Tag: Travel

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. ♥️

The start of Christmas in London

Published on by miadervisevicLeave a comment

In London, Christmas starts on November first. The lights are shinning, and the markets start getting set up. Everything has decorations, and the joy of the winter holidays are in the air! Its so surreal to experience Christmas (or the start of it) in a big city like London! While Denver may have one or two small Christmas markets, and an iceskating rink, London goes big or goes home. There are at least 7 markets close to me, as well as iceskating rinks in the making. Not to mention, the famous Hyde Park Winter Wonderland!

It’s so fun to walk around the city and look at all the lights and decorations. It brings so much joy, and on every corner you can see people laughing, taking pictures, and enjoying time together. Scarfs, sweaters, and hats, have become the staple fashion over here now, where people bundle up cozily and spend time together. I love experiencing this kind of atmosphere, as its so different from my hometown. I find myself comparing aspects (such as holiday festivities) to my hometown life, and how it’s similar or different. London is a huge city, and in some way, with all the lights, and decorations, it seems to almost appreciate the holidays more. I do find some similarities though, and its fun to find a piece of home. The smaller markets are very similar to the German one we have in Denver, and it’s fun to walk around and think of home, while also experiencing something a little bit different. I find myself appreciating the winter season more and more while I’m here.

The first snowfall of the season happened on Sunday, and it was beautiful to see the little flurries of snow falling down. People tilting their heads up to watch it fall, and enjoying the phenomenon. The snow doesn’t stick here, as its kind of a mix between rain and snow, but its fun nonetheless, and exciting to experience. However, the cold here sets in quickly, and it doesn’t take long for one to get cold, if they don’t have a proper jacket.

School has started to slow down a bit, and my friends and I have started to focus on our projects and final papers. Because of the drop in weather and temperature, theres not much one would want to do other than go to the markets at night or on the weekends; So, I’ve been spending my days focusing on the four papers I have to write by mid December, and going to classes. However, this does give me and my flatmates an opportunity to plan what markets we would like to go to, as well as talk and catch up. So far, my flatmates and some other friends have planed a few markets as well as iceskating, that we are so excited to go to!

I used to not like winter, because of the cold, and the lack of things to do, but experiencing winter here in London makes me want to rethink. Even the darkest of nights so far, have been brightened with all the lights in central London as well as the company of friends. Its interesting to see how being in a different city (and studying abroad) can change perspectives and ways of life. I enjoy seeing the differences in myself, and influences of the city I am in, and cant wait to experience more in the last month I have.

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