Greetings from Bulgaria

I’m doing my exchange in Dobrich, Bulgaria. I arrived here at the end of January with my best friend Julia. When we applied for the exchange we thought that we would be living in Varna by the Black Sea, but at some point we realized that all the BBA degrees are done in a smaller city Dobrich, about 40km from Varna. So at first it was a little bit of a shock when we arrived, because I had pictured a warm and sunny city near the sea, but when we came the weather was quite the same as in Finland (of course I had checked the weather forecast but the cold wind made it worse, and I didn’t realize it would still be snowing here). In addition Dobrich isn’t one of the most beautiful cities I have been in, and it’s quite small. But luckily Dobrich isn’t as bad as my first impression. All the people here are very warm and helpful. We are living at a dormitory where most of the students live, so we have made friends with both exchange and regular students. There are many dormitory parties, and every single week it’s someone’s birthday. Luckily the snow melted away very quickly, and for example today it has been +22 degrees.

I spend my spare time mostly with Julia and our friends from the dormitory. Usually at the week we take tan and go to the gym, and at the weekends we have parties. Usually once a week we go to Varna for a day (better restaurants, shopping malls and of course the Black Sea). We have also made a weekend trip to Burgas and last weekend we spent in Bucharest, Romania. After three weeks we are going to the capital city Sofia for a few days, and from Sofia we go to Greece. Can’t wait to spend my birthday in Athens! And in addition to the warm weather one of the best things in Bulgaria is that everything is so cheap compared to Finland. Here we have money to do things we don’t usually do in Finland, such as eating out in restaurants every weekend.

Studying here in Bulgaria is very different than in Finland. Varna University of Management is a private University and all the students at VUMK study in English. Here we have only one subject for the whole day which is quite boring, but at the other hand we usually have days off at the week. The courses aren’t that hard either, because I’m a third year student but we have also some first and second year’s classes. The university is also much more relaxed than the universities in Finland, you can for example order a beer with your lunch. I have definitely enjoyed. Of course I miss home, family, friends and the basics –rye bread, liquorice and sauna- in Finland, but I’m so happy to be here and to spend the next two months traveling and exploring new things here in Bulgaria.

-Elina