Farewell

Hi there,
To all my known and unknown readers, to the people interested in my stories and my life in the past almost 1 year. I'm writing my last (60th) post here. I'm writing a goodbye, a farewell post, a closure.
There was a reason I started blogging - I was away from home, away from my friends and wanted to share what's happening with me. I wanted the whole world to know my stories and to see what I've done. Thing's have changed, I changed! It's been half an year since I'm back home in Bulgaria! Many things happened to me, I experienced a lot, I did things I didn't think I'm capable of. Normally I would want to show off with them, share them, say it out loud. Alas, not any more! I just don't feel the need of sharing that much - some things are too personal, some are not significant, and some are maybe not so interesting. I've realized I'm not so dependant on people's opinion anymore. I did things that are questionable, that are not the things people expect of me. Actually I'm quite satisfied with those things.
Besides, an interesting part of the year is comming - the end of the old year and the beginning of a brand new one. In the next year I want to stop planning and saying too much, but actually act more and do the things I want. I just don't think that blogging is one of them.
So I want to wish you a Happy New Year and a tremendous beginning of 2008. May it be very eventful and interesting for you and I hope you achieve the things you couldn't during the past year but also start actions on the dreams you think will never be realized!
Best wishes!
Ivo

"This is my December
This is my time of the year"

That's right - December is my favourite month! I love the winter cosiness it brings, the beauty of the snow-covered trees, the many holidays this month has :P This is an eventful month trapped between the beginning of a new year of my life (just after my birthday, which is today;)) and the end of the calendar year. I give my best during this month an try to achieve what I couldn't so far. Looking back at what happened since my last birthday I can say this was truly an amazing year filled with so many new experiences and new opportunities. I'm proud of my achievements and realize the hunger for going on and on and challenging my limits. Even though sometimes I set too high goals, on this day I feel like everything is possible and nothing can stop me. Nothing can fade my smile today :)

NaLDS

It's about time to update my blog and share with you one of the most amazing experiences that happened to me recently - NaLDS. This is an AIESEC conferences that annually is held in Sankt Andreasberg, Germany. Throughout the years it had gained the popularity of one of the best conferences in AIESEC on the theme of leadership. Although a German conference every year it's becoming more international and there you can find delegates from all around the world. I was the only Bulgarian but I managed to meet very interesting people from Kenya, Romania, Denmark, Czech Republic, Serbia, Hungary, Nigeria, Columbia, Italy, Norway, Iran, Slovakia and many more. You can imagine the diversity we had during the Global Village :)
What is special about NaLDS is the atmosphere it creates. For one week you are disconnected from all your troubles and concerns back home and you have time for self-reflection and deeper understanding of your goals, vision and values. It makes you think about a lot of things and throughout the process you realize a lot of things about yourself. I really enjoyed the time spent with my home group - 12 amazing individuals (including 2 facis) with who we had great discussions, practical games and a lot of sharing. I once again realized how important is to share your thoughts and ideas and get a feedback from the others. I hope I managed to wrap up all the knowledge I got there and make use of the discussions and the reflection time. However I'm sure that NaLDS was very useful for me - I managed to align my thoughts and get really close to a very important decision about the next year of my life. Not to mention all the new friends I got there :) I love you guys and hope to see you again soon! Flyyy Eagles :P
Here are some pictures from NaLDS so that you can feel the incredible atmosphere there:

Home group 7 - The Eagles!


The whole group - Sami, Gustavo, Veronica, Ivan, Andreea, Maziar, me, Sascha, Martin, Martina, Davide and Sebastian

Official dinner

Work during the sessions

AIESEC dances

Me and Martina :)

Me and Peter - my host in Cologne

White, green and red - Bulgaria, Hungary and Italy

Can Bulgaria and Kenya be neigbours? On Global Village anything is possible :)

Nice snowy picture after the snow ball fight

LIS

So it finaly came - THE CONFERENCE - Local Induction Seminar of LC TU 2007! This was one of the most amazing experience I've had!!! It's hard to describe with word all the emotions I experienced, all the thoughts that were passing my mind, all the fun I had, and the satisfaction when everything finished!

