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.<!--more-->

Only given a second chance, I'd pick Bulgaria again for the human element. What do I mean by that? Well, here it comes. It's the people. Especially my friends, colleagues and students not as much the surly waiters or grumpy women selling bus or train tickets. 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. It's the food and rakiya. Two things which I especially like.

Sure you can find these things in any country--that is food, a foreign language and people but in my mind it's relatively easy to connect to these things in Bulgaria. I guess the difference in my mind is this, it's easy to be a tourist in much of Western Europe. There are signs in an alphabet that you can make out on the street, well translated English language menus, English language speakers in museums, public transportation that's simple and quick and a well-established network which supports tourism. It's harder to be a tourist in Bulgaria but the trade off is that you have to try new things, you have to test out the language, you have to stop and ask people for directions, you have to order unexpected things off of menus because who knows what a "snowwhite salad" will be?

Oh and did I mention that stereotype about Eastern Europeans being cold, unfriendly and standoffish? It is, <em>surprise, surprise</em>, totally false. I've never had my cheeks pinched so much by older men and women that I barely know as I have in Bulgaria. Sure, I think that they don't fully know what to make of me and in the beginning I didn't know much Bulgaria but that's okay--a cheek pinch lets you know that people think you are cute, funny and a little crazy. Along the same line, I've basically stopped shaking people's hands and instead I've picked up the cheek-kiss. The cheek-kiss is really a much nicer habit.

Anyhow 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 the thing a guide book can never really capture or fully realize is this human element. Hell, I don't even think that I can capture it.  Here's what I can definitively tell you: Bulgaria is more than just a stop on the way to Turkey or Greece.