Ah, yes, I forgot to mention an important point:
It is impossible that you starve in Bulgaria. People there/here (ok, I study in Germany which makes Bulgaria "there" rather than "here", but still I am a Bulgarian so it sounds very strange to write "there in Bulgaria") have developed their own safety net. It consists mainly of friends and of friends of friends but generally my observations show that we help each-other a lot. I've had a friend (in the sense of someone you know, rather than someone who is your best friend) staying over at my place in Bremen because he had to stay for another week at the university but he had to leave his flat, a friends of a friend and her father went to a concert here and we provided accommodation, a friend of mine was refused a visa for Switzerland about 2 days before she left for her internship so she had to share a mattress with me (because I was in the process of moving to another place) for a week until she could arrange for a place to stay in Berlin and do her internship there. On the other hand, I always have someone to call if I need something in the Netherlands, Paris, Barcelona, Valencia, London, Gdansk, Milano, Saint Louis, Romania, Germany, Bulgaria...
So, I think that Bulgarians tend to help each-other more than people from your culture. With this I do not mean that you don't help each-other at all, I just mean that it would be a bit weird for you to let, for instance, me sleep on your couch for a night if I get stuck in Sofia while I would find it absolutely normal if you just call my mobile one day and say "Hi, I am the author of Karolinka in and around Bulgaria, could you arrange for a bed for me?" I would just ask you what you drink because I would not miss the opportunity to gather some people and listen to some funny stories from the place we call home. :)
Of course, we have some success in educating Germans in this "You can rely on me not only when your boyfriend leaves you, but also when you turn out to be HOMELESS" friendship thing, and I am sure that there are many Bulgarians, especially in Sofia, who would rather leave you in the cold than let you sleep next to their shoes in the hall of their flat. So I would totally believe if your observations differ from mine. It could be just my own mind setup because being students abroad, my friends and I can rely only on each-other - without the family in the home-town and the extended family in every possible region of the country.

But I dare you to starve! :P