So what happened and how we did it:

In LC TU we do it good, we do it interesting, we do it at the last possible moment :D We had so little preparation that I can't believe we made it. Instead of taking a good sleep before the opeing of the conference I was preparing sessions till 03:00 only to continue doing it from 05:00 on. We lacked time but we had a lot of passion and willingness to show our best and meet the delegates' expectations. We also had Ivo (MCP) who helped us a loooooooot and who made it possible for us to deliver such a good conference that will stay in the memories of the delegates.

And there came the delegates - around 35 curious people who had no idea what was going to happen to them in the next 2 days :) We left them no time to be bored :) I'm quite sure they enjoyed our sessions - both amuzing anf funny but also useful for them. It was my first time as facilitator. I thought it will be a bit uneasy and nervous for me but when I faced them and saw the friendly attitude in their eyes everything just came naturally. I was enjoying it so much :) My positive attitude and smile must have been contagiuos because the delegates were enjoing it as well. I was so proud back home reading my sugar cubes (short messages that everybody can send to whoever wants) where they were stating their approval of me as facilitator and of the conferense as whole :) It really touched me. Believe me the experience to face so many people and make them play, make them have fun, make them passionate about something is a feeling so great that I recommend it to everybody!

But what about our guests - we had quite interesting party delegates - a big group of alumni and members from LC UNWE came to see us and share the fun and the party with us. They were quite cool and really contributed for the good mood. Always in the middle of the party, they showed they have the AIESEC spirit in them and made me enjoy the night so much. Maybe the only bad thing about the party was that I slept only for 1 hour and barely made it home the next day, where the first thing I did was to jump in my bed and spend the next 12 hours thare ;)

I bet the conference was a bit tiring for all but also quite memorable and a cool start of a wonderful year in AIESEC! I do hope everybody was so inspired that those 2 days will keep them motivated for at least 2 years (:P) and lead them to success!

My thoughts are getting very random and I should stop writing. Instead I'll post some pictures :) I'll post more when i get the photos from Rumen who was not only an important member of my punishment team (oh my god this team was wild ;)) but also the person who made more pics than all the others together :D

Home Sweet Home

Last week I ended my 3-month traineeship in Coca-Cola and officially I’m unemployed now :) I needed a little break and I took it – I went home. It was 2 months since my last visit and my family was very happy to see me again. My brother went home with me so we were the 4 of us again.
Actually I had a reason to go home, a very good one – my grandfather had a birthday! It was his 70th birthday! We had a huge family reunion. My uncle, aunt and cousins came also so it turned out to be a big celebration :) My grandfather was extremely happy :)
I used the time in Shumen to catch up with some old friends, get a new phone number (+359883394826) and vote in the local mayor elections. Those were some nice relaxing 5 days that filled me with energy for the upcoming conferences – LIS on 1-2 November and NaLDS on 5-11 November. Looking forward to my next visit home!

My grandpa happy on his birthday

Nice family picture :)

First Step

First step as conference manager

First step as facilitator

First step in AIESEC for 25 enthusiastic persons

LIS 2007 - LIS the IIIrd
A chance to be creative. A chance to learn from past experience and implement good ideas. A chance to teach and learn.
LIS 2007 - let's make the first step together!

Recruitment

Today was the first day of a 3-day marathon of assessment centers and interviews for our candidates for new members in AIESEC. We have 53 applicant selected for that phase and only around 25 of them will be selected. It may be a tough competition because we have some very good candidates. It is quite challenging for us - the assessors - too. It's not an easy task to evaluate people. And no it's still the easy part - the tough will bet when we have to pick the exact 25 ones. I really hate rejecting people, it makes me feel bad. I need to be more bitchy and not care about that, but I can't! Anyway, I'll have to.

So, about today - very tiring but I'm very happy. We managed to go through 18 candidates and we really have some top picks. I was delighted by the working process and the profesionalism we showed. We also had fun together. Maybe here I have to say big thanks to Blago and Tanya, who helped us a lot! We couldn't make it without you, my friends!

