Itinerary

Our schedule will be a mix of lectures, guided tours, discussion groups, and service work.  We arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria’s modern capital city, on May 13th, Wednesday, and have the rest of the day to acclimate to our accommodations, the time change, and Sofia itself.  From May 14th-16th, we meet with faculty and students of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and enjoy lectures, visits to museums, and tours of Sofia.  We have a free day on May 17th, Sunday, to catch up on rest, get our belongings in order, and explore the city without a schedule.  Monday, May 18th, begins with lectures and ends in a social with students and faculty of Sofia University.

From May 19th to 25th, we travel to cities and small towns adjacent to Central Balkan National Park.  We learn about the history and heritage of the rural areas, visit internationally listed heritage sites, and see the successes of small businesses associated with ecotourism.  Students in each class will work on a service project with National Park personnel and/or with community members.  On May 25th, before heading East towards the Black Sea, we will present our work and have a going away social.

From May 25th to 28th, we will travel to historic cities and towns (Veliko Turnovo, Shoumen, Varna, Nessebur, and Kiten), and visit two riverine protected areas by boat.

On May 29th, we return to Sofia, with some stops along the way at heritage sites.  The remainder of our stay will be in Sofia where we will reunite with our Bulgarian faculty and student hosts to complete project reports, then provide a final presentation.  The culmination of our stay will be a social with our hosts on June 4th.  We return to the United States on June 5th; or if adventurous, some students may opt to lengthen their stay overseas with travel to Greece, Turkey, Romania, or western Europe.