Traveling and Days 1-4 in Bansko

Flying East is difficult. On top of the 7000 miles and 10 hours spent in the air, you lose 7 time zones between Philadelphia and Sofia. My dad and I left the house to go to the airport at 11 AM Saturday morning. I arrived at the Orphey Hotel in Bansko at 9 PM Sunday night. It was a long day.

The flight from JFK in New York to Paris was uneventful, and even quite pleasant. If you've never flown AirFrance, I recommend it, not the least reason for which is the food - not disgusting, and served with wine. I managed to catch an hour and a half of sleep, waking up about an hour before we landed in Paris at 5:45 AM local time. Coming over the English Channel, we were treated to a spectacular view of the south coast of England right as the sky was just beginning to lighten in the East.

Interestingly enough, this was my first time in France, despite having wanted to visit for years. And though it was only a 4-hour stay at Charles de Gaulle airport, it didn't disappoint my expectations for a visit of that nature. My (condensed) takeaways:

Everything was quite a bit more expensive than in the States--even taking into account that airports tend to significantly overprice things--except, curiously, the Swiss chocolate. You would think that import fees would drive the prices way up, but gargantuan Toblerone bars were only €7. Also of note - €200 ties, €2000 cognac, and €30,000 Rolexes.

Europe lives up to the hype of being a continent full of tri- and quadralingual people. I overheard a clerk in one of the duty-free shops greet a German customer in English, thinking him to be American, and then promptly switch over to fluent German when the man asked, "Deutsch?" My extremely-rusty French got a nice workout.

France is a really nice place. /End takeaways

From Paris, it was another 2 1/2 hours to Sofia. Landing at 2, I promptly changed--doing my futile best to curb the consequences of 10 hours on a plane and not being able to shower in what felt like weeks--and headed for customs. No visa being required to enter the country, I passed through, collected my bags, and met and chatted with some of the other Fulbrighters who had also just flown in. At 5, we boarded the bus to Bansko. The trip took another 3 hours, and by this time, we were in a daze. Mercifully, dinner was waiting for us, and without too much fanfare, we headed for bed.

The next day featured opening ceremonies and our first classes. This week, I'm enrolled in Bulgarian language classes and a course entitled Communicating Effectively Across Cultures. This class also interestingly, is taught by Noemi Marin, whose father was Constantin Marin, the famous choral conductor.

Taking place in Bansko this week is its annual Jazz Festival, a rather large affair which draws a lot of bands from overseas every year. Monday night, after having had the chance to catch a nap, a bunch of us went to see the show, and it didn't disappoint. The music was quite good, I had a great chance to meet and talk with some of the other Fulbrighters, and the beer was cheap (You can get a half-liter of Carlsberg here for 2.50 leva, about $1.75 US). A late night and an early morning later, and I was effectively dead.

And so have gone the last couple of days in similar fashion. Bansko is a small, isolated town in the Pirin Mountains of Bulgaria, and the landscape is quite beautiful. The weather had been hot, but it has chilled considerably the last two days and is now overcast and chilly. It rained last night, and there are lingering clouds on the mountains. The people with whom I'm staying, Bulgarian, Serbian, American, et al alike, are all very cool, and it has been a nice time getting to know them the last few days. Last night we went out to a bar for one of the guys' birthday, where, true to form, I was forced to sing"Stand by Me" and "Stairway to Heaven" for a barful of drunken Bulgarians, Americans, French guys, and Brits. Nothing truly ever changes, no matter how far we venture from our homes.

Now I'm off to take a nap before dinner and yoga later tonight. Довиждане!