And here are some pics with our candidates after completion of the first case of the assessment center :) They're cute, aren't they :P

an interesting day :)

Don't you love such days with great beginning and even better ending. I just had one of them :)
I was happily surprised with a mail from Germany, saying that I'm accepted as a delegate of one of the best conferences in AIESEC - NaLDS. That's a 1-week leadership conference that gathers a lot of international delegates and as I heard is really useful and fun. I'm so happy, happy, happy! I still remember me sending the application 3 days ago - 1 hour from the deadline, on a party :P I didn't expect such a fast reply, but German people are really fast and punctual. It will be interesting to go again to Germany - it was the first foreign country I visited - 4 years ago.
After a very intense day at work I was just in time for the presentation we had in Faculty of Economics of Sofia University. I had the pleasure to be the chair - the person that moderates the presentation. It was a new experience for me and I really enjoyed it. As a whole the presentation was very good and I'm happy with my performance :) Hopefully I'll have the chance to work in AIESEC with some of the people that attended the presentation.
Of course not everything was perfect that day - an application of mine was turned down by the MC of AIESEC in Bulgaria ... again :( Maybe it's time to stop applying there. I won't have the chance to be a facilitator on the coolest conference this year that will gather all the newies from the different LCs. Too bad, I really wanted that, but I guess I can't have it all. It's no secret that I'm a bad looser so I have to find a way that this rejection won't affect me. Anyway, I have a lot of rethinking to do and it's time to get in order my priorities.
However my day finished in an excellent way. After the presentation I went to the birthday of Dessy - a new member of LC UNWE. I can say it was one of the best AIESEC parties I remember! Lots of people, lots of dancing, lots of fun ;) I met a lot of friends I haven't seen for a while and of course the enthusiastic newies. The atmosphere was heated by the alcohol and the beautiful girls :) I should be going to more of the parties of LC UNWE!
It's getting late here so I'm going to bed. Let's see what the next day has brought to me...

235 hours
time is ticking
much to be done
no room for panic
impossible is nothing
we CAN do it, we WILL do it
we will succeed no matter what
235 hours and counting …

200

I saw this quiz on some friends' blogs and was so bored to actually take it myself and post it here.
Enjoy!
The statements in bold are the ones that apply for me.

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg
20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby’s diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
31. Asked out a stranger
32. Had a snowball fight
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
40. Seen a total eclipse
41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
48. Had two hard drives for your computer
49. Visited all 50 states
50. Loved your job for all accounts
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government’s official in that country to avoid notice
61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving
63. Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Benchpressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
80. Done something you should regret, but don’t regret it
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn’t have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
95. Gotten divorced
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don’t remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read – and understood – your credit report
126. Raised children
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. …more than once?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone’s heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them
183. ..and gotten 86’ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language (body language ;))
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196. Dyed your hair
197. Been a DJ
198. Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal
199. Written your own role playing game
200. Been arrested

Sharing is caring :) You can do some sharing too if you want.
Anyway, it's a good material for "I have never ever ...", right? ;)

numbers

8 months of blogging
50 posts
almost 1300 views of my blog

Well, interesting statistics. Frankly I didn't think I'd blog for so long. The initial idea was to write some news here for my friends while I'm abroad. Now it's been 3 months since I'm back home but I didn't stop blogging. Guess it's for all my friends that are abroad while I'm here :D
Seriously, I think blogging is a nice way of self-reflection and in a way - a "diary" that you can come to after a while and look through it. Besides, some people might find it amusing to read my blog and get to know what's happening to me :)

The Inn :)

