Mobility 4 in Veliko Tarnovo: Blog
Blog in Bulgarian
Monday
On Monday, we were overwhelmed at the Bulgarians' hospitality as they presented us with musical performances and interesting speeches. We were very impressed at the musical talent conveyed by Emilyan Stanev's pupils, from a skilled violinist to young children - already masters of the accordion. We received presentations on Veliko Tarnovo's intriguing history which we all enjoyed. We then experienced our first workshops, and our excitement could definitely show!
Our first workshop was pendant painting, and our expectation of an excellent workshop was met and exceeded. Our instructor,
who made us feel very welcome, supplied us with plastic pendants, glass paint, templates and relief paint - to create raised
borders for us to paint.
We designed six patterns for our pendants, and then chose which ones were our favourites. We were jealous of the others
countries designs, as their work was like that of a professional!
We then used the relief paint to trace our designs from the templates to the plastic pendant, which proved tricky... Some
of our 'attempts' were not as great as we had hoped. We then continued to paint the glass with bright, translucent glass
paint, which was very fun, and not only we enjoyed it, but our Romanian and Slovenian friends loved it too.
After our workshop a group of us walked to the local mall, and spent the night shopping - surprise, surprise, the girls loved it! Amidst our veteran shopping, we ate at the pizzeria and enjoyed the fine cuisine offered by the restaurant EGO. Our Bulgarian partners bought us a lovely meal, allowing us to bond over pizza and soft drinks. We also encountered a corn shop, which we marvelled at. Not something you regularly see in Ayr! Many of us bought corn, and found it delicious. After a night of good food and laughter we headed home - for a second dinner! We thoroughly enjoyed our first day in Bulgaria, from the presentations from our partner students to the workshops we experienced together. Our first day was only the beginning of all the fun we had yet to experience!
Amy and Grania
Tuesday
The morning started off bright and sunny which was perfect for our first activity of the day. We all met at a square beside the Mother Bulgaria Monument, and then separated into two groups. In my case I was in group 1 which was followed by a dog until halfway through our visit as we walked around the town. We saw the older parts of the town which also gave everyone an opportunity to go buy some souvenirs. In the souvenir shops there were usually lots of rose oil which is a traditional Bulgarian fragrance. There were also a variety of fridge magnets, Turkish delight and different types of pottery. After having a break we continued our walk through Veliko Tarnovo, seeing some of the local sites such as Tsarevets Fortress, Gurko Street and the monument to the Tsar Liberator. Overall, I found the experience rewarding as it showed all the different aspects of Veliko Tarnovo and let me learn many different facts about Bulgaria. Afterwards we walked back to the meeting point and went to a medieval-themed restaurant that was located underground. For the starter we were given soup with mushrooms and rice. The main course for vegetarians was an omelette with pieces of sliced up tomato and the other main was pork in a sauce with mashed potatoes. The dessert was a cake that seemed to have been soaked in some sweet juice topped with cream which I found nice but very sweet.
In the afternoon we returned to the school to continue with our Art Nouveau-themed workshops. I was in the graphic design
group where we worked with graphics tablets on Photoshop. The aim was to create six decorative icons featuring the name of
our country, in my case Scotland, and some Art Nouveau-style motifs. Each icon was to have the same basic design but a
different gradient mask which gave them a wide range of colours. These were printed out and are going to be arranged in 2x3
grid patterns. Overall, I enjoyed this activity as I have never used a graphics tablet before and I had little experience
with photoshop.
By Matthew and Hélène
Wednesday
Wednesday proved to be an extremely interesting day. It was a sunny 24 degrees when we arrived in the town of Ruse located
two hours from Veliko Tarnovo , a welcome change from the wind and rain of Scotland.
While visiting the Museum of Urban
Life, we had the opportunity to see the river Danube and even over to the river banks of Romania which proved to be amusing
to some of the Romanians in the group. We were then told of a very sweet legend about a Turkish general who fell in love
with a beautiful Persian lady, so much so that he built her own house next to the river. This romantic legend was a nice
change from previous stories we had been told about oppression, uprisings and violent Turkish rule.
We then drove into the centre of town for an hour and a quarter's walk around Ruse, where we were shown beautiful Neo-Baroque, Neo-Classical, and Secession buildings.
The next stop on our trip was to the Rock Hewn churches of Ivanovo. These were small rooms carved into sheer rock faces where people could come to leave coins and make a wish or write a short message and leave it within cracks in the rock. For many of us, this was something we had never seen before and so were awestruck at the idea of Churches carved into rock and the simple beauty of the place.
Anastasia and Jacqui
Thursday
This morning we went to a workshop. It was called "Ex Libris". It involved us making a personal book plate using lino cutting. We found it difficult while still enjoyable, it was hard to cut to our original designs, the lino was much more solid than we had expected.
The second workshop of the day involved us painting over a photo of a Bulgarian building in an Art Nouveau style. After the workshop, we had some free time, so we went for a walk around the town for ice cream. There were some Scottish, French and some German students. |
Friday
After we finished our final workshop on Friday, we decided that we would go to the park with our Bulgarian exchange partners
before leaving. We had also invited two girls from France, Emilie and Eloise. At 12 o'clock we ambled down the pavement to
the bus stop near the school, chatting the entire way. Over the time we spent in Bulgaria we made many new friends from
different nationalities, Emilie and Eloise being two of them.
As we approached the bus stop, we were given one lev by our exchange partners, even though we insisted on paying ourselves.
They were very, very kind. We boarded the bus, completely involved in the conversation, talking about upcoming exams and the
difference between Bulgaria and our home countries. We paid for our tickets and almost fell over when the bus started, then
stood up, laughing.
After we got off the bus, we stopped off at Aladdin Foods for something to eat. I had a traditional Bulgarian wrap filled
with meat, fried potatoes and salad with mayonnaise and another sauce on top. Amy, Ayesha and Eloise ordered a pizza which
turned out larger than expected, so we all had to share. We had become a close group of friends. We had made some friends
we hope to keep for life. At this point, Jacqui and Anastasia came with their exchange partners and some Germans and
Slovenian students. After eating, we all decided we would walk together to the park. The park was on a hill so we had to
climb a dozen stairs. The view at the top was worth it though.
After our long trek, we all collapsed at the top of the hill at the park before taking over the park, climbing on the
climbing frame and taking turns to push each other on the swings and round-about. As the park was empty, nobody had any
shame in playing in an under-12s park!
As we started coming off the swings in the park we proceeded to look at the breath-taking views of Bulgaria. The lush green
forests as well as clear blue skies, looking down to vibrant flowers dotted in the grass. This was followed by a long period
of selfies together as one group of friends. We also went to a monument near the Art Gallery and looked at the river from
there.
On that note we proceeded down the hill only to take more pictures. It was an amazing day.
The last official event of the week was the Closing Ceremony and Exhibition. We were all delighted to receive our
certificates of participation and to sing 'Happy Birthday' to the three participants who all celebrated their birthdays
that same day. The Exhibition was spectacular. We couldn't believe that we had managed to make so many beautiful things in
just five days.
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A big 'thank you' to the whole Bulgarian Team for giving us such an amazing experience!
Meera and Ayesha
Blog in Bulgarian