On Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a super interesting country, full of nice people, cool soviet relics, and a beautiful mountainous countryside, which was loaded with trees changing color when I went through it. However, I had my first negative experience with HelpX.

I was in a small village (Voditsa) working at a family's house that's run as a campsite/hostel during the summer months. I was doing a variety of odd jobs around the property, like building a fence and shelling walnuts. The village was nice, and the work was alright, but I really didn't get along with the boss, and it got quite cold there (note the snow), and the combination of the weather and the boss got to me. I had planned to stay for three weeks, but I ended up leaving after one, and luckily I got the opportunity to work at a hostel in Albania, where I am right now, happy and warm and getting to socialize with guests. I'll post more on the hostel later.

I think if I had been in Bulgaria in summer or spring, I may have enjoyed myself, or maybe if I just had more time to get along with the boss. But I'm only in Europe for so long, and I didn't want to spend another two weeks unhappy, so I left. The boss took it pretty well, and I'm glad I left early.

I spent a couple days in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, after leaving the village, and I rather enjoyed just wandering around, taking in the city that was somewhat western, but somewhat soviet. The English graffiti was interesting (as above on the main shopping street), and the cheap street food was hard to beat. More photos here.

I then took a bus to Skopje, Macedonia, where I had an afternoon to kill walking around the city, and then headed to the hostel in Albania. I'll be here for another 3 or 4 weeks, then hit up Greece, Turkey, and head home for the holidays (and to finish my applications to grad school).