This post is about my lovely room in Students Town :D A place that has seen many visitors and is almost always full. It's quite interesting how many paople have slept here since I moved in. We even have a regular "visitor" that stays here as a forth roommate. Well, you can't really find privacy here, but it's quite fun.
I really enjoy it when friends come here and stay over. Like 2 days ago - once more I had international guests. There was an AIESEC conference near Veliko Tarnovo and Silvi (OC delegates) asked me to host someone. I agreed and there I was on Sunday - waiting on the rain for a Lithuanian girl to come and stay for a night. I didn't know her but hey, that's AIESEC - you somehow can't refuse an AIESECer that needs a place to stay because you might be in the same position somewhere in the world. Her name was Laura and she turned out to be a really cute and lovely girl :) Thinking what to do and where to party I picked some more international delegates - 3 guys from Poland. It was quite funny because everywhere we went to eat smth, the electricity went down :) Finaly we got some drinks and went home where Laura was waiting for us. I had a bottle of home made rakia and menta so we decided to play some drinking games. We played "I have never ever" so we got to know each other, even too much ;) It was really fun, I enjoyed it!
At some point the Polish guys left and we went to bed - Laura in my bed and I on a folding bed. Guess what - after some minutes one of the Poles (Bubu) came to ask if I can host somebody else in my room because there was no more space at the place they were. We didn't have any more beds but what could I say - I agreed. So after 10 more min he came back with a blanket so he can sleep on the floor. I couldn't let him sleep on the floor so I gave him the bed I was about to sleep in. Good for me that Laura let me sleep with her in my bed :) It was good, but short - I had to wake up early to go to work. Anyway, it was a really nice night and in the future you can be sure I'll be willing to host a friend that needs a place to stay for a night or two :)

happy

I just felt happy about today and want to share it :)
First of all I finally passed my last exam and am proud to say I finished 3th grade :)))) The exam was oral (which is not so often now in my university) and I got it somehow with a good grade. I feel a bit guilty because I really didn't prepare for it, didn't say much about the questions, but still got a good mark. Well, bonuses are always welcome :D Anyway, now I'm ready to take my 4th and last year of bachelor studies in finance.
About the other good thing - I had my first AIESEC presentation that I perform as presentator! It's quite a cool feeling and gives you an incredible experience. The presentation went well at overall. There are some things that we can improve but we are still learning and the last 4 presentations will be better and better :) Probably I'll take part at at least 2 more, we'll see.
So now I'm going to sleep and hopefully the smile on my face will stay for at least a whole day ;)

complaining

Maybe I should say some more words about my job in Coca Cola. Anyways, this week it’s taken the biggest part of my daily time. The last days I’ve been coming 8:30 in the office only to leave at around 22:30. 14 hours a day!!!! So my routine is basically work – sleep – work. Not to mention I’ve been working some time on Saturday and Sunday too. And all this because of the ******* budget. I’ll be more than happy when we submit it on Monday.
Tell you what – the AIESEC budget (or any other NGO budget for that matter) is waaaaaaaay different and muuuuuuuuuch simpler. In Coca Cola we’re talking about hundreds of millions of euros and if I accidentally mess 1 recipe or type a wrong number it’s gonna make a difference. So I’m extra careful and check and double check everything.
OK enough complaining! I promise my next post will be more cheerful :)

1st school day

Lots and lots of memories came back to me today as I saw the students on the streets going for their first school day. I can't believe it's been 15 years since I first celebrated this day and stepped in my first school :) It seems so distant now and yet so close. Time has passed and I no longer go to my school, but the old friends remain. Some of them will always do and will keep the memory of this past times when everything seemed so simple, so different. I'm really happy that I have friends like Svilen, who I know since 1st grade and will always consider as one of my best friends!

It's Recruitment time

Hey hey AIESEC people!

Recruitment is upon us in LC TU and we are ready to take the challenge and recruit the brightest, best looking (:P), most motivated and passionate, hard working and ambitious young individuals that can be found in the universities in Sofia. We just entered a 1,5 months marathon that will suck most of our time and power but will bring enormous doze of satisfaction and will develop our organizational and presentation skills.

So 10th of September came and passed and we as AIESEC participated in the openning of the year in Technical University and raised awareness about AIESEC among the students in the top faculties in TU. Time is ticking and soon we'll enter the room for the first presentation in the university. Just like 2 years when I discovered AIESEC but this time I'll be on the other side - facing the students, addressing them and answering their questions. We are going to stand together as Executive Body and perform our first presentation. Are we going to make it good? Hell yeah - we'll rock the house! Well, shit happens so if we mess it - at least we have 5-6 more presentations in different universities to improve :D No, seriously, people learn from their mistakes so there will be some suck ups but we will smooth everything and try to show our best.

