I love Bulgaria as much as the next girl so I wasn’t too surprised when a couple of my Bulgarian friends sent me links to a new-ish youtube piece about the History of Sofia.
I queued it up last week thinking I’d watch it while I was toasting some bread for dinner. Turns out that what I thought was a clip was actually a 28 minute video about Sofia.
That’s intense.
And really, who needs to watch a 28 minute video about the history of Sofia?
Not me.
Okay, okay. I figured that I’d watch it. At some point. After I’d watched all of the Daily Show episodes I was behind on.
Finally I succumbed. I couldn’t help but wonder what’s the video about?
I started it on Sunday but the video is pretty slow paced and kind of ridiculous. I thought: I am not going to last for more than three minutes. Then one minute and fifty seconds in, I starting getting into the horrible-ridiculousness of the video. I don’t know who wrote the script but it’s wild.
It includes such gems as:
- Sofia hasn’t grown old. It’s grown extremely wise. [1:50]
- Constantin the Great was in love with Serdica. [3:40]
- More steal was used for its construction [NDK--the National Palace of Culture in the 1980s] than for the Eiffel Tower. [24:50]
- Sofia is not old. It’s ancient. [25:45]
- In less than an hour you can experience all the stages of [Sofia's] history. [somewhere right before the end]
Yeah, you might just want to skip right to the best parts of the video. Or if you think you’d like to save yourself some time and energy hoofing it around town checking the sights out for yourself you could plop down and watch the whole half hour video.
The thing I don’t get is why this guy who clearly likes Sofia enough to make a fairly legit albeit annoyingly boring video about this city would then reduce the city and the complex and extensive history into something one can see in less than an hour.
Also, I don’t know how Terry is getting from the city center to Boyana Church round trip in an hour but I’d like to ride with him next time.
So that’s that. Watch it if you want to but be forewarned it’s a time commitment and I am not sure that it’s nearly as fun or pleasurable as watching kittens do silly things in costume.
Oh and you could also let me know what you think. If you’re so inclined.
Looks good. British English.
Do you happen to know the slogan of the Sofia city? That is on the city coat of arms? Then you would get the first gem
@helen I have no idea what the slogan of the city is. Maybe: Constantin Slept here? Everything is better with Rakiya? or The town so great we named it Sofia? (That’s a take on Walla Walla’s old tourism tag line: Walla Walla the town so nice they named it twice. Currently we’re giving a new one a spin: Walla Walla Surprise, Surprise. But really, that’s got nothing on the previous one.)
Yeah, I watched it till the end and I saw that they actually mentioned it just before the 25:45 gem
The motto translates something like: Growing, but not getting older (or not aging as they say in the video). The idea is that it grows, develops but does not get old (in the quite negative connotation of this word).
Anyway, the video is quite naive and old-fashioned in a way but it is not much different from other similar videos on Discovery. And is informative. I learnt things I didn’t know.
It’s a bit clumsy and overly enthusiastic, but I don’t find it that ridiculous. He mentions all of the well known cliches, but for someone unfamiliar with the history of the city, it could be interesting.
@Ilian Well, I think that this video is ridiculous in that it’s extremely silly not so much in the deserving ridicule kind of way.
I watched the video a few days ago and I think it’s pretty badly made. Time and time again when talking about Sofia and Bulgaria people tend to go back to the same old cliches. And that’s boring!
And youtube is there for that purpose. 
Here’s an idea – for your next project make a video clip or a series of clips, something like a vlog, about Sofia. We’ll help with ideas, locations, shooting and such.
@Apcho The thing is that I don’t that I could do a better job. I think that there’s a chance that I could funnier and that I could be more irreverent but I am not sure that anyone really wants to watch these things. Maybe I am wrong through.
I don’t think the point is to do a better video. It’s just that watching this one makes me extremely bored. There’s noting fresh, trendy or interesting about it, it doesn’t provoke you, it doesn’t make you curious.
OK, we get it – Sofia and Bulgaria have history. Great. Can they offer something else?
It’s ridiculous, you are right.
I imagine Terry saying “Serdica is my Rome” and Merete thinking “The hell with this! I need a cold drink, a fresh and exciting meal and a new pair of shoes.” And that’s only 5 minutes into the movie…
Bringing something new to the table, being funny – those are a few ways ot improve a video presentation about Sofia.
