[caption id="attachment_1218" align="alignright" width="297" caption="Me with a New Haircut &amp; New Sunglasses "]<img class="size-medium wp-image-1218" title="CAE glasses" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cae-glasses1.jpg?w=297" alt="Me with a New Haircut &amp; New Sunglasses " width="297" height="300" />[/caption]

So what do you want to know? Well, I think that the two things you must know about me in order to get this blog and what I am up to follow.

1. I'm Carolyn.

2. I live in Sofia, Bulgaria.

(3. This is a blog.)

The rest? Well, that's just extra--icing on the cake as some might say.

I started this blog in 2008 when I won a <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/the-fulbright-me/">Fulbright</a>.  Now more than a year later I am still here and I am still writing. Only now I am working at the <a href="http://karolinkabulgaria.wordpress.com/acs-and-me/">American College of Sofia</a>.

<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 it seemed was the perfect name for my blog.  But really, I am still just Carolyn.

<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 (<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.

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 doing my <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/darndest">darndest </a>to learn the language but it's slow going.

<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>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.

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.