We'll see the results in the end of October and we'd better be really proud of them!

Still trying to deal with AIESEC, work, exams and personal life at the same time. Apparently succeeding :) Some people can, some people can't. At the end of the day it's all about time management, natural talent (haha I don't know how much of that I have :D) and a bit of luck (even if you don't have the previous 2, you'll do just fine with a big doze of luck :))

So I wish you to have the time you need for doing the things you like!

Unity Makes Power

Today is a Bulgarian national holiday - the Bulgarians celebrate 122 years from the Unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_of_Bulgaria) This holiday is very important for our history because it shows the courage and determination of our ancestors to oppose the Great Powers and unite our scattered country. This was truly an act that we can be proud of and honour the brave organizators and the soldiers that died in the following Serbo-Bulgarian war. Unfortunately nowadays there is am apathy about this holiday and you can hardly feel something special about the day. Some of my friends didn't even know it's a holiday.

I remember last 6th of September - I was in USA then and did my best to memorate the day and show I'm proud to be Bulgarain. I guess it's true that everybody becomes more or less patriotic when he leaves the county. However I don't need to be away from Bulgaria to love it and will try to make it a special day and enjoy it as much as I can :)

HAPPY HOLIDAY DEAR BULGARIANS!!!!!!

exams

I'm passing some difficult weeks right now. The exams in my university came and I'm seriously trying to prepare for them and get good marks. It's not that easy because I have to work and study at the same time and I really don't feel like taking exams so I'm trying to find some excuses not to study but to do smth more interesting.
However I've always been a good student and so far managed to achieve good grades. So I'm not trying only to pass but to do it the best way and achieve good results. And it's somehow happening. Today (actually yesterday) I had my first exam and I really did a good job - having the best grade (6). It seemed so easy - after all, the lectors are not so strict now and besides it always helps when you say you've been Erasmus :)
So 1 of 4 is over, 3 more left. Come on, I'll take them and forget about it. No sweat.
Anyway, you should always celebrate such small victories. I'm just back from the disco and a birthday before that. I'm a little bit tipsy from the alcohol but still ok for posting :)
Hopefully a week or two from now I'll be able to say I made it to forth year in university. Wish me luck!

Homeless?

What do you connect students dormitories with? Cheap way of living, dirty little rooms, nonstop parties - of course, but also troubles and endless administrative issues :( I hate to deal with SSO (the devision that manages the dorms). It's all about endless queues and problems.
So what is the problem - I had a decent room in one of the best blocks in Student Town (block 23) with good roommates. I was hoping to still have it when I return from Denmark, but noooo - things had to change. They decided to renovate the block. Normally a good intention - after the renovations I would have one of the best rooms in Studentski. So the idea was to put us temporary in other blocks, finish the renovation before the start of the school year and put us back in the new rooms. Hahaha - it's too good to be true, not in Bulgaria. Well, we had to move and we did - now I occupy a messy room on the first floor with awful toilet. When I was talking about smth with the supervisor of the block ("domakinka") and mentioned that I'm in room 121 she said - "Oh, you are in that crappy room" :( "Good news" is that I won't have to stay here for long - I have to be gone by the end of the month. That would be cool if I had a place to stay. Block 23 maybe - hahha try again! After 2 months of renovation they just emptied the rooms and did absolutely nothing to renovate them. Lasy bastards! So now nobody knows when it's gonna be finished. There is a solutions - I can apply for a room in another block but then I'll lose any chance to go back to block 23 :( Off and I want to stay there, I had enough of moving. But still I hav to find a place to stay til they finish it.
Have no idea what to do but will think of something.

