Why to do an internship abroad? or My personal Experience in Bulgaria

For a long time I wanted to do an internship abroad, so I joined the local student organization AIESEC in Koszalin. They helped me to find a nice project. I had many offers mainly from Romania, India and China. Those countries are very interesting but I wanted something different and in Europe if it’s possible. So, I received 2 offers from Kyrgyzstan and Bulgaria. I analyzed and compared the 2 practices and in the end I chose Bulgaria. It was the best option for me.

My stay in Bulgaria was a great experience. When I went to the city of Svishtov – I thought:” What the hell is that?” all the buildings looked old and communistic. After that I just got used to it. The friends I met in Bulgaria showed me everything and helped me a lot to integrate in the society. When I speak about integration I remember the first time I went to my flat. I met my roommate Luca, a Georgian guy who took me immediately in the local pub “Admiral” to do a welcome party. It was nice… There I met people from Slovakia, Japan and Nigeria.

From this moment my amazing adventure started in the student city of Svishtov located on the banks of Danube river, in the North border of Bulgaria. I taught German language in “Nikolay Katranov”High School for 3 months. At the beginning it was complicated because I didn’t know how to communicate with the students. We did it mainly in English and in German. After little by little I learnt Bulgarian language which is not so different from Polish. Here you have some basic vocabulary that I write with Latin letters to be easier to pronounce it:

* zdrasti - cześć       * blagodarya – dziękuję     * Az sam ot Polsha – Jestem z Polski

* Kazvam se Dominik – Mam na imię Dominik   * Rozbirash li angliyski? – Rozumiesz po angielsku?

* Kolko e chasa? – Która jest do godzina?

Bulgarian language is very similar to Russian. It was a nice surprise to see that in Bulgaria you could make easier and faster friends than in Poland. The weather was sunny and warm almost every day. I met a lot of beautiful girls and in the same time the city where I lived was very calm and if you want to stay alone or just to relax you can do it.

In my free time I visited some cities: Rousse and Dobrich which are close to Svishtov, Varna, Bourgas and Nessebar - nice cities on the Black sea, Blagoevgrad, Veliko Turnovo, Razgrad and the capital Sofia. For me the most beautiful cities are: Nessebar, Veliko Turnovo (that is the old Bulgarian capital) and Burgas. I recommend the local drinks. Rakija is the typical Bulgarian alcohol which is similar to Vodka, some good beers are Zagorka and Kamenitza. I noticed that the Bulgarian students are different from their Polish homologues because they are curious and open to learn something new if someone has a new method of teaching. So I enjoyed a lot my experience with them and I learnt a lot how to teach and behave in front of class of 30 foreign young people.

text & photos: Dominik Czeszyński