After my <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2011/06/03/why-did-i-choose-bulgaria/" target="_blank">earlier post</a>, I've been thinking a lot about the question:<em> why Bulgaria? </em>

This question and my post made me realize this: if I had to do it all over again, I'd choose Bulgaria again. Only knowing what I know now, my reasons for picking Bulgaria would be different.

Often it's easier to say what Bulgaria is not rather than what Bulgaria is. Bulgaria is not Vienna. Bulgaria is not Rome. Bulgaria is part of the European Union but don't confuse this with meaning Bulgaria is Western European. Bulgaria is not part of some romanticized European tradition of the Grand Tour.

Sofia doesn't have a single main square like Prague or Krakaw. Sofia doesn't have a river of any merit unlike Budapest the Danube cuts between Romania and Bulgaria rather than Buda and Pest. Sofia doesn't have a clearly defined or demarcated old town like Dubrovnik, Ljubljana or Bratislava. The Sofia doesn't have access to American's poetic memory--no one can imagine walking the streets of Sofia at dusk as one can in Paris under the long shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

Still, given the opportunity, I'd pick Bulgaria again. I didn't move to Europe to trace the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein or Ezra Pound (you'd better head straight to Paris for that). No, I moved to experience first hand a new culture (and everything that comes with it), to push myself to learn a new language and rather perversely to see if I could do it.

I'd pick Bulgaria again for the human element. What do I mean by that? Well, here it comes:
<ul>
	<li>It's the people. Especially my friends, colleagues and students not as much the surly waiters or grumpy women selling bus or train tickets.</li>
	<li>It's the language and the alphabet. Especially these letters  that I never knew I needed: я, ч, ш, щ, ж, и and a little less these two letters which I generally dislike: ь, ю.</li>
	<li>It's the food and rakiya.</li>
</ul>
A guide book can show you tourist sites. It can give you history. It can help you get started exploring a city (or a country) but Bulgaria is more than just a stop on the way to