My incredible experience - by Mr. Erasmus Sofia 2023/2024

My crazy aftermovie video ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOPOK6oYYgI

THE BEST MONTHS OF YOUR LIFE!!!! 

I'm not going to lie, Bulgaria is not the dream erasmus destination for most people. It's not as big as Paris, as pretty as Vienna, or as good in football as Portugal (hehe siiiiu). 

BUT it is one of the most culturally rich cities and capitals i have ever visited, and i have been to a lot of places around the world. There is so much to learn not only about Bulgarian culture but also about the entire Balkans, you can learn something new every single day.

FOOD - Bulgarian food is so good! Based a lot on meat, vegetables and cheese. There are restaurants which only serve traditional bulgarian food with bulgarian songs and dancers, i reccomend going to one at least once! There's also a very famous Bulgarian restaurant chain calledHappythat won the award for "restaurant of the year" in London!!! 

CITY - Sofia is the most advanced and modern city in Bulgaria, they have a super good public transport system (metro, bus and tram), you can get a 3-month transport card for around 15€ which is crazy. The streets (in the centre) are super super clean and all the buildings are beautiful! There are a lot of parks to walk and chill, and it is SUPER SAFE! i was very surprised by how safe it is at night, nothing bad ever happens.

TRAVELLING - The country's location is amazing, you can get flixbus rides to every country around Bulgaria, in less than 3-5 hours you can be in another country! Travelling inside Bulgaria is also ok, by flixbus or train.

WEATHER - The weather is really good in the start of the semester (September, October), so take some shorts, shirts and even a bathing suit (but just one). By the middle of November it starts getting colder, and in the end of November, start of December it starts snowing. Temperatures can go down to -10ºC, so take boots and warm clothes!

LANGUAGE - They speak Bulgarian in Bulgaria, which uses the cyrilic alphabet, the same one they use in other countries like Russia or Ukraine (it was actually Bulgaria who invented it!). It is actually super easy to learn! I started learning the letters some days before going to Bulgaria and it helped so much, because I would look at "университет" and know that it says "universitet", i think that you can figure out what it means hahahaha. I annexed the picture i used to learn the alphabet, you'll thank me later and also have another language to flex to your friends hehe

ESN - stands for Erasmus Student Network. They are the ones who will organize every erasmus party and trip, so follow them on social media (they use facebook a lot hahahah) and join their whatsapp group! The people working in ESN are super friendly and are around our age, so they're all super cool. @esnsofia on insta

PARTIES - Party days are usually Thursday, Friday, Saturday & whenever ESN does erasmus parties. There's all kinds of clubs with all kinds of songs! Pop, 2000's, Rap, Techno andsi españoles si, hay discotecas que solo ponen reggaeton jajajajja no se preocupen 

UNIVERSITY - Classes are very easy (and in english!), the teachers help you a lot in order to pass the classes. Can also depend a lot on the course! I was in computer science and it was easy, for medicine it was harder, kinda like in your own countries but a bit easier. If there are classes in Bulgarian for some reason, they will help you translate everything, so don't worry. The look of some universities is not the best but who cares?? You're in erasmus to enjoy life, party, travel and make friends, you will miss most of your classes anyways HAHAHAHAHA

HOUSING - Almost every university has a domitory for students, but the conditions are very bad. I will not lie to you, the one from the Technical University looked like they turned an old prison into a student residence xddd The only good one from the university ones is the Medical uni! Apart from this, there is a very modern student residence called Kitchen59, but it's pretty expensive and they don't have space for everyone, so it gets full super quickly. Your only option is to find a house (Either in the ESN groups, facebook, or in this website), and don't be afraid to share with other erasmus people you don't know!! It is the perfect chance to become best friends with a person from another country, and the more in one house, the crazier the life! It's super exciting.

PRICES - Life in Bulgaria is very cheap. I come from Portugal and I was shocked at how cheap everything was. So, if you're from an even richer country, you will have no problem with prices. Rent can go from 150-250€ per month, but you will save a lot of money on food, which was the thing i found was the cheapest compared to my country. You can go to a restaurant and have a full meal for less than 10€. Prices to enter the clubs don't go over 10€ as well! 

--------HOW TO HAVE THE BEST ERASMUS POSSIBLE--------

As you read in the title, I won the prize for Mr. Erasmus in the end of the semester! I really wanted to have the best experience I could, so I did everything I could. For you to have a super experience like I did, you need to remember what you are there for. If you plan to do erasmus just to go study in another country, you're doing it wrong. Erasmus is all about making friends from all over the world, learning about a different culture and country, to travel and party a lot with them, because your time there is very limited and THE TIME WILL PASS SO FAST. You should try to be outside your comfort zone for as much as you can, because you'll see that it's the place where you grow youself and discover the true beauty of the world.

In the start of the semester it is SUPER IMPORTANT to go to as many ESN events as you can! This is the best way to meet people, and don't be shy, remember that everyone there is alone as well and they want to meet new people and make new friends! The more people you talk to in the first events, the more people you will know in the parties. I tried to get to know everyone i could, and you can't imagine the feeling of entering an ESN party and knowing everyone!!! It felt so good, really made me the happiest person in the world during those months. Never say no to an opportunity to have an adventure as well! The moments where I said yes to adventures led to the best and craziest moments of my life, so don't miss out just because you're uncertain about something.

You should also become friends with the ESN people, as they're also locals and can take you on super cool adventures!! And sometimes let you into parties for free ;)

If you made it this far into the text, you're amazing!!

If you have any more questions, don't be shy and send me a message on instagram 
@joao_fernandes2