Because let’s be honest – this video isn’t good enough even for watching let alone getting you interested in visiting and exploring Sofia. Except if you are a history fanatic. And even then you may get bored listening to how Sofia is so so so so soooooo much older and better than your capital.
So yeah, I think your take on Sofia might be a fresh, interesting and funny one. I sure would watch that.
I cant believe that you actually have lived in Sofia for 2 years and you don’t know anything about it…This is ridiculous in my opinion. I don’t want to insult you but it seems like you don’t know anything about European culture… And this video is made for people like you, so I strongly advise you to take your time and watch it again and maybe watch some similar ones for other EU cities, which will give you some background knowledge. Finally, if you don’t like Sofia and don’t know anything about it, why would you live here?
( ps. things said in the video are all true, but maybe its strange for you that Constantine liked Sofia not Walla Walla? :S )
@logitech I think that you may have missed the point. I actually like Sofia. I also like Bulgaria. But I dislike this video. I think that the video is reductive. I responded this video on by blog with a tone that is purposefully flippant and a little sarcastic. In my mind this is in reaction to the grandiose language used to narrate the video. The video making a hard sell of Sofia highlighting a lot wonderful cultural and historical sites in a way that comes over the top. But I can handle this travel/tourism pieces often adopt this kind language. What surprised me was that the sites highlighted in the video I would argue take much longer to enjoy and appreciate than the hour proffered at the end of the video.
As such, I am fascinated (and a little repulsed) by the fact that the video seems to be saying: hey you, take another look at Sofia. Don’t dismiss us. (Which for the record is a sentiment that I appreciate, seeing as that’s what I am trying to do with this blog). However at the end of the video, the narrative slips back into the trap that most traveling writing about Bulgaria does: there’s no need to spend more than a day in Sofia (or in this case, an hour). See it for a day and then move on to better things. It’s this slippery reversal of narrative that I find the most distasteful rather than the slightly self-aggrandizing language used by a British Expat to describe Sofia’s history.
Now I get it. But I think that you have missed the point. He is actually saying: “you can see layers and layers of European history from ancient times to nowadays in such a tiny spot in terms of earthly dimensions. How great is that!”
I cant believe that you actually dare to post something like that about somebody you dont know. Shame on you.
Каролин,
Аз съм авторът на текста на този филм. Мисля, че си малко жестока и саркастична към нас – но от друга страна, щом сме успели да те накараме да го гледаш, а след това и да го коментираш – значи сме си свършили работата…
Благодаря ти. По-добре негативни коментари, отколкото безразличие!
Желая ти хубав ден!
Oh, you wrote the script? You mean – these convincing people in the video were not spontaneously speaking out of their vast knowledge of history and geography but they were just reciting a script? That’s such a disappointing surprise!
So you intentionally lied and deceived, it did not just happen…
I watched it few days ago and I’m pretty OK with it. Granted, I don’t expect much from a “come and see us” video. Or maybe it helped that the last video a Brit did in Sofia that I watched was about gypsy thieves and clans and featured shots of the Sofia centre under rather Turkish music.
It’s not TV but still, without the cliches I don’t think it woul’ve gotten made or that popular. And the “you can see it in one hour” I take as a regular sales pitch, having nothing to do with the truth and saying it won’t take too much of your oh-so-valuable time.
“Hasn’t grown old” is indeed a reference to the city motto.
And I don’t get it – what’s wrong with Constantine loving Serdica? He kinda did, and not just in words. More than our current government does, anyway
I think the idea of you doing a video log is quite good. Wether it’s of your travels around the country or abroad or just in Sofia. Next time you walk around and notice or think of something that you’d want to write in your blog, take out your camera and tell it to lens
@Bobby For the record, I think this great that Constantin loved Serdica. It also just strikes me as such a funny fact to toss into the video. This said, it sets a great precedence for me–I mean I am following in great footsteps. At the same time, the fact that Constantin the Great was in love with Serdica also seems like something that would be equally at home on a tourist tee-shirt with a picture of Constantin’s face and the caption: He loved Serdica & I love Sofia.
Ah, yes, I see what you mean now. Though I doubt any Bulgarian would put that on a tourist T-shirt. We don’t have that many tourist designs (you’ve probably seen them all in the underpasses near the Presidency and Sheraton) especially ones specific to Sofia. If we made more, there’d be other stuff to put on them, so basically – Constantine isn’t good enough for a T-shirt
) Like the hotel built on top of the largest Roman amphitheater on the Balkans or the wonderful wooden house in the park, which is now a naked ruin, as the ornaments from there now grace a “palace” at the seaside.
