Encuentro en Troyan /Meeting in Troyan

  • Bulgaria- Troyan 2018

     

    After having packed the whole weekend and being super excited about visiting Bulgaria, our journey finally started on Monday the 5th of November. We had a good flight apart from a few turbulences. We landed in Sofia in the afternoon and we were warmly welcomed by the Bulgarian teachers and two Bulgarian girls. We waited the Italian team and then we took the metro downtown and visited the wonderful city of Sofia. We first had a look at the city hall and we took our very first group photo of the trip. Then we headed to the main church in Sofia, the Alexander Nevsky cathedral, and it was a majestic sight.

     

     

    It was wonderfully decorated with all the golden elements. Some of us even lit a candle there and said a prayer. We then had something to eat in the city in a really pretty, kind of retro restaurant and then went back to the airport to pick up the rest of the Italian group and the Spanish group. After that we made our way to Troyan. After a really long bus drive we were welcomed by the families and our exchange partners.

    On the next day we were first split up into different international groups to go on a photo safari. I got to know a lot of nice people through those international groups. Then we walked through the city and Troyan is such a nice, small and old-fashioned city. It is really different from Eggenfelden but still really, really pretty. For lunch we headed to the Troyan Plaza Hotel and the food there was fantastic. I loved that every time we had a meal in Bulgaria we never got only one course, like at home, but always at least three courses-  appetizer, main course and dessert. After that we went to the Troyan City Hall and we learnt a lot about the interesting history of Troyan and, of course, also about the famous Troyan pottery, which we would learn a lot more about during the next few days. On Wednesday we first were split into two groups and we were shown how to do pottery and we even got the chance to try it ourselves. After that we learned about a technique called “sgrafito”, we carved into a piece of clay and we were allowed to take our finished pieces with us to Germany. Then in the afternoon after another great meal at the hotel, we went to Oreshak to the exposition of handmade crafts and we admired all the great pieces and we took a lot of photos. Thereon we drove to the Monastery of Troyan ,

    which I really liked. It was very pretty with all the decorations in the main church building and the whole place had a really spiritual aura. Back in Troyan every country presented their city and their school and it was really interesting to learn about the different schools. On Thursday we were split into two groups again and my group first had dance lessons in traditional Bulgarian dances; the thing that surprised me most was that almost everyone there knew how to dance the traditional dances whereas in Germany only a small part of the population knows how to dance traditionally. After dancing we had a cooking class.

    We split into smaller groups and every group cooked something else, but of course something traditionally Bulgarian.

    For lunch everyone was united again and we all ate together the things we all had cooked. In the evening almost everyone met at a karaoke bar in Troyan and we had a lot of fun together. We listened and danced to songs from all the countries and we also taught everyone how to dance the “Helikopter”. That was the funniest event for most of us. We had a lot of fun and we got to know many people from the program closer and made new friends. After such a great night out sadly our last day came, Friday.

    On Friday we went to the old capital Veliko Tarnovo, where we visited Mini Bulgaria which surprised me because it was a pretty accurate copy of the real Bulgaria, in my opinion. We then visited the center which was so idyllic with its old-fashioned style.

    In the evening we all went for dinner together at the hotel and after that it was once again… dancing time!

     

    We listened and danced to Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Bulgarian songs and we all had a great last night together. At 12 AM we were sent home because we all had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. but some of us stayed outside the hotel until 1a.m because we didn’t want to leave yet. Well… maybe it would have been the better choice to go to bed early… The next morning, the day we had to leave, everyone was tired and sad. Partly because of the lack of sleep but also because it was so hard to leave the people that we got to know and love in such a short period of time. I personally would have never expected to make such bonds with strangers in only one week. We built new friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime and we are all looking forward to see everyone again, in Germany or in the other countries of the program. It was a wonderful experience where we Germans as a group grew together but also with all the other students from the different countries.

    Written by Gounshnah Rampersad

     

    German team: Martina Hansbauer, Katharina Zimmer, Luisa Mayer, Sophia Liegl, Gounshnah (Alex) Rampersad + teachers: Frau Bachmaier & Frau Ganshorn

     

    Vasil Levski Comprehensive School

     

    Thank you!