[caption id="attachment_3742" align="alignleft" width="409" caption="My Initials found at the Paris Flea Market "]<a rel="attachment wp-att-3742" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/about-2/img_4203/"><img class="size-large wp-image-3742 " title="My Initials found at the Paris Flea Market " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/IMG_4203-682x1024.jpg" alt="" width="409" height="614" /></a>[/caption]

Who am I?<em> Who am I?</em>

1. I'm Carolyn.

2. I live in Sofia, Bulgaria.

(3. This is a blog.)

The rest?  <em>Who knows?</em>

I guess I am supposed to but really how can I condense my life into a single page of my blog?!  I started this blog in 2008 when I won a <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/the-fulbright-me/">Fulbright</a>.  Only thing is, I am still here and I am still writing. Now I am working at the <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/acs-and-me/">American College of Sofia</a> and living in Mladost a neighborhood of Sofia.

<strong>My Name</strong> With a name like Carolyn you don't get a lot nicknames. I've had two.  The first was Kiki and I came up with this one when Carolyn was too hard for me to say as a baby and by the time I started preschool I was determined that everyone would call me Carolyn.  And they did.  Until I turned 26 and my first Bulgarian tutor gave me the nickname Karolinka. This of course seemed was the perfect name for my blog.  But really, I am still just Carolyn.  <strong></strong>

<strong>Sofia, Bulgaria </strong>

If you'd like to see what a week of my life looks like you can check out this series Nova TV did on my life at the end of February 2010 (<a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/day-2-nova-tv/">Day 2</a>, <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/day-3-nova-me-the-bus/">Day 3</a>, <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/day-4-i-dance/">Day 4</a> and <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/day-5-the-wrap-up/">Day 5</a>).  At this point I feel obligated to warn you: if you're not laughing right now after watching this series, you probably shouldn't be reading my blog. It's not going to be a good fit.

Or maybe you'd like to check out <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2010/01/27/moda-my-magazine-debut/" target="_blank">my debut in a Bulgarian fashion magazine--Moda</a> in February 2010. Yep, a fashion magazine. A Bulgarian one to boot. That was the first time where I thought--huna, people actually read what I am writing.  Then the summer of 2010 I was asked to write for about life as a foreigner in Sofia.  If that sounds interesting you might want check out this <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2010/09/10/to-be-30-in-moda-and-sofia/" target="_blank">little piece I wrote for Moda</a> (if you can read Bulgarian). In September 2010, I was also featured in the Bulgarian lifestyle magazine Rouge in the features section--<a rel="attachment wp-att-3811" href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/about-2/carolyn-magazine/">Me in Rouge Magazine</a>.

Needless to say, this whole thing has been kind of surreal.

Lets see, what else, what else? I'm a twenty-something (okay, nearly-thirty something) American living in Sofia, traveling around Bulgaria and generally exploring the country, people, culture and food.  Now, I'm in the process of figuring out what it means to be an expat in Bulgaria. And I am trying to learn the language but it's slow going.  <strong></strong>

<strong>My Blog</strong>

When I started this blog, I was doing it for me, my family (mostly my MoM and dAd) and my friends.  I was trying out a new technology and figured if everyone else was doing it why not me?  Oh and it helps that I actually love to write.

I never really imagined that I'd have much of a following but I figured that it beats sending out group emails.  So if you wanted to know what I was up to, you could check but it wasn't like you had an email from me in your inbox every week that you felt obligated to read and respond to whether you knew what to say or not.  Thus my blog was born.

So that's that.  I am trying to capture snapshots of what life is like here--sometimes these are events, sometimes feelings, other times things I notice or moments that make me laugh too much not to document and share them.

Am I an expert on Bulgaria? Of course not, gesh, I can hardly speak the language but for better or worse this is my city right now and I love it dearly.  It's a city that grows on you and one day you wake up and think: I am going to miss this place and I am not even gone yet.  <strong></strong>

<strong>Want More? </strong>

You can <a href="https://twitter.com/CarolynEmigh">follow me on twitter</a> but I can't promise that in 140 characters you'll be wowed by my grammar, insight or wisdom but you will be able to see what's on my mind, what catches my eye and what makes me laugh (or want to cry).  If twitter's not enough or not your thing, you could see what I'm reading, following and liking you could <a href="https://www.google.com/reader/shared/carolyn.emigh">subscribe to my feed on google reader</a>. Also if you're not using a reader like google--you should be. I can't get enough of it--it makes it so easy to follow my favorite blogs and lets me see what my friends are up to. You might also be interested in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/" target="_blank">following me on flickr </a>where I upload tons of photos from my life in and around Bulgaria.

Still not enough? Well, I am not posting my email, phone number or street address on the blog. My MoM taught me better than that. So leave a comment, let me know what's on your mind. I'll reply.