And I get why the fact-tossing would seem odd to you. I’ve just grown accustomed to it. Maybe I can explain. That “don’t dismiss us” thing you mentioned above is shared by Bulgarians as a whole, which you may have noticed. Because we were kinda dismissed historically and culturally during Turkish and Communist times. Now there’s this urge to bring that history and culture to the attention of everyone, be it other Buglarians or the big wide world out there. Because we are hearing all the stories of Roman conquests, Arthur’s knights, the fierce vikings, Pearl Harbour and D-Day, cowboys and indians, ninja and samurai and other things all over the globe, that are part of popular knowledge. And it came kind of natural to want to say “Hey, that’s awesome, but look, we have some cool stuff too. Not as cool as yours, but still.” And humble as I am, sometimes… sometimes it really is as cool. The less organised form of this is blurting out facts like this, usually relating with something more popular for comparison (i.e. that Eiffel Tower thing). It’s a sort of cherry-picking to get someone to sit and eat some more of the cake. I don’t really know if it’s working, and I imagine it can get pretty annoying at some point. But this way of “quick advertising” is getting more and more popular, because stuff gets destroyed or forgotten. (Here’s me doing it
Considering the script is written by a Bulgarian, such mentions are to be expected.
I can’t more. I spent my Tuesday arguing with people who loved the video…
First of all, it illustrates a big palette of Bulgarian complexes. We invented the computer and we are the cleverest and we are the strongest but then we are always f***ed. And BTW, Sofia is the second oldest city in Europe. Uh, no, capital. Uh, no, actually, the second oldest city, which is a capital NOW. But they don’t mention this twist of the facts, that I’d call deception. And the dude who moved the Roman capital to Constantinople actually wanted to move it here. Not that we can prove it, but we are so much cooler, he definitely did want that. BTW his favourite horse was called Trixie. True story! Cherni Vrah is “almost as high” as Olympus…
In Ruse we have a saying that people from Sofia are such provincialists, that they think Vitosha is “the highest” and Iskar is “the deepest”. They don’t see anything further than that because, you know, Sofia is the s*it, who cares about anything else. Yeah, abroad (in the amazing CHUZHBINA which is something mystical for Bulgarians because apparently there is milk and honey in the streets) there is some cool stuff, but anyway, abroad is soooo faaaaaar and it’s beyond the border, and we all know borders are a HUUUUUUGE problem and there we all feel like gypsies because we are the greatest but no one respects us and we are soooo poooor and God hates us although we once had 3 seas. It’s 3 seas, serious stuff! So, we gotta build 3 highways for Sofians to get to the seaside because this is what infrastructure is for and we don’t care someone may want to produce something and export it on these highways because no one would want to buy Bulgarian stuff anyway. Plus, if he has money to export, he can build his own highway. MUST BUILD MAGISTRALA TO SEASIDE FOR PEOPLE FROM SOFIA!
Then the whole thing goes on talking how important it is that some city is God-chosen to be a capital. Woo-hoo a ca-pi-tal. It’s not a game, it’s serious – it’s a ca-pi-tal.
And my favourite part is how they show that they have trams. 5-6 times during the video you see the damn TRAMS and you think – WOW, Sofia must be so awesome, they have TRAMS there! No other Bulgarian city has trams and the author of the video was apparently thinking “In your face, cultureless provincialists, you don’t have TRAMS!” Surprisingly for me, they didn’t show an escalator.
Apparently, this is a promotional video for Sofia to become Cultural Capital of Europe 2019. But for 2019 it’s Bulgaria’s turn anyways, so all these lies and deceptions and misconceptions are aimed against the other Bulgarian cities that are applying for Cultural Capital: Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas and Ruse.
My personal favourite is Plovdiv, which happens to be about 6000 years old, has a Greek amphitheatre that is still used, has a whole “old city” and has a lot to offer. Furthermore, it’s not famous, so it has a lot to win from being Cultural Capital of Europe 2019, as opposed to Sofia which will win nothing.
Varna is famous anyway, they get many tourists. And I am not sure they have a lot of culture. Burgas’ application made me laugh. These guys really don’t know when to keep quiet. And my love Ruse is not in its shiniest moment, although there are 7-8 years till 2019 and if the economy goes well, who knows?
