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Take the RyanAir Flight Less Full

Published on by rhiannalewisLeave a comment

Happy December, everyone! I’m experiencing college classes in the twelfth month for the first time in my undergraduate career (thank you, quarter system), and it is…so strange. I will never take my seven-week winter break for granted ever again! Because I’m still in class for another week, though, I’ve been able to travel outside of Athens a bit more without feeling stressed about finals just yet. Last weekend, my travels took me to two vastly different cities: Sofia, Bulgaria, and Vienna, Austria. While I had a great time in Vienna, I am eager to tell you all about Sofia, a city I had never felt the need to visit before this semester but can’t wait to return to very soon. 🇧🇬⭐️

For anyone who hasn’t visited Bulgaria before, and I imagine that there are many people, I would highly recommend it. Sofia is the largest city in the country, with about 1 million people living there, but it felt incredibly homey and welcoming when we arrived. Other than the fact that not a single restaurant was open past 9 pm on Wednesday night, the city was busy enough to feel alive but not too busy to feel unsafe. As a group of four young women with no knowledge of the language walking around, there were no points in which we felt uneasy about exploring. While this should be a given no matter what, it’s always nice to experience.

My favorite part of visiting Sofia was going on the Balkan Bites Food Tour. I found this free tour on Instagram a few days before we left Athens and decided to reserve four spots so we could get a taste of Bulgarian cuisine. The tour was about two hours long, and everything we got to try was totally free to us. We tried ayran (a salty yogurt drink), Bulgarian wine, lutenitsa (vegetable spread), pastries, and more. Our tour guide, a Bulgarian native, explained the history, cultural context, and ingredients of the food we were eating as well as sharing anecdotes of his life in Bulgaria. As someone who had VERY little knowledge of the country before visiting, this perspective was helpful, fun, and much more interesting than a typical walking tour.

We did take some of the travel recommendations off TikTok and visited The Red Flat while visiting the city. The Red Flat is an “interactive museum and time machine” that walks its visitors back into an authentic apartment from 1980s Communist Bulgaria while offering an audio tour of what day-to-day life would’ve been like at the time. Everything in the apartment, down to the wallpaper and canned food, was authentic. It was such a cool experience to learn about life while Bulgaria was under Soviet rule.

Another essential Sofia experience I would recommend would be the Elephant Bookstore. This vintage bookshop was the perfect place to find fun gifts, second-hand novels, and books authored by Bulgarian authors. I was especially stoked about this as last year’s (2023) International Booker Prize was won for the first time ever by Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov, so I was able to get an autographed copy of the novel at the bookstore!! I plan on using this for major clout in the book community, along with the fact that I am so excited to read the novel.

I am so lucky to have spent the holiday weekend traveling with the friends I have made here & getting to explore new cities. As much as I loved the Christmas markets and business of Vienna, Sofia had a certain small-town charm that I won’t soon forget. The longer I am here, the more I find myself creating space for countries with difficult histories and bright futures. Bulgaria is absolutely one of those places, and I can’t wait to go back. ♥️

A week of friends, travel, and much-needed rest

Published on by Elsie BuczkowskiLeave a comment

The past week has been so extremely busy. Avery arrived on Saturday night, and we immediately went to Soho since that was the only night I didn’t have work or class the next day. I took her to all of our favourite bars. The next day, Avery felt really sick, but we still made it to see Big Ben and the London Eye. I didn’t take any photos of us there since Avery still felt so crummy. 

The next day was Monday, and I had my afternoon class. Avery still wasn’t feeling well, so we just bummed around in my room until it was time for me to leave. While I was in class, she shopped at Oxford and Regent Street. We met for dinner near Carnaby Street and shopped for a little longer. 

Tuesday was a long day for me. I felt so bad for Avery since she still felt pretty awful during the day. I had a lot of plans for us to explore and made sure to get my work done ahead of time so I had as much free time as possible, but sometimes, it just doesn’t work out like how you plan. Avery finally overcame her exhaustion around 9 or 10 p.m., which is around the time that all kitchens in London close. There is no such thing as late-night diners here, or so I thought. I found this place online called MEATliquor, spelt just like that, with that capitalisation and everything. We decided to go, and we had the most fantastic time. Just look how happy we were to be there. They are also a rare place with ranch, so I ordered a large size and brought the rest home.

Wednesdays are my extremely long days, and we were tired from staying up late the night before. So, after my internship in the morning, we had a chill day and just walked around and relaxed. I got these Paddington socks at a tourist shop. In the evening, we met my friends at Wetherspoons and went to the festive beer garden in Southbank, which I’d been to before. 

The next day was Thanksgiving! I worked from home while Avery went to explore Brick Lane on her own. When it was dinnertime, we went to the Airbnb Sydney’s family stayed in and had a big dinner. I made these festive drinks for everyone, and we did Ava’s family tradition of writing what we are thankful for on paper feathers and sticking them in the little yarn turkey. It made me miss my family a lot, but I will see them very soon. After dinner, all the “kids” went out to a karaoke bar. 

I have a bad habit of filling every single moment with travel or plans. Or a good habit, depending on how you look at it. On Friday, Avery left for London Heathrow Airport at 9 a.m. to head back to Syracuse, and I left for London Stansted Airport at 10:00 a.m. to head to Prague for the second time. I anticipated I was going to have a pretty lonely weekend after Avery left, and I didn’t want to spend it alone in London. Some of my London friends were already going to Prague, and I had a free place to stay with Max. I am really happy with my decision. 

Friday evening once I got there, I relaxed in Max’s apartment before we hit the town. We got an epic beer tower near Old Town Square, where they were setting up for the big Christmas Market that opened the next day. After dinner, we went to a few underground bars, and I slowly watched Max and my friend Cooper become besties. Warmed my heart. 

On Saturday, we slept in and got dim sum for brunch. Our next stop was the Christmas Market in Old Town Square. It was absolutely packed. We still managed to budge our way to the line for crepes even though everyone was shoulder to shoulder. We hung around the central area of Prague for a little longer before returning to the apartment to rest. We grabbed Mexican food for dinner near Max’s apartment and then took the tram back into the city centre to meet other friends at some Irish bars. I didn’t feel very good, so we called it a pretty early night. 

I could not get out of bed for the life of me on Sunday. I wasn’t motivated to go sightseeing since I had already explored most of Prague and felt so much dread that I had to return to London to start my finals. I’m glad I gave my body the rest it needed, though. Max finally convinced me to get out of bed for a chicken sandwich. It was delicious. After our late lunch/early dinner, it was time for me to get going back to London.

I could have done better at documenting the past week. I’ve just been trying to soak up what’s left of my time in Europe and be present. And I hardly ever take pictures with Avery because I’m busy smiling and laughing. Same with Max. I will do my best to improve my photo skills in Dublin this weekend. 

My week will continue to consist of work, class, and finals prep. I’m dedicating this workweek solely to my assignments so I can be entirely carefree this weekend. This is a pretty uneventful update — I think my fast-paced lifestyle is catching up to me. I’ve actually enjoyed extra quiet time in my room. My next and probably final update will be on my weekend in Dublin and my weekday grind for my finals. Thanks for keeping up with my life. I’ve had a lot of fun writing this blog ❤