Istanbul

On Earth there is a city, vast and populuos, bright and colorful, busy and loud, appealing with its beauty and yet filled with mysteries and secrets. An ancient city connecting modern Europe and exotic Asia. A city that bears a mark of many civilizations and stood the test of time. That is the magnificent Istanbul - the heart of Turkey! Known by many names, the city was the capital of glorious empires and thus an unreachable goal for many Bulgarian rulers throughout milleniums. There is something magnetic in this city that makes you want to visit it, to explore it. I personally had never been there, although it's so near, but knew that I'll see it one day soon.

And this day came. Although it was one of the top destinations for my next trip outside Bulgaria, I didn't plan to go there that soon. But I couldn't resist to accept Silvia's invitation to join her and go to surprise our friends from AIESEC that had a huge conference there. At first I was thinking to reject the offer, but when my other plans for the week collapsed, I had no choice but to happily accept and go there. During that time Adam was visiting me so I took him with me and the three of us headed to Istanbul with the night bus on Monday.

The trip wasn't without trouble. We had to wait 7 hours on the Turkish border :( You can imagine our frustration knowing that we are stuck there and will miss the opening of the AIESEC conference. Nobody knew how long we are going to stay on the border so everybody was relived when we finally passed it at 8 o'clock in the morning. We were late, very late, but still had enough time to see our friends. At 13:00 we reached Istanbul and started looking for our hostel. After we found it we changed clothes and went to the site of the Global Village where AIESECers from 102 countries were gathered to present their countries!

So some words for the AIESEC conference: It's called Intenetional Congress (IC) and gathers the MCs from all AIESEC countries. This is the biggest and most important conference in AIESEC! There you can feel the spirit on internationalism; the passion of the young and ambitios future leaders of the World; and test your phisical and mental limits in a 10days marathon of high-quality sessions, many new contacts from the whole world and plans and strategies for cooperation and everyday parties :) That's the place we went to spend our first day in Istanbul. We managed to catch the Global Village and the official openning where we heard speeches from the mayor of Istanbul, PAI, CCP,MCP of Turkey, HR Manager of HP and saw performances of the famous "Fire of Anatolia" and the Whirling Dirvishes. It was amazing! And beside all we managed to surprise or friends from the AIESEC :) I saw many friends from Denmark, Serbia and Bulgaria. Of course I couldn't resist to go to the stage and join the AIESEC dances :) There we saw another friend - Piotr - the CEEDer of LC VTU, who was also there to see the city and the openning and joined us for the rest of our stay there.

The 4 explorers :)

So after the openning the 4 of us (+ Piotr) went to the hostel and after some preparation went out again to see the nightlife of Istanbul. We went to a disko but I we didn't like it. And maybe it's not a good idea to go in a disko full of Turkish men when you are with a beautiful girl like Silvi. Anyway, we found a really nice classical turkish place - a narrow street full of small tables with short chairs, where you can drink Turkish tea, smoke nargile (shisha) and play tabla (backgamon). That's exactly what we did :) Me and Silvi taught Adam and Piotr how to play tabla while drinking tea and smoking nargile. It was magical :) It was so typically turkish and so pleasant :)

In front of Topcapi Palace

Traditional military costumes procession

In the Blue Mosque

The next day we started our sightseeing. Adam really wanted to go to Asia so we separeted. The rest of us went to SultanAhmed - the old city. There we went inside the Blue Mosque and showered in a fountain :D I can tell you one thing about Turkey - you walk and sweat, stay and sweat, breathe and sweat! I just couldn't count how many litres of water we drunk during that day :) We separeted again - Silvi went to an Islamic museum while I and Piotr went to the Kapali Carsi (the Grand Bazaar) and in Hagia Sophia. I just won't say anything about the last one because words are not enough to describe it! During the 2 days Piotr made over 500 photos so I can't wait to see them soon :)

In front of Hagia Sophia

In the afternoon we all gathered again and saw some more things. We went to 2 other mosques (Silvi is just amazing with the scarves around her body :D) and again to Kapali Carsi. I caould even bargain and bought a little souvenir :)

Unfortunatelly we had to go back :( So our short trip to Istanbul ended but we had a really great time there! I want to thank Silvi espacially for making me go there and also Adam and Piotr for sharing this trip with us!