This happened in my head while I was watching. BTW, Walla Walla sounds like Baden-Baden.
Great post.
Made me laugh and read it with pleasure.
I’m rooting for Ruse! It’s a great city which has huge potential. I hope I can visit it again in the spring because one weekend wasn’t enough for all the great things to see there.
Thank you for the sense of humour when reading. I was afraid I would get angry responses from short-sighted people. Again.
) to make something out of it. It’s a shame that I would not know where to take you if you came to visit me in Ruse. 
But I’ve also always been amazed how Carolyn does not seem to be willing to choke some of the above-mentioned “short-sighted people”.
On a remotely related note, I believe that the English word acquaintances should be popularized. I don’t want to call them friends but it feels strange to call them acquaintances because it’s one of those words you don’t use.
Thank you for the nice words about Ruse. However, I’d say that we do not deserve the title because we are not making any effort. It’s a city with golden potential and it’s doing nothing (or too little, nothing it too strictly defined
@Garth – Why do you have to stay at work during the грипна? This is… sad.
@TAfrikanski: I like Sofia a lot, but I think I like your post more. Thanks for making me laugh in my classroom, where I am trapped during our грипна ваканция, along with Carolyn, whose classroom is down the hall. @Carolyn: I admire your restraint in responding to abusive blog posts. @logitech: Преди да гововиш такива глупости, трябва да прочетеш по-внимателно този блог, където почти всеки ден Каролин показва колко обича София.
Garth I see your Bulgarian is already excellent.
Поздрави – Апостол
Bravo @TAfricanski
I wouldn’t have had the time to write such a long debunking comment about the greatness of Sofia, but I have the time to summarize in one sentence.
Sofia’s beauty is appreciated much like your kid’s first poop, you may like to think it’s beautiful and healthy, but to anyone else it may stink a bit
I’m surprised by old the drama this silly video caused. Yes, Sofia is not Paris or New York and will never be – bu that is OK, it doesn’t have to. It doesn’t mean that it can’t be Europe’s cultural capital in 2019. And I’m glad to see someone already is making some efforts in that direction (I’ll be happier if they become more serious and professional by 2019) than doing everything in the last moment like usual.
TAfricanski, I’m completely aware of Sofia’s disadvantages, but what makes a city interesting is more than a handful of nice buildings and pleasant cafes packed with herds of long legged chalga girls. There are many details that add to the overall experience of the city – details that just some “short sighted” people and Carolyn manage to notice.
I have to admit that chalga girls do manage to attract my interest, no matter how much I try to pretend I am strong and wise.
Do not put Carolyn and the “short sighted” people in the same boat. And don’t put people who like Sofia and the “short sighted” people in the same boat, either. I hate some aspects of the city and like others. Short sighted people go with the crowd and feed you clichés.
I’d love to have the opportunity to see some more of the details you were talking about.
But still, for 2019 I’d rather see Plovdiv.
Unfortunately, everyone is right. The video is slow and awkward, the music choice odd and repetitive, but – oh, Sophia is so lovely! Since I do not expect to visit and have seen nothing but still photos of the city, it was good to catch sight of the city’s prime buildings in a somewhat more animated view. History does interest me. Since I have not studied Bulgaria or read much about it, Sophia’s rich traditions and multicultural heritage was news to me. In the end, it was the architecture alone which kept me watching. Sophians should be justly proud of their city; it is gracious and appealing.
WOW! I have GOT to go and watch this video. It must truly be something to elicit all these responses. Additionally, I love the idea of a Bulgaria video blog (vlog). I would definitely follow something like if it had a travel/historical/cultural slant. I am especially interested in the travel and cultural exploration opportunities to be had in Bulgaria and fully plan on taking advantage of them upon my move to BG later this year.
As some others have said, if we don’t like the content, quality, or narrative of the media available, perhaps we should create our own. I would love to do just that. Looks like I need to buy a video camera and start a YouTube channel!
Lastly, I agree with TAfricanski, Plovidv is, by far, my favorite. But I’ve seen very little of Sofia, so that may change!
Sorry, *Plovdiv
Ha
Now I have a list of the first dozen of people who`ll get plain tickets fro me when i win the lottery 
Dont you feel sorry for yourself living in a country/city you despise so much? Please, please go away.
