boarded a tram which took us to the subway station. When we left the subway the bus was already waiting for us. But when we boarded we were waiting in the bus for some children who overslept. When they came, we went to a farm not that far away where we tried horse riding. It was nice. When we finished, the bus took as to a beautiful city called Bankya where we went for a walk across the park in the town. This city is famous for its thermal springs. And we were soon on the bus again. We went for a walk into a forest. The forest was very beautiful and very similar to Slovenian forests. After the walk, the bus took us to the Paradise center in Sofia where we spent a lot of time playing bowling. I think we all enjoyed it very much. Overall, Thursday was a great day with lots of fun.

On Friday we had to be in school at 8:30. When we arrived we found out that we will be there for two hours so we started to play cards with the Spanish and Portuguese students. At half past ten, we took a tram and then boarded a bus to Vasil Levski stadium. There we saw the medals and cups that the Bulgarian athletes won in the Olympic games. After that, we walked across the city and the park to the adrenaline park Kokolandia. In the park us girls went to level 4 and boys went to level 5. We laughed at each other when we were doing splits in the air because we couldn’t do anything else and it was really funny. When we finished, we went home. Later we got ready to attend a party at Krasi’s, a Bulgarian host’s house. There were also some of the Spanish girls and Portuguese boys but not all of them came. Anyway, we played truth or dare. After we finished, we all went home. We said goodbye to everyone and we were sad because it was over. The week ended and we were going home next morning.