Светлина – please try and read everything here again. Because it’s obvious that you didn’t understand any of us and what we were trying to say.
It’s sad that you read some criticism and think that’s hate. Noone here said they hate Sofia or Bulgaria.
Yeah, some of us may hate the video. And so what? Are we obliged to like each and every video? Are we not allowed to have opinions and to expres them? Are we allowed to have only positive comments?
I’ll say it again – your interpretation of our posts is your problem. You see here something that’s not here.
I understand hate. I dont understand stupidity.
[...] България в 30 минути не се събира. А ето и какво мислят разни хора. На тях сърце им дава да се шегуват със страната [...]
Me again, sorry for the poor grammar – that`s what happens when I go crazy and I do go crazy when I`m being offended.
And you are offended from? What and who? Please, share with us.
Follow the links if you can. And buy a mirror if you dare
It will never cease to amaze me that some high school dropout located in a town of 5,000 people somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the U.S., who can hardly write grammatically correct in his or her own language, let alone to speak foreign languages, and who has never been anywhere but the closest “big city” of let’s say 250,000 people, still proudly says that the best thing in the world is America and being American, but the Bulgarians find it so hard to appreciate a country and heritage of more than 1,300 years. If one lacks self-respect and pride, one cannot expect respect from others. We are so eager to tell the world how ugly and bad Sofia is, and how the other European capitals are so much better; then it should not come as a surprise that foreigners would prefer to go and see indeed these other European capitals and dismiss Bulgaria as a place with nothing to see. It is not what one has that is important; it is what one does with it that matters.
Karolinka,
Despite how much you like Sofia and Bulgaria and wanna stay here longer, I suggest you’ll feel better somewhere else. Somewhere “fresh and trendy” with less historical ambience, аs your friend kindly writed. I’ll feel better too. Sometimes it takes huge amount of knowledge, wisdom and rich cultural and historical background to understand foreign text, book, video, ect. Оbviously you don’t have it. So, please, do not feel free to make opinions for something you don’t understand and will never be able to. At least not here. Go home, leave us “here to drink our Rakiya”. And if you take your friends with you, “everything will be better”. Please.
P.S. Don’t excuse my awful english. I don’t need to know it, I know Bulgarian perfectly, and that’s enough for me.
Carolyn, I watched the video. It is, as you said, over the top and a bit silly (I thought I would scream if they showed the Trams one more time!). Again, I cannot believe how your original post (which is clearly critical of the video itself, NOT Sofia or Bulgaria) could elicit such comments; some of which are downright idiotic. Did some of these people even bother to read what you wrote?
I agree with @Garth and also commend you on your restraint in responding to some people’s (undeserved) criticism and obvious lack of class. Unfortunately, I would not be able to show the same restraint, but I’m just a fiery redhead like that. I have read and re-read your original post and the comments that followed. I simply do not understand how it can go from a quick video review on your part to a full fledged defense of a nation and invitation to see yourself out of the country on the part of some overzealous readers. You stated right off the bat that you like Sofia and Bulgaria. However, even if you didn’t, this is YOUR blog and you can express whatever views YOU wish, and I suppose deal with the comments that follow. Perhaps @logitech, @Светлина, and @mirror do not understand the concept of sarcasm and mistook a simple video review for a Bulgaria bashing. That’s their problem. Or perhaps the rest of us simply don’t possess the “huge amount of knowledge, wisdom and rich cultural and historical background to understand foreign text, book, video” that they clearly possess in spades (I should point out that this is sarcasm, in case they confuse that with a genuine compliment). I am all for constructive criticism, meaningful dialogue and a sharing of opinions. I am not, however, all for a showering of undeserved and downright confusing diatribes on why you are (and the rest of us who dare to say a negative word about Bulgaria, be it sarcastic or not) such a terrible person who has no right to share an opinion (AGAIN, ON A MOVIE, NOT A NATION!!). All this has made me a bit terrified to move to Bulgaria. I am an opinionated person myself and will freely express my personal views on any subject that happens to strike my fancy, including *shudder* Bulgaria. If people react like they have to you, I may not be able to keep my cool. I guess it’s just the bossy and entitled American in me.
People here react just like this
If you listened to the video and did not count the trams you`d know that we have the experience, guts and right to speak up whatever we think. Coming here is not an exotic vacation, it`s breaking into our lives and I think you should consider it more carefully. You may not be able to handle the Balkan life style and temper.
Светлина, Please get a life, would you….
I’m not sure if the video will put someone off from visiting Sofia. But people like you will. You have no manners and you make the myth of the bulgarian hospitality just that – a myth.
“Coming here is not an exotic vacation, it`s breaking into our lives and I think you should consider it more carefully.”
Apparently, the video should have shown that Sofia exhibits not only 1300 year old history, but also citizens with 1300 year old view of the world.
Please submit yourself to the closest museum that is collecting examples of specimens pre-dating the early 1900s.
Also, if you are willing to enact a set of values form the kinship system, I recommend you get off the internet, go to the kitchen and cook dinner for your family. Also, please wash their underwear while you’re at it. And don’t worry about working or voting, you can just relax and enumerate the number of people “intruding” into your wonderful life.
Geez…
Thanks for the advices
But why not letting the blonde take part in the conversation? And do you honestly believe she doesn’t cook and wash her underwear? Stop being ashamed of people like me and like your parents. Teen riots are supposed to stay behind when you reach the voting age.
It always amazes me how people get so offended at any slight they perceive against their country and then somehow think it’s appropriate to rip apart a country that they do not know themselves. How is that any different? Or any more appropriate?
So many people have commented because they felt that you were attacking Bulgaria and then they proceeded to attack the United States. They never stopped to actually read what you wrote (you DON’T LIKE the VIDEO but, you LOVE Sofia and BULGARIA) and instead just decided to rip on you and your country of origin?
How does that make them any more culturally competent or any way superior to you? It just shows that they are as ignorant and racist as they (very mistakenly) thought you were.
“It always amazes me how people get so offended at any slight they perceive against their country” – Amanda, if I come to your house and start making statements of your mom’s attitude being ridiculous, how would you react? I hope you get my metaphore. I spent some time in USA, you americans, are like a tree with no roots and your country is aswell. But I would never told you that, unless I read a post like yours. You will never be able to understand nation like mine, even if your parents are professor and antiquarian such like Karolinka’s.
@onetrickpony – please, get a behaviour, would you?
I am chauvinist and xenophobe and I’m proud of it. But I don’t show it, unless I’ve been provoked.
I may just be beating a dead horse at this point, but I had to follow up on this.
First off, while I do not feel that I need to defend myself (or other fellow POSITIVE readers) to you, @Светлина, I must say I did indeed listen, and very carefully at that, to the video. I have a tourism degree and actually find most historical travelogues quite interesting. AGAIN, it wasn’t so much the content of the video (after all, the host was merely taking the viewer on a quick tour of Sofia’s most well-known historical and architectural landmarks, like any other travel video of Sofia would), it was the video production qualities that got to me (music, repetitive scenes, etc…). GO BACK AND READ CAROLYN’S POST AND MOST OF THE COMMENTS THAT FOLLOWED! We are NOT saying anything bad about Sofia, merely about the video itself. Why are you so defensive? Sofia and Bulgaria’s merits can speak for themselves.
Quoting you, “we have the experience, guts and right to speak up whatever we think.” That is absolutely true. You can say whatever you feel. But why then can’t we? Are you the only one entitled to an opinion because you are Bulgarian? You make absolutely no sense and just look and sound ridiculous at this point.
I am marrying a Bulgarian later this year. I LOVE the fact that he is Bulgarian and also all the differences (and quirks) that come along with it. Just this morning I spoke (via video gmail the 2 words I know in Bulgarian) to my future mother-in-law. She, and most every other Bulgarian I have ever met (unlike you) has been beyond gracious, welcoming, kind, and hospitable. It is people like you that give Bulgaria a bad name.
I’d like to think I am done commenting on this post now. I am, quite frankly, over speaking to brick walls. But, who knows, sometimes I just can’t keep my mouth shut!
Sorry, Amanda! I meant this to be a reply to my own comment, just put it in the wrong spot.
Well well well
My own grandmother is treating the German boyfriend of my cousin living in London the way your mother-in-law is treating you. Many people are. They respect you for your origin and not for your personality and that`s foolish of them but no one can stop it.
These people are troubled and don’t like themselves (enough). My point is… you have no Bulgarian friends yet, you have acquaintances. You don’t know any Bulgarians yet but your fiance.
Really? I didn’t know we had met. I didn’t know you knew my life story. If you did you would know that I have many Bulgarian friends. I have been to Bulgaria. I worked and lived with about 50 Bulgarians (plus countless more Serbians and Macedonians). I can guarantee you that they respect me for my personality AND for my origins. You, on the other hand, deserve respect from no one. Your attitude is sickening and I am done speaking to you.
Whitney, I feel so much like you! I’m Bulgarian but it bugs me to no end when my fellow countrymen act like jerks in situations like the one at hand. Unfortunately, apart from the nice people one can meet in Bulgaria, there’s a bunch of rude, obnoxious and aggressive people who don’t get it that criticism is not the same as a personal attack. A great number of people have been fed cliches for many years, and as someone else mentioned, the communist educational system managed to produce a lot of ignorant people who never bother to actually hear what you say or try to see the world from a different perspective. Please, don’t get mad, it’s not worth it.
Mirror,
If you were to come to my house and start making statements of my mom’s attitude being ridiculous, I would not then insult your mother. It would make no sense to do so. I would think you were uniformed but I have no idea, how me insulting your mother would make the situation any better or make me feel like a better person.
Where did you spend time in the USA? As you surely know, the United States is a massive country, larger than Western Europe. As such, it is impossible to make sweeping generalizations about the entire country, such as ‘you americans, are like a tree with no roots and your country is aswell’. California is vastly different from Louisiana. Florida is very different from Michigan.
Plus, your quote above doesn’t make sense to me. Could you please expand on it? How are americans rootless? What do you mean?
Also, being a chauvinist and xenophobe is nothing to be proud of. It’s pathetic to think that that is a strength.
Amazing. Bulgarians are chained by clichés. Please, forgive us. I don’t know what your educational system does, ours imposes clichés.
After all, it was designed by a communist government to serve the purposes of the communist government. I can’t tell a lot more about it yet because I just got the idea. But that’s more or less what you see here.
You have no idea how well we’ve been trained. Please, excuse my fellow Bulgarians. It’s not their fault…
I watched the movie and I even posted in on FB for people to watch it.
I agree that the movie is full with cliches, has weird sequences (as the tram one), and awkward comparisons (the one with Olimp…in fact usually Bulgarians compare Musala with Olimp and not Cherni Vruh…). I also didn’t like the focus so much being on the churches in Sofia, I think much more can be explored beyond the religious angle and constructing the town as a religious center …
In the same time, I think there is not enough done in advertising and thinking of Sofia as more than the capital of Bulgaria. We kind of tend to underestimate this town in comparison to old cities such as Plovdiv and Veliko Turnovo. We are not happy how messy and dirty it is and we tend to forget how many precious things there are in it…starting from the masterpiece icons in the crypt of Nevski cathedral, the thermal baths in the very center of town, Vitosha mountain and much more as shown in the video
That’s why I think this video is a good start of the discussion about Sofia and what the town can potentially offer/develop further as a touristic destination…and in such case the efforts should be appreciated than playing around the Rakyia and Constantine the Great jokes
OMG, such a long and tough conversation! I watched the video, it’s not that i didn’t like it and all the facts i didn’t know before, but, really … is this video really a reason for all these comments? Just because someone here said he/she didn’t like it, the video, not Sofia itself.
Why all these negative vibrations here? Why did someone here decide Karolinka (or Whitney or whoever) has or doesn’t have the right to live in Bulgaria.
Светлина, if you find them breaking into your life in a negative way, then too bad for you and YOUR Balkan life style..
(Thank god some people here weren’t born back then, cause Constantine would have never liked Serdika, they would have kicked him out of it lol)
interesting discussions, all, with a sense of humor
I understand the big city mentality perfectly, since I was born in New York City.
Although I haven’t been to Sofia, I’ve been to a number of European cities, and the ones I liked the most were the ancient ones: Rome, Trier, and Vienna. The smaller towns had their charm as well, and I found their history impressive, compared to the United States.
In general, Americans think anything built before the 1700′s is old.
By the way”Vitosha is “the highest” and Iskar is “the deepest” is part of a humourous Bulgarian folk song. See link, page 94.
http://www.hopp-zwei-drei.de/Texte/Kurzsicht_Lieder_20101218.pdf
Carolyn, if you can find it, watch the film Sofia Video Guide by Bidon Film. It’s full of humour and uses an